North Carolina State University at Raleigh Top Questions

The people you meet on the first days of school may not be your best friends. Everyone gets so caught up in making new friends and belonging to a group that you may find a few months down the road that these aren't the right people for you, and that's okay! It's important to find people to connect with, and they may introduce you to people who could be your group. The best thing you can do is be flexible with your friendships; if it isn't working out, it's okay. There are hundreds of other people on campus that you haven't met yet. And since you're not forced to see people you don't want to every day like in high school, it's much less awkward and uncomfortable.

The most important thing I wish I knew coming out of high school was effective study methods. Many people who go here including myself cruized through high school without the need to study too much for classes and find themselves struggling to effectively study for classes here that are more intense then those in high school. However, I have learned much better study habits and many people at the University have made that transition as easy as possible and taught me many different ways and tricks to study.

I wish that I had known how much more information was going to be crammed into each semester compared to what I was learning at community college. It is extremely difficult to truly learn the massive amounts of information we are taught (not just memorize for exams). If I had known this, I would have taken more community college courses at a time so that I could have lighter loads once I transfered to NCSU.

I wish I knew how much fun I was going to have here. I knew it was going to be challenging academically and a big change from living with my parents, but I didn't know how I would fit it. I took a big risk by not going to college with any of my high school friends. I really liked the campus and the engineering program, but I worried a lot about what I would do outside of class. My classes are great and I am having a blast. It turns out I worried for nothing.

I wish I had known the differences in study methods. There was a huge difference in how to study for high school and studying for college. In high school the course work is not as intensive as college. College expects more out of the student and there is more teaching yourself than the professor teaching you.

I wish I could apply the professional work ethic I hold now to the work I did in college. I was in what we called a "grueling" design program; one that often required us to stay in studio all night and work til dawn to complete deadlines. Now, I complete more work in a week than I was ever asked to complete in a semester. I wonder now what my reason was for staying overnight in the studio - was the work really that hard, or was I really that lazy? I like to think I've grown since then.

Before I came to this school I wish that I had done a little more preperation with my extracurriculars. Volunteering at things that interested me and just getting to know more about myself before coming to college.

I wish I would have none exactly how big this campus is .

I think I honestly knew everything I needed to know before I came.

Leaving high school and beginning my first semester in college was a complete culture shock. I thought I was ready for the next challege. I wish I had been more responsible for more than just my school work before going to college. It has been difficult to conduct tasks dealing with finances, schedules and getting to all my classes on time. Once I became 18 I became an adult inside of a teenager state of mind. Learning to adapt to campus life without anyone to catch me when I stumble is hard. I would have challenged myself more!