Academics

It will be hard, but you need to stay on top of your game from day one. Trust me, don't think you can catch up. It really is hard, and you can only understand that when you are your 3rd year here.

as i said above, it is a difficult school. i am a politics major so most of my homework is reading. i can spend hours reading everyday. i don't have to write to many papers during the year but writing a 5 page paper isn't difficult for me anymore because of all my experience writing longer ones. it may seem tough base on what i am saying but most of the professors are really helpful and they want to help you succeed. if you do what's assigned then you will succeed.

It depends on your major....I'm a nursing major which is what the school is known for. It's a VERY rigorous program. Freshman year wasn't bad because a lot of my classes were just core, non-nursing classes. But once sophomore year hits.....get ready! Clinicals start second semester of sophomore year for nursing majors (which is sooner than a lot of other schools). My nursing friends and I RARELY have free time. We are constantly doing homework, even on the weekends (in order to attempt to catch up or get ahead even though it never seems to happen). Biology majors also seem pretty busy. Elementary education majors seem like they have a lot of little, annoying things to do like group projects and papers, plus student teaching of course. But then my friends with other majors (like environmental science) seem like they have all the time in the world........so it really just depends. If you're going to do nursing, though, then be ready for a LOT of work, especially once sophomore year hits. It's very easy to fall behind if you procrastinate or don't study. And the requirements are tough. For example, you fail a class if your test average in the class isn't at least a C (or C+? I forget). So even if you get a B in the class, if your test average is lower than a C/C+, you'd fail the class. Also, your GPA must be above 2.5 for nursing majors. That sounds easy but if you fail one class then that could mean failing the entire program even if all your other classes are As and Bs. Lots of people fail/drop out of the nursing program after taking/failing biochemistry freshman year.

if you want a challenge, they'll give it to you. there is an honors track that puts you with the brightest and the best in the school. the professors are always probing you for your thoughts and challenging you to think critically about solutions.