East Carolina University Top Questions

What's the one thing you wish someone had told you about freshman year?

Tyra

I wish someone would have told me that you have to love football or at least understand the game to be a pirate. I still have no clue of the plays, calls, nor positions in a football game but I am an expert of acting like I know what is going on during the game. East Carolina University expresses school spirit like no other university and students make their love for the school known through the chants, cheers, and excitement during athletics. If you do not know anything about football I would learn before coming to ECU!

Ashley

It would have been beneficial to have known about the difficulties with contacting advisers and the university scholarships.

lauren

I wish I had known the surrounding town was not cared for at all! The majority of the outlying town is neglected or pushed out by gentrification. Be sure to check out the town's local park website for soem awesome nature trails, hiking paths, and skating slopes. Talk to the financial aid office to make certain you are getting the most support possible. Try harder on the SAT so you will be admitted into the Honors College, it has extra funding, amazing student cultural field trips, and educational options that other students don't get. Absolutely must study abroad.

Jasmine

I wish i had known how to manage my time better. There are so many activities to do on campus and you have to balance that and school work. There are so many organizations to choose from that you just don't have time to try them all. It's my first year, by next year i'm sure i will figure out a way to fit one of those organizations into my schedule.

Haley

I wish I had known how much chlorine is in the tap water. There is much more chlorine in the water in my dormitory than what I'm used to at home. The water is hard on my hair an skin and makes the coffee, tea and soup I make taste bad. I finally had to invest in several packages of bottled water and a pitcher with a purifying filter system.

Christian

I did not know before coming to East Carolina University that the driving distance is 200 miles from home to campus.

Frances

I wish I had been a bit more acclaimated with the campus and the surrounding areas.

Joey

In high school, I never needed much help with work from my teachers. I wish I had known never be afraid to ask for help from a professor

Jalayana

About the meal plans more in depth. I wasted so much money last year, because I didn't know how to use it.

Kyle

Incoming credits from high school allow freshman to have an advantage when registering for classes in the second semester. I did not have any incoming credits and was in the last group to register for classes. This is very important and held me back from getting the classes I needed my second semester creating a cascade effect that went through my entire college career.

Kayla

I wish I would have known that adapting to college life is harder than it seems. I thought being able to take on the college work load along with a new social life would just come naturally. Adapting is hard, but it is getting easier everyday that I am here.

April

I wish I would have known not to let relationships get in the way of your college experience. I missed out on a lot of great friendships because I was in a very serious/unhealthy relationship.

Samantha

How expensive it was going to be for food on campus . I would not have wasted my money getting the meal plan and pirate points.

Aaron

I wish I would have known how to swim. My institution requries graduates to know how to swim. It would have been one less class that I would have to take. I could have taken a class that would have went towards my degree in stead of wasting it on that class. I did learn how to swim, but that could been done over the summer at my hometown's swimming rec.

Pariss

I wish I had known that I was going to have so much fun. ECU was my dream school since I was in high school, but if I had known it would be this great I would not have been so nervous when I first got accepted. I also wish I had known that I was going to have to pay back so many loans. The amount of grants and scholarships that you receive in your financial aid package decrease every year. Now I am wondering how I am going to pay back over 17,000 dollars back in loans.

Patrick

I wish that I had known how important my GPA and dedication to study were. I didnt realize how much finding a job after school hinged on this.

Maureen

I wish I would have known that I needed to study harder to well in my classes. It was easy for me to just memorize the material I needed to know for tests in high school. Once I started college, I quickly realized that I really needed to understand the material in order to do well. I also learned that procrastinating on studying is not good when it comes to tests with difficult material. It was a little difficult to make that ajustment in the beginning, but I got used to it and ended up doing well in my classes.

Jenna

Before coming to this school I will someone would have told me to make friends with all of my professors. It is very necessary to make yourself known with your professors so they can help you and actually know you on a personal basis. If I would have known this my freshman year I might have been not nervous to go talk to my professors about the course work and ask for extra help.

Lauren

Before coming to East Carolina I wish I had known how homesick I was going to be. I did not think that it would be as bad as it is. I was not homesick for about the first month, then I went home for the first time. After that trip home I have been homesick. The homesickness is no where as bad as it was. I do wish that I had known how difficult adjusting to being away from home would be.

Elaine

Everyone seems to underestimate East Carolina University. It is so called the ''party school." This can be the case if you want it to be. Alot of students do not succeed because they do not put the time in to study that East Carolina requires. In order to make it in this school, I would suggest that the student does not come to Greenville to party but to study because this is a very challenging school.

Crystal

Some sertain material that my high school couldn't provide that may have surprised me when i came to college.

Dana

Not much of anything I knew of the school pretty well before attending. I attended softball summer camp there for three years in a row!

Brittney

I wish I had known more about student job opportunities.

Heather

I was told everything about this school before I came here. I knew what my dorm was like and I knew what the dining halls were like. I wish I knew more about extracurricular activities and more about the cost of books and the fact that your tuition has to be paid in full before classes start. There is not much about East Carolina that I did not know about.

Erin

I wish i had looked more into expenses and the cost of school so i could have applied for many other scholarships and grants because school is expensive.( tuition and books)

Jeanette

How much harder college classes were compared to high school classes. No one really emphasized it enough.

Jenna

a large portion of kids here are conservative and close-minded

Shenika

How far it is from home

Tammara

I wish I knew how the meal plans worked along with pirate bucks. It would have been alot easier knowing a good class schedule for the activities that I wanted to participate in.

Caitlin

They did a fantastic job at describing the campus and life here during orientation and the campus walk throughs that they have. The only thing I would wish I had known before hand was how dressed up people get for football games, because I would have gotten more purple and gold clothing. I wish I knew how to get more invloved in certain clubs and activities, and also how to get involved in leadership programs. I wish I had known how hard it was to get into the theater productions if you were not a theater major.

Ann

I wish I had known about how easy it is to get involved in campus organizations. At the begining of fall semester there is "Get A Clue" where all the student organizations come out to the mall (the center of our campus) so that people can sign up and find out how to join.I wish I knew how easy it is to access my professors. All professors hold office hours and not only are they actially there for them but often times you find them there outside of their hours willing to help you with anything

Tanya

nothing really. i think i adjusted pretty well.

Shaqueta

I wish I would had known about the cost of attendance and all the requirements to completely graduate on time. When you first attend ECU, they do discuss the cost of the school but little do you know that if you are a little short, you have to drop out of school until you are able to pay it. The school and federal financial aid do not cover youe whole college year and it is so hard to get a private loan. Some requirement to graduate on time is not fully discussed to us also.