North Carolina State University - Raleigh

At any large university - like NCSU - students can get the education they want to. If you want a quality education, take rigorous classes - not fluff. Make sure you read professor reviews. Major in something serious. Use your time to get involved in thoughtful extracurricular activities.

5th Year Female -- Class 2003

Campus Maintenance: A+, Innovation: C

I came from out of state, as the only person from my high school to go to State, so I knew that with 90% of people from North Carolina I'd have to take a little time to get adjusted. This school has just about everyone: snobs, jocks, preps, stoners, horny frat boys, dumb sorority sluts, skaters, whatever. You will meet other people like you, it just might take a little while.

As I said before, almost everyone is from North Carolina, so at first a lot of people are going to hang with their high school friends. That's normal for a little while, I guess, but some of the kids I met were pretty unwilling to branch out. It's easy to feel like an outcast if you're from out of state, but you have to just be friendly and meet people. I have a nice group of friends from all over now. Greek life isn't huge-I've never been a fan of it but if you're into that stuff then it's here for you. It's not imperative to join a frat if you want to party, but I've been to a few frat parties and they were fun.

It's not a beautiful campus, I can tell you that much. Brick, brick, and more brick. That's about it here. Luckily I love the city of Raleigh so if you get a chance to go into the city and explore then I recommend it. It's kind of an overgrown small town-it lacks the cosmopolitan air of say, Charlotte, but it's got more to do than Durham or Chapel Hill.

The food on campus here is meh. Not good, not bad. You'll probably get sick of it. Hillsborough Street has a few good places and Western Boulevard has all the fast-food options if you need a change of pace.

A lot of people condemn the idea of being "just a number" but the lectures I've had thus far have all been good. The professors do care about each student despite huge class sizes and if you want to meet with them or get some extra help then you'll certainly be able to.Going to games is fun, and there are always buses so you can still get there even if you can't get a ride

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Surrounding City: A+, Individual Value: C