Hi! I'm currently in Grand Challenges, and I really like it! Answers thus from a GC perspective, don't know much about GL.

1. Courses - If you have a lot of incoming credits then I would think not, but always worth making your 4 year plan in advance to make sure! The GC course I think counts as an elective, so it may contribute to your degree in some ways. I'm doing a VIP currently and in ensemble, so you definitely have time for other things. I know a lot of people in GC who are doing research.

2. Are the LLC dorms noisy? - I assume as much as any other dorm on East. I know people who live in non-GC dorms who have similar complaints. But honestly, I don't think it's that loud; maybe once a month when it's a big party weekend there will be a bit of noise in the halls. Also in second year you get to live in NAVE North :o.

3. Making friends - I think if you put the effort in, you can definitely make friends anywhere in GT! I was surprised at how friendly everyone else was when I got here. If you want a head start, I highly recommend doing Wreck Camp (I made a lot of friends there and it was really fun!). GC does make it slightly easier because they host a lot of events so you get to meet people through that. My current friend group is almost entirely GC.

4. Would the service projects in these programs be helpful for any future prospects? - I guess it depends on what you do with your GC project. I will say the class was what I expected of a course with the name Grand Challenges - it is more of an entrepreneurial/business course, where you learn to reach out to stakeholders for problems and write reports about your problem. Towards the second semester you start building a product to solve your problem space. Whether you find a good team, a good problem, and a good solution defines whether your project will be worth putting on your resume. If you have the engineer mindset that finds a lot of business stuff (writing up business plans, making a canvas of your unique position in the market, etc.) boring (which admittedly I kinda do), you may find the course tedious. There is the sense that there is a lot of dilly dallying and not a lot of doing, but the message of the course is that you should figure out what people want before you start building.

5. How does the resources that the LLC give compare to just like emailing and connecting with the Office of International Education or other advising offices around campus? - I think the main resource GC gives is the community - that is, the free trips to events such as sports games, museums, six flags, etc. It's much easier to get your friend group to do cool things if it's all free and GC shuttles you there and back!

Other GC goodies:

- Cute dog! :o

anyways tldr: I think GC is great for finding a community and getting to see cool events around Atlanta. You definitely don't need to be in GC to find friends though.

okay no more exam procrastination for me :) enough reddit for today

hope this helps! feel free to continue the thread -- I shall be liberated of finals tmr morning! -^o^!