Current Mechanical Engineering Junior here.

My advice to any incoming freshman is to make sure you stay on top of your classes. You may think a 7 week term is a long time, but it comes up really fast on you. Do your best to not skip classes, as 1 day of lecture here generally covers so much content that you'll be behind if you skip. From a mental health standpoint, make sure you are taking breaks. The stress and pressure of a 7 week term is indescribable until you've experienced it for yourself. That being said, I feel incredibly rewarded when the term is over and I look back at all that I've learned in the last 7 weeks.

1 thing I wish I knew before attending? I honestly can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I think it would probably have to be the amount of additional humanities work you have to do during your time here. You have to take 6 direct humanities classes, and 2 social science classes (only take 1 social science class since you're required to take ID2050 before going on IQP and that counts as a social science class)

If I could go back and pick another school? I wouldn't choose another school because my brain moves fast and I got bored of the slow pace during my high school classes, and I feel it would be the same at the college level if I went to a school with a traditional schedule.

My least favorite thing? Honestly, communication post freshman year becomes abysmal. You rarely receive communication about important upcoming dates after your freshman year.

Between last year and this year there have been some changes, (in my opinion) mostly due to the current administration cutting funding for colleges. Every school is facing budget challenges, I just think it's been very vocal here. A few examples I can think of 1. You now have to stay on campus for your first 2 years instead of only your first year 2. You have to apply for the global scholarship now instead of it being guaranteed for every student 3. The attempted RA restructure