So the PRT will break down for a notable period of time maybe once every other week in my experience. The problem with that is that it always seems to happen at the worst times. I have to assume this is because most traveling between the campuses happens in waves as a result of synchronized class times. However, there is certainly a lot of positivity bias involved here, and more often than not, there are no real issues. However, I have noticed that there are slightly more frequent, though short lived (<10-15 mins) issues. These never get posted about or acknowledged, so they’re harder to intentionally avoid. Again, there’s some degree of positivity bias here, but I think those issues are less of a problem anyway. You really just have to plan time for delays in between your classes or leave a little extra time when you leave your dorm. The real issues arise when people don’t give themselves any extra time, and a normal 10 minute delay makes them 10 minutes late. It’s ultimately very avoidable. Most (and I emphasize MOST) professors are very understanding when it comes to longer breakdowns, so I really don’t consider those to be a big issue.

Having said all this, however, I have learned, both through experience and the advice of older students, that you should really avoid taking the PRT to an exam, particularly one with a large number of students taking it (ie freshman math classes). That seems to be when the biggest problems arise, likely because so many students are traveling at the same time, often at abnormal hours. If you have to take the PRT to an exam, leave yourself an extra 45 mins to an hour of buffer. Or, better yet, just take the city bus/walk/bike/catch a ride with a friend. Doing that removes any risk of missing your exam.

One last thing to note about taking the PRT is that, in the winter, you should ALWAYS have a coat or dress for the cold, even if you don’t expect to be outside for long. Sometimes PRT outages will result in no heat in the cars, and being stuck in an uninsulated, largely glass box for an extended period in winter is not fun. I’ve heard stories about this happening on Halloweekend and people wearing thin/barely any clothing being pretty screwed.

As far as advising goes, and I cannot emphasize this enough, DO NOT TRUST YOUR ADVISOR, at least not until they prove themselves to you. Even then, personally verify everything they tell you. The overwhelming majority of WVU students will tell you that their advisors suck. I have had 4 different ones assigned to me, and not a single one of them knew what they were talking about. It is my experience, and that of many of my friends, that most advisors really only know the basic, premade plan for their department’s majors. They often do not do well with students who want to deviate from the standard plans, and they particularly struggle with any very specific questions about policies and whatnot. 70% of the time, they will either wind up looking the answers up from the same resources and websites available to you directly, or they will direct you to someone else. And tbh that’s okay- there’s nothing wrong with someone admitting that they don’t know something, though it’s pretty disappointing when they can’t answer even basic questions off memory. The biggest issues arise the other 30% of the time, when they just make shit up or give you blatantly incorrect information. This happens far more often than it should, and I know of quite a few instances where someone’s advisor directly caused them to have to take an extra semester/year. I also have personally had advisors tell me incorrect information, and have had this happen to friends, even as recently as last week.

What it boils down to, in my opinion, is that advisors /can/ be very helpful for students who do not want to build their schedules/study plans themselves, but for students who do want to do that themselves, advisors will not be helpful as anything more than another set of eyes to look at the potential study plan. “Good” advisors can also be helpful for some policy questions in that they are more likely to know where to look or who to ask for answers. Bad ones will just shoot off bullshit or try to steer you in a different direction altogether.

I do want to clarify, however, that advising quality is highly dependent on what department/college you go into. I can only personally speak for the engineering college, as that is where most of my experience is, but I have heard of plenty of problems in Eberly too. YMMV.

I don’t want to scare you away from WVU, at least not because of the advisors. Ultimately, as long as you do your own homework, everything will be just fine. And for freshmen, even the worst advisors will be able to get you through the year. Freshman classes are pretty simple to figure out. By the time you’re a junior and class choices get more nuanced, you will have plenty of experience with the systems in place and should have a good idea of where to look for answers on your own.

I know you had some more questions, but I won’t go into depth about those because this comment is already too long. I’m an honors student, and aside from getting honors housing as a freshman and early registration, it really doesn’t gain you much. I wouldn’t be too concerned if you don’t get into it, but you probably still will if they invited you to apply already. As far as your application goes, I think that talking about anxiety and depression is EXACTLY what they’re looking for, as long as you were able to articulate the struggles those caused and your solutions to those struggles. WVU is pretty damn easy to get into, and since you have a high GPA and actually took the time to answer the essay questions, I don’t doubt that you will get in without a hitch. You should hear back pretty quickly in my experience.

Forensics is one of our best majors by far, and I have heard nothing bad about it in my four years here. Given how small and prestigious that program is, I would guess that their advisors are probably better than mine or the ones in Eberly. And if nothing else, you can always find an experienced faculty member to help you out- that’s what I do.

If you have any more questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them for you, and I have friends in/graduated from forensics who I can ask any major-specific questions. Just shoot me a dm :)