Felicia Baskin: Pick up every single free T-shirt you possibly can. They’ll come in handy later as painting shirts, sleep shirts, and probably even “I woke up super late and don’t have time to change” shirts.
David Song, News Editor: People are (or otherwise appear) at least as intelligent, bright, and cool as you are. ?This is a source of enjoyment and frustration.
Mallory Wilder, Managing Editor: Sleep probably won’t be your first priority.
David Brody: Flank steak carvery wraps from Holmes Lounge. Get it with cheddar cheese and honey mustard. Ask for 2 pickles.
Willie Mendelson, Copy Chief: The Village Small Group. The stir-fry is unbelievable. Actually everything there is great. Farther walk from the South 40, but totally worth it.
Ben Sales, Senior Staff Reporter: I think I lived on the fro-yo in Hilltop and Bear’s Mart during reading week last spring. Best diet I’ve ever had.
David Brody: I wish I had taken a wider variety of intro. classes. Sample all the departments and don’t pigeon-hole yourself until at least sophomore year. There are a lot of subjects that are never offered in high school, so you won’t know if they are right for you until you try them out. Don’t assume that you already know what you want to do.
Erin Fults: I wish I hadn’t stayed in an area of study that I clearly neither enjoyed nor excelled in, despite my efforts. Experience all of the classes and ideas that Wash. U. has to offer. Take smaller classes and actually make an effort to get to know the teacher. You may be needing a letter of recommendation later. I also wish I had gotten more sleep. Turns out three hours a night just isn’t enough.
Jill Strominger: I wish I hadn’t tried to keep holding on to a guy from home even though the signs were fairly obvious that it wasn’t a relationship that could withstand distance…sometimes you need to let the past go no matter how difficult it might be (but it’s also not good to take this to an extreme either and completely sever relationships with people from home).
David Brody: Go introduce yourself to everyone on your floor on move in day. As soon as possible, introduce yourself to the people on the floors above and below you.
Ben Sales: Be yourself. There are enough people in college that you’ll find friends who like you for who you are and who you want to be.
Andrei Berman, Sports Editor: Don’t isolate yourself. Don’t be that kid who is unwilling to look outside their comfort zone when interacting with your peers.
Erin Fults: Abnormal Psychology. I had it with Kurtz but he’s retired now. Still, abnormal psych can teach you a lot about people. Warning: you may diagnose yourself with multiple disorders.
David Song: Creative writing is a good pick, just because it’s fairly easygoing and great for learning how to A) express yourself creatively and B) read stuff by your peers with a critical eye.
Anna Dinndorf: I took Holocaust: History and Memory my sophomore year and absolutely loved it. It looks at the holocaust from a historical perspective and it was phenomenal. I learned so much.
Mallory Wilder: Forest Park has some rather unusual events going on most of the year-take a walk through it and see for yourself what’s going on. Better yet, take along some food and spend the afternoon by the fountains with some friends.
Scott Fabricant: You’ve got a free Metrolink pass. Use it. Often. Just don’t go too far east of the city. Or north. Or south…
Willie Mendelson: Take a walk with friends to the Loop, a strip 5 minutes away from school with a bunch of cool offbeat shops and eateries.
Felicia Baskin: Don’t be afraid to inundate your TA or even your professor with questions. Just because you’re one of many in the class doesn’t mean you don’t matter.
Jill Strominger: For guaranteed higher grades all around, make study groups.
Anna Dinndorf: Go to class. ?Do the reading. ?These are the kind of things that everyone tells you to do and no one (including me) actually does. ?But if you do them, you will do well in the class.
Scott Bressler: The girls sleeping right next door.
Mallory Wilder: Choices. When to get up, when to go to sleep, what classes to take, what classes not to take, when to go to class (when to not go to class), what do to with your life.
Scott Fabricant: Your report card never gets sent to your parents. Just tell them you’re a straight-A student. They’ll never know.
Erin Fults: You need to make the effort in classes. Teachers don’t need to learn your name and they usually don’t care if you choose not to come to class. You need to take the initiative.
David Hartstein: Under a tree in the Quad. Too many people hang out in front of the library these days.
Anna Dinndorf: I really like studying at Kayaks. ?It’s a coffee place just off campus, and it’s big and open with free wifi and is a lot less chaotic than Whispers.
Indu Chandrasekhar: the highest room in the tallest tower, also known as the Proust study room in Anheuser Busch Hall’s Law Library.
David Brody: Playing a ridiculous amount of poker with the other guys on my floor. We played about three times a day first semester. Yes, very few of us got laid on a regular basis.
Erin Fults: Water gun raids on other dorms, dressing up in crazy costumes for chemistry exams and playing midnight basketball games.
Sam Guzik, Senior News Editor: Being chased around my dorm by a friend dressed as a pineapple.