East Carolina University - Academics

I grew up in a teeny little town...

I grew up in a teeny little town in North Carolina, and I always heard about Greenville and ECU. I ended up going to community college at home for a couple of years to save money, and now I’m here and I’m so happy to be in Greenville. Finally, I’m a Pirate, and I love my professors and my classes and my classmates so much! As for my input on academics at ECU, it takes less time to actually do the assigned work than it does to think up ways to avoid doing the work or to make up excuses about why the work didn’t get done by the due date.

Classes should be fun. By ‘fun,’ I...

Classes should be fun. By ‘fun,’ I mean that students should enjoy the content of their major-area classes. If they don’t, then they may need to reconsider their major. What’s the point of self-torture in college classes? Once people graduate, it’s not like the profession would be any more fun than the classes. Students, especially freshmen, shouldn’t worry about being undecided when they come to college. I changed my major a couple of times, and I have a friend who’s changed hers five times. Yes, five times, for real. Students generally have about two years of classes to take before they get into all major classes, so that’s two years to enjoy the general classes and shop around for what’s most enjoyable and interesting. I found out in my first semester that I didn’t want to do what I thought I wanted to do. My advisor suggested that I go to the Career Center. I did, and they gave me some interest questionnaires that helped direct me to my current major.

Some people just aren’t ready for...

Some people just aren’t ready for college. I just can’t believe that there are so many students out there who don’t understand that going to class and doing homework is something college students are supposed to do to make it worth the money to even be here. Some people, like my roommate, just need to grow up and realize that they need to work if they want to stay here for their second year of college. If more first-year students would figure that out, then the return rates would be higher and their academic experience would be better. I guess some people just need to go work a really low-paying menial job for a year or two, and then maybe they can appreciate the great opportunity college is.

COAD 1000 has been really good in...

COAD 1000 has been really good in helping me to adjust to college life. I think all new students should take it during their first semester at ECU because it’s pretty much like a semester-long orientation session, and all the information means more than it does during summer orientation because we’re actually on campus and can see the practical use of all the information that is presented. During summer orientation, most of it didn’t make any sense yet because I had just graduated from high school. Some of the students I met at orientation hadn’t graduated yet. Now, I know I need the information they tell us in the class. Not everyone in there thinks they do, but I’ve been paying attention.

It seems like ECU is always...

It seems like ECU is always developing new programs, like the new undergraduate security studies program, and the University is even a member of the National Consortium for Homeland Security, which is sort of cool, but scary, too. Also, ECU is the only UNC System school to offer a new BS in sports studies, which is meant for students who are interested in sports but do not want to be PE teachers. I have a lot of friends who grew up playing sports, and now they don’t know what else to do, so they are interested in sports studies programs.