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Facts

Slang

  • CAESAR - Computer system that you register for classes on. Also allows you to keep track of your transcript and monitor financial aid.
  • CTECs - Course and Teacher Evaluations. Read up on student ratings of professors before you commit to taking a class with them.
  • Dormcest - Having an encounter of a sexual nature with someone from your residence hall.
  • Gone Greek Night - A celebration following rush that results in a good number of drunken hook-ups.
  • Lagoon - A man-made area filled with water. Watch for ducks and the large fountains that spray all summer long.
  • Lakefill - Area of campus bordering Lake Michigan that has bike paths, a fire pit, and fields.
  • North Campus - Generally considered north of Foster-Walker Complex, housing mostly the fraternity quads and engineering students.
  • Plex - Foster-Walker Complex, a large dorm that features mostly single rooms.
  • Points - Units on your meal plan that allow you to buy foodstuffs at Norris University Center, Tech Express, Lisa’s Café, and University Café.
  • SAGA - Formerly, the company that ran campus dining—and you’ll still run into people who call all the dining halls by this moniker.
  • Sketch - Something that is shady or questionable; also used as sketchy.
  • South Campus - South of Foster-Walker Complex; home to the sorority quads and more theater, music, and journalism students.
  • SPAC - Sports Pavilion and Aquatic Center, the largest workout facility on campus.
  • Tech - McCormick School of Engineering; refers to students, as well as the large building on North Campus they spend most of their time in.
  • The Rock - Touchstone of campus that students paint to advertise or philosophize. Guarding the Rock is a ritual everyone must go through.

Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School

  • Evanston is a very expensive place to live.
  • In-line skates and bikes are useful campus transportation.
  • Your home state is not the center of the universe.

Tips to Succeed

  • Diversify, but don’t get over-involved in activities—college is also for fun, not just networking!
  • Don’t drink too much.
  • Get to know fellow students.
  • Talk to professors.

Urban Legends

  • It is said that if you walk across the seal on Marsh Chapel Plaza, you won’t graduate.
  • That NU has the world’s third largest building (for its height), the Technological Institute.
  • That there is an oppressed, aquatic race living under the Lakefill since it was filled by administrators.

Traditions

  • Dance Marathon
  • Dillo Day - Annual festival of music—and copious amounts of alcohol—that takes place on the Lakefill.
  • Dolphin Show
  • Gone Greek Night
  • Painting the Rock
  • Waa-Mu Show

School Spirit

“Go U Northwestern” is the school’s fight song.

Purple and white are the school’s colors.

Willie the Wildcat, the mascot, comes in inflatable and traditional guises.

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