Peer advice: My first-year college surprises

I knew just what I was getting into when I came to Evergreen because I went to Nova High School. Evergreen is just like Nova only with 10 times as many people. Like Nova, it can be very challenging if you get into the hard classes. But you can also take the easiest classes and get by. There are so many hippies here, and some classes where they want you to do things like get into a circle and hug. That's not really a credit-bearing activity, as far as I know.

— John Graham, a graduate of Nova High and sophomore at Evergreen

My brother went to the UW and I'd spent a lot of time on campus. Even so, I was shocked my first semester when one of my classes had 700 students. If I had a question, I was afraid to ask it in front of all those people and I didn't have enough time to go to my professor's office. So I was pretty traumatized at first.

— Marlene Guerra, a graduate of Oak Harbor High (check) and senior in communications and American Ethnic Studies major at the UW

I was surprised by Seattle University's limited resources, such as what's available in the library. I probably could've found that out before enrolling if I had spent more time on campus. Some people here sign up to host visitors on campus, so you can stay over and get a feel for the school.

— John Tri Tran, graduate of Evergreen High (Highline district) and sophomore at Seattle U