It was back to the books at the University yesterday, as students exited that summer-fall limbo and entered their first day of classes.
A sizeable slice of students were new to the University, whether as first years, transfers or graduate students, and had their first chance to see the academic side of student life.
First-year College student Elizabeth Gamino said she was eager for her classes to begin, and after finally attending them, she said they met her expectations.
"I think it'll be a lot more writing and reading than I did in high school, but I knew it would be more difficult," Gamino said.
With increased difficulty comes narrower focus, and that particular aspect appealed to first-year College student Sonny Duong.
"I'm excited about going to all these new kinds of classes," Duong said. "It's interesting to delve deep into specific topics."
Many new students said they were pleased with the University's academic environment.
"People here seem to be excited about classes, and that's encouraging," second-year College transfer student Steve Robillard said.
Education graduate student Josh Bowman, who graduated from James Madison University last spring, agreed.
"There's definitely more of an academic environment here than at my previous school," Bowman said.
Duong and fellow first-year College student Andy Hasty noted the faculty's enthusiasm.
"The professors are all really cool -- they're better than my high school teachers," Duong said. "Even though I have big classes, I feel more involved."
Hasty added, "It's like [the professors] enjoy it a lot more."
But Hasty is still shopping around because, after his first day, he said he decided to drop chemistry and abandon the idea of being a pre-med student.
"I would have dropped it after a few weeks anyway, so rather than deliberating, I can just drop it and have no regrets," he said.
Dropping is easy, but enrolling is another issue altogether.
Bowman said he was still trying to squeeze into overloaded classes.
Students were optimistic, though.
"It seemed that doing course action is not too uncommon," Robillard said. "Bypassing ISIS was a lot easier than I thought it would be."
So far, he said he is enjoying his experience at the University, which he describes as "cool like a couple of Fonzies."
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