Some of the worries that Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville (I must mention Neville and his ridiculous toad because he comes to be my favorite character by the 8th movie... for obvious reasons...) have about their first year in school are very similar to the problems or worries first years at Rutgers may face. I wil name about 3 of them. Here we go.
1. Moving to a knew place and not knowing where you are because the place is so gigantic.
Rutgers is a big college, with our 5 different campuses right here at the New Brunswick location. At first it can be overwhelming and you may find that if you just wander around aimlessly, you may find yourself completely lost, perhaps on a moving staircase after you THOUGHT you knew where you were going, or in the forbidden forest next to the quads, or even in the 3rd floor corridor of Tillet ....
I highly doubt you'll find where we keep fluffy on campus.
Something to remember however is that there are maps, like the marauders map (super helpful), plenty of upperclassmen (prefects) to ask and a plethora of ways to find your way around campus like the bus system, nextbus.com, the official rutgers websites with bus schedules and campus maps, and of course public safety - which will tell you the places you need to know, and the places you probably shouldn't be especially if you don't want to run into fluffy.
2. There are so many things to get for my classes, I have no idea if to get them from amazon or the bookstore, or if I even need all the materials listed.
While you might not have Hagrid to guide you to diagon alley, or rather the campus bookstores, there are many options to get your books and supplies on campus. The official campus bookstore across the street from the train station is GUARANTEED to have all of your supplies that are listed for your classes. Whether you need a size 2 pewter cauldron, your handbook for expos, a basic spells book, or an I-clicker, the bookstore has it all. Also, other students might be trying to sell books on the class facebook pages. I say go for it BUT be very cautious because when it comes to expos, the books change and if they say that you need one of their books for one of your classes they may not take into consideration that the book requirements have changed. I don't advise against it, BUT do double check before you buy anything from people on campus. I've bought a couple of my books for cheaper that way but, again, all of your books are guaranteed at the bookstore.
3. I used to be in competitive sports and I want to stay active on campus, where do I start, and will I feel apart of a team or family again?
First of all, if you are in a residence hall, you will definitely feel that competitive edge right in the beginning of the year. Once the sorting hat sorts you into you houses (in the quads of course) or residence halls around the other campuses, you will have the opportunity to create a hall flag and make friends with your fellow house "teammates" before the big competition on one of the first days of the semester... THROWDOWN! There are many activities to compete in and while your there you wear your team colors (whatever color shirt is assigned to your building) and cheer each other on in friendly competition. Whether you get Slytherin (my house!!), Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw Throwdown is definitely something to take part in.
If your looking for the competitive sport that you used to play (quidditch perhaps? Rutgers ACTUALLY has a quidditch team that practices on weekends, btw) Rutgers has many intramural sports available AND sportsclubs. I am personally involved in a club sport and aside from competing against other schools around the country (which is incredibly fun) you can also gain leadership positions from these clubs if you wish. I'm the seeker (president) of the gymnastics club. Definitely stop by the activities fair to try and see the sport clubs that set up there as well as the rest of the clubs and activities on campus. I'll be there!!
Rutgers Quidditch Team. My friend Terek is in the bottom picture!
WELL if any of you haven't gone to Pottermore yet it's definitely a fun social network for Harry Potter fans BUT there is also a social network that you either have been invited to or are going to be invited to soon for admitted students for the fall. This network helped me a lot with meeting some students who had the same worries as me. Just sign in at http://www.go-rutgers.com/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.go-rutgers.com%2F and you're good to go! If you haven't gotten an invitation by email yet, don't worry, it'll come!
AND IF YOU WANTED AN IN DEPTH ANALYSIS ON THE HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE AFFECTING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES....Prof. Alan Reifman speaks about new courses being offered and the growing popularity of quidditch teams on campus.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-campus/201106/harry-potter-quidditch-and-the-american-university
Hope you enjoyed this!
Love,
A fellow Potterhead <3
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