Observations of a Current Freshman

slavabogu
Sat, 28 Jan 2017 23:46:59 +0000

Hey everyone, I saw the “definitive, objective description of Case Western” when I was a senior in high school, and it helped me make my final college decision. Now that I’ve been here for over a semester (which is not that long, I’ll admit), I want to give back and share my own observations.

School Spirit:
The average Case student is outgoing, extremely involved, and very hardworking. We have our own version of school pride where instead of painting our faces and going to football games, we join as many clubs and take on as much responsibility as possible. Most of the people you’ll meet will be doing at least two of the following: research, volunteering, working a job, being highly involved in a club, or working on insane personal projects. You’re more likely to have trouble sleeping than trouble getting involved.

Administration:
Part of the advantage of going to a school like Case is that the administration will bend over backwards to help you. There’s an office for everything imaginable: a career office, a community service office, a center for LGBT students, a center for women, etc. There’s more opportunities than you can shake a stick at. As an example, the community service office (whose acronym we bastardize to Cecil) obsessively seeks out and publishes community service opportunities, and arranges service programs with transportation.
This isn’t universally true, and you will occasionally run into unhelpful staff or opaque rules, but it is one of the main selling points of the school.

Food:
Nobody can ever really agree how good the food is here, because there’s so many options. I’ll list them and let you decide. If you’re on the default plan you get 19 meals a week, 3 of which are at a place other than Leutner, Fribley, Grab It, or Bag It. These options are sorted by distance from the freshman dorms. (This doesn’t include Halal and Kosher options, which are on a separate meal plan).
I should also mention Case loves Tapingo, which is a smartphone app that lets you order your food as take-out before you get there. You won’t wait in line much here.
Leutner Cafe: This is the all-you-can-eat cafeteria right next to all of the freshman dorms. It’s divided into several stations: one that serves a different dish every day, which ranges from really good to really gross; a grill for burgers and grilled cheese; a repetitive salad bar; and another station that serves pizza for lunch, and tasty combo dinners (rice/beans/chicken), (potato/yams); a row of soda taps and ice cream; and a dessert station that serves cookies, cake, and other various desserts.
L-3: Under Leutner. Serves burgers and pizza and is open until 10pm (Leutner is open until 8pm).
The Den: This is a Case-owned Denny’s right next to the freshman dorms. The selection is pretty standard Denny’s food: greasy and plentiful. The real attraction is that it’s open until 2am, making it a major social hotspot.
Melt U: They serve giant grilled cheese sandwiches with lots of meat and fries. Really tasty and rather unhealthy.
Naan: This place serves tasty Indian food. I can’t speak for its authenticity, but it seems pretty healthy.
Pinzas: Standard pizza place. I’ve heard it’s good, but I like to use my three special swipes on other things.
Grab-It: An entree (sandwich, salad, wrap, etc.), three snacks (bananas, cookies, yogurts, etc.), and a drink. It’s close to where classes are and takes standard meal swipes, so it’s a popular option.
Bag-It: Literally the same thing as Grab-It, but in another place close to classes.
Jolly Scholar: A pretty fantastic restaurant with a take-out option. Unfortunately, you get one swipe here each week.
Fribley: Leutner’s clone on the South side of campus. It has a panini press and a better salad bar than Leutner.
Rough Rider Room: Tasty (but unhealthy) food and it takes regular meal swipes (so you can eat here as much as you want). Definitely underrated, but it’s as far from the freshman dorms as you can get.

Fraternities:
They’re really popular here, and there’s huge variation. I’d certainly recommend checking it out, but read up on fraternity life first and ask yourself what you want before you rush. Some have way more high-profile activities and far more involvement, others are much more casual and require less of a time commitment. Differences in strictness of hierarchy, tolerance of substances, and level of member participation fluctuate wildly between fraternities here.
I’ll use my own fraternity (Beta Theta Pi) as an example. We’re more laid back, keep away from substances, have quieter events revolving around talking to each other and playing games, and place a lot of value on helping each other and our community.

Religious Life:
Religion is very alive and healthy at Case, though you might not notice if you’re not involved.
Christians have two main large groups here, InterVarsity and Cru. The only real difference between them is when they meet. There’s also groups for Catholics, Chinese Christians, and probably others I can’t remember. There are tons of churches close to campus, representing most of the denominations I’ve heard of. Check Google maps to see if yours is represented.
Jewish students have access to a healthy alumni population and are very strong and numerous on campus. Case has a Jewish performing arts center created with an alumni donation, a Jewish fraternity, and an active organization on campus that sends people boxes of snacks close to finals.
There is also a very friendly Muslim Student Association at Case and an active Muslim community in Cleveland. Uqbah Mosque is within walking distance of the quad, and there are always various events going on throughout Cleveland. We have a prayer room in Sears 203, and are always excited to meet more Muslim students!
I unfortunately don’t know much about non-Abrahamic religious groups here, but I do know there’s an active Hindu association.
It goes without saying that we have a huge number of atheists, agnostics, and religious minorities. There is almost no discrimination here, and Case students as a rule are extremely tolerant and friendly.

Partying:
The typical party here is in a locked dorm room between close friends. Between the avalanche of homework and the overwhelming police presence there’s not much room for substance abuse, and if you want the Animal House experience I would recommend a different school.
On the hand, Case parties are much safer than at other schools. You typically know everybody very well, the parties are pretty quiet, and if you drink too much there’s an amnesty policy for people who need hospitalization.
If you’re into giant and substance-free dance parties, however, we’ve got you covered. ZBT is the go-to rave fraternity, and they do a lot of open events. The administration even organizes a dance party for incoming freshmen every fall (one of the highlights of orientation week!).

Feel free to ask any questions. I also apologize in advance for any mistakes in the above. Keep in mind that I’ve only been here one semester.