Tulane transfer senior Max Behrens left a chunk of his college life in New Orleans when he relocated to Northwestern after Hurricane Katrina.

Of the 80 students admitted to NU’s Evanston campus from New Orleans schools, 16 were freshmen and 64 were sophomores, juniors and seniors, said Michael Mills, associate provost of university enrollment.

Freshman transfers started college at a different place than they expected, while upperclassmen had to resume life at a campus across the country.

“You’re really getting pulled out of your element,” Behrens said.

LEAVING TULANE

Behrens, a music and cell and molecular biology double major, researched and taught in New Orleans during the summer. He said he recognized what he had left behind after the levees broke.

“You feel like you know your department, you know your classes, you know your classmates,” he said.

Relocating to NU was mostly a letdown for Tulane transfer freshman Liz White. She said she was admitted early to Tulane and had prepared herself for her first year of college there.

“I was disappointed at first because my heart was set on Tulane,” she said.

DIFFERENT DORM LIFE

Behrens went from living with two roommates in his house near Tulane to occupying a single in a freshman-filled Foster-Walker Complex hall.

“Now I live in a nine-by-12 foot box,” he said.

Eating during dining hall hours has been a major adjustment, Behrens said. Tulane provided 24-hour food service, he said.

He said living among younger students also was trying.

“It’s difficult for me to relate to where these people are and where they’re coming from, and it’s probably more difficult for them to relate to me,” he said.

The transition to NU dorms was mostly smooth for transfer freshmen. Transfer freshman Liz Spencer, White’s roommate in the Public Affairs Residential College, said she had no expectations about dorm life.

White said she was grateful to live in PARC, even though public affairs don’t interest her. “I was just relieved to unpack my bags and know that I got somewhere for a semester,” White said.

THE WORKLOAD

For some Tulane transfer freshmen, NU’s academics were like college academics for any entering freshman: rigorous.

White’s media texts midterm, analyzing a scene from “Citizen Kane,” was daunting.

But freshmen said NU allowed them to take courses other than the survey courses they might have taken at Tulane. Several professors reserved spots for Tulane students.

“I didn’t expect to take classes I liked my freshman year,” said Spencer, who is enrolled in Chinese and environmental crises courses.

Behrens, who already took three years of classes at Tulane, has tried to take courses not offered at his school, such as music cognition. He said he already established his work ethic, and NU academics haven’t been a major change.

“A serious student is going to be pretty much the same everywhere,” he said.

SOCIAL SCENE

White has gotten used to going to The Keg of Evanston on Monday nights with her friends, she said. She enthusiastically described her first fraternity party.

“At that time we were like celebrities,” she said. “Everyone just wanted to meet the Tulane students.”

Behrens had a harder adjustment to the party scene. He said coming to NU, where a lot of parties seem are on campus, was a shock.

“At college, I’ve never gotten homesick,” he said. “Here, I am New Orleans-sick and Tulane-sick.”

GOING BACK

But the pull back to Tulane isn’t as strong for some freshmen as it is for Behrens.

White said she was interested in returning to New Orleans, but her plans are not definite. She doesn’t want to lose her NU friends.

“It’s hard for freshmen to say, ‘I’m definitely going back’ because we don’t have any ties to the school yet,” said Spencer, who plans to return to Tulane but come back to NU to visit her friends.

Behrens, however, said he was eager to return to Tulane.

“That’s the diploma I want on my wall,” he said.

Reach Lauren Pond at [email protected].