Welcome to Northwestern, Class of 2015. I know it seems like it’s taken forever to get here, but all your hard work has finally paid off. How many times in the last few years has the question “Are we there yet?” crossed your mind as you studied for the AP, ACT, SAT or any other combination of letters? But now, after a four-year trek through the crowded jungles, turbulent waters and shining plateaus of high school, NU is the final stop on a four-year flight fueled by countless homework assignments, dozens of standardized test scores, pages of college applications and numerous extracurricular activities.

But, really, the journey is just beginning. (Please bear with me as I run this passport metaphor into the ground.) Your voyage of discovering who you are as a person – without the pressures of family or high school cliques to get in the way – starts with your new identity as a Northwestern student, a Wildcat who will bleed purple and wear that not-so-masculine color with pride.

Many of you are leaving home for the first time, but the great thing about that is you get to call another place home. Sure, the weather may often be miserable, and you’ll probably have to buy a down parka and a pair of rain boots to survive, but this seems like a small price to pay for a great start to your future.

Unfortunately, there’s no secret treasure map to point out the right path, but hopefully this issue of The Daily will make the transition just a little easier. This was put together by former freshmen who not so long ago packed all the wrong things and also sought the answer to the timeless question, ‘to rush or not to rush?’

I don’t promise that within these pages lie all the answers to all your college questions – only some of them. This isn’t your well-planned and organized family vacation anymore, and the question “Are we there yet?” can only be answered by you from now on. But if ever there was a good time to get lost and just take the time to explore, that time is now.

In just a few short quarters, you will be accomplishing things you never dreamed of attempting. You will help organize or perform in events attended by hundreds of people, build prototypes for gadgets never before invented and even live on an entirely different continent for 11 weeks.

But not everything you achieve will show up on your transcript or