Psithurism

Case do what?!

There were many stories passed around my high school about life at Case. Most of these were centered around the ‘fact’ that Case students cried themselves to sleep at night because:

A. They had a terrible workload.
B. There was nothing for them to do besides that load of work.

This, as I'm sure you can imagine, made me worry. In an attempt to either verify or disprove these conceptions I was developing about Case, I turned to the internet. (Because if it’s on the internet, it must be true.)

An enterprising student can discover lots of things about Case online, through a network of Facebook groups, Wikipedia articles, and college message boards (targeted towards worried prospies like myself), which provided invaluable information for me. If one goes to the Wikipedia article about Case, the only fact mentioned in the Quality of Life section states that Case students are the nineteenth unhappiest in the nation. Excellent. The Facebook group “Case Can Be Enjoyable if You Stop Bitching About It And Find Stuff To Do!” , however, voices a different opinion:

Multiple threads from College Confidential (a message board site for prospies) feature prospective students worrying about the same two things: Is the workload at Case really hard? Will I be able to maintain a good GPA? Is there anything to do on the weekends?

Most current students respond positively to these worries. Yes, you can handle the workload, yes, you can leave campus on the weekends. However, for the incoming frosh, some of these (mis?)conceptions are enough to make them consider turning away from the university completely.

Finally being here, and looking around on my floor and dorm, the most common bulletin board themes revolve around academic assistance or intramural sports, clubs, and other ways to be social around campus.

Why, that's interesting. Weren't those the two main concerns voiced by students incoming to Case? Case is certainly not oblivious to the outside world and the perceptions that students have coming into their campus environment.

My hypothesis, then, is that Case has specifically tailored the postings in our dorms not just to make our transition to university life more comfortable, but to actively change our perceptions about the university in two main cases: academics and activity. Knowing that many students come to Case with concerns about taking on an impossible workload, not having fun, and crying themselves to sleep at night, it makes sense that the writing on our walls exists to actively contradict that. This planned writing shapes student life by encouraging them to get out, and to discourage the stereotypes that Case (and the student body) fear to exist about the university.