First Year Student

First Year Experience

First Year Experience

As a first year student, it’s important that you get connected to the support services and programs that will help you to be successful at NIU. We’re here to help you integrate into the academic and social communities found on our campus so that you can make NIU your home away from home.


Stay Connected

  • Join your Facebook Group.
  • Check out the NIU Event Calendar.
  • Read the weekly Dean of Students Messages.


Build Community

  • Start building your community and learn about the diversity on campus through the Academic and Cultural Resources Centers, and programming hosted by Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
  • Join a Special Interest Community (SIC), to live with other students with similar interests or backgrounds to engage in thematic programming, Living Learning Community (LLC), to live with students with common academic interests and learn from faculty and professionals about your chosen field.


Prepare for Success

  • Follow the Academic Calendar to stay up to date about things like course registration and university closures.
  • Meet with your academic advisor at least once a semester.
  • Take UNIV or college gateway course.
  • Research account holds in MyNIU.
  • Understand your financial aid award package and begin planning for repayment of loans.
  • Understand your campus fees.
  • Purchase and utilize your text books.
  • Take advantage of wrap-around support programs, including Honors, CHANCE, or Student-Athlete Academic Support Services (SAASS).
  • Utilize tutoring and academic support services, including the A+ Program, Peer Assisted Learning (PAL), Supplemental Instruction (SI), and the Writing Center.


Get Involved

  • Attend Week of Welcome (WOW).
  • Join an organization or co-curricular activity.
  • Get connected with a faculty or staff member through mentorship or research.
  • Attend First Year Success Series events, designed to support you through your first year and prepare for your second year on campus by completing your Huskie Road Map.
  • Initiate and integrate your common intellectual experience broadly across campus, while strengthening relationships with NIU community and beyond through the Common Reading Experience.

Resources by College

Management Mentoring Initiative

Advisory Board is excited to welcome you to the Mentoring Program! Our goal with this initiative is to connect students with one another and build the bonds of leadership, communication, and inclusivity within the management department. This program is even more important now as we enter unprecedented times. As returning students, we have knowledge and experience that can benefit incoming students coming to college with new challenges. We hope that the Mentoring Program can be just as much a learning experience for you as it will be for our Mentees.

The Management and Business Administration Student Advisory Board is excited to welcome you to the Mentoring Program! Our goal with this initiative is to connect students with one another and build the bonds of leadership, communication, and inclusivity within the management department. This program is even more important now as we enter unprecedented times. As returning students, we have knowledge and experience that can benefit incoming students coming to college with new challenges. We hope that the Mentoring Program can be just as much a learning experience for you as it will be for our Mentees.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

  • ESL Center and Writers' Workshop
  • Physics Help Room
  • ECON Study Lab
  • Language Learning Center
  • Foreign Language Residency Program

We offer first year students art events--concerts, plays, dances, exhibits-- all free due to the new Art and Culture fee. There's also our blog, which features some great stories about students and faculty.

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