congrats everyone! i didn't see this thread, so posted something on the other one about gbr and housing.
but one thing i must advocate is MTrek. about 40-50% go, maybe more. that's half the class and it certainly does feel like more than half goes. but the reason to go is not because you'll feel left out of friendships, but that you'll miss an amazing opportunity to form amazing friendships.
i cannot emphasize how amazingly awesome my trip was - both the trip itself as well as getting to bond with a wonderful group of people. you will not have the same experience during RLI or any other experience on campus. i formed close friendships with my MTrek group and we continue to be great friends. this is true of most of the other treks as well, though i'm biased towards mine
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you really can't form the same bonds as you do during class, group projects, etc. and you may not even meet some of these folks if you were not to go on an mtrek simply because you're in a class of 500 and take classes your first year with the same group of 80 people. i have worked with some of my mtrek mates in group and club settings and if i hadn't met them during the mtrek, i'm fairly certain i would not have gotten to know them so well, or maybe even at all. another plug for mtreks is that you'll quickly get sucked into your sections and having friends from mtreks gives you a different group of friends and people you know.
go on an mtrek! if it's a financial concern, the extra thousand or so is just a drop in the bucket compared with the rest of your time at ross. this is *totally* worth the investment. it's about the friendships you'll form.
also, go for trip you would never do on your own or takes you down the beaten path. you have winter and spring breaks to go on spring break type trips (we just had spring break and folks went to PR, colombia, cabo, hawaii to name a few) but the opportunity to visit a remote destination with a self-selecting group of amazing individuals is priceless, perhaps even once-in-a-lifetime. hiking through the jungle, camping on a quiet beach, waking up for the sunrise, dancing to a stereo in a small village - these are all great shared moments that let you get to know others on such a deeper level. mtreks are absolutely worth it. no doubt.