<p>Hey, anyone care to share their impressions of Orientation this week? </p>
<p>Excited? Freaked out? Good news? How was scheduling? What activities did they have planned for students? How was the dorm? </p>
<p>We who will be coming in over the next two months would love some feedback and advice!</p>
<p>Scheduling and organization were top notch. Things were moving smoothly, everybody knew what they were doing and where they were going or needed to be going.</p>
<p>Content is another matter. From a student perspective, D tells me it was OK though not something she would characterize as terribly important. The TO session explained how the various classes map onto GEs, what APs do and do not work for offsetting TO requirements, how registration works, etc and provided 2-paragraph summaries of the courses offered. They offer only 5 seats in each section at every session. This has two implications --- those of you in the later sessions will have very similar opportunities; when registration starts at 1pm on the second day the student should immediately click on the Core 102 session they desire instead of waiting for the instructors to finish their spiel (I am also told that students from previous sessions who could not get into the sections they wanted use this as an opportunity to sneak into a session they prefer --- hint, hint, hint). Everything else in the student program is apparently more or less fluff. As you can tell D is a cynic, just like her dad.</p>
<p>The parental reaction is "meh" for me, though there were plenty of other parents who stated it was useful for them. 95% of the information provided is readily available on the web, so if you can read and are willing to do the work, save yourself whatever the registration fee is and just surf the web. Those 95% have been discussed here over the past few months. </p>
<p>There were two things that were useful: details on the support services available to the student and the parent, particularly the health center and the various "crisis" counseling, etc.; and the student panel session where one parent asked a very interesting question of the students --- if they could do it all over again, what would they advise their parents with respect to "do's" and "dont's". The spirit rally seemed to be enjoyable to many. I have ranted against the jock mentality many times now, so I guess you know what my opinion of it is. The "tears and cheers" session at the end was useful if you need to know that most parents are like you, and suffer from deep separation anxiety over the upcoming events; or if you are like some people I know who are total control freaks and need to hear from other people that they should back off a bit (honey, please don't hurt me after you read this :D)</p>
<p>Overall, the session was a pleasant experience that was definitely not worth the money from a practical standpoint, but is a decent way to spend two days with your kid that they would otherwise not want to spend with you.</p>
<p>Two noteworthy points --- the sessions on the first day start at 8am and run till 10pm, wear comfortable shoes and clothes; and D was able to change her major (she was undecided) at the session.</p>
<p>Groovy if you dont mind me asking, could you ask your daughter specifically how she went about changing her major? (i.e. time, specific session). I'm in the same boat as an incoming transfer, I need my major changed to Business Administration</p>
<p>Groovy - Thanks for your honesty and the helpful information. I'm feeling less guilty now about missing orientation. I guessed that most of the material would be stuff I could find on my own, and I decided to save money for parents weekend and move-in weekend. </p>
<p>I'd love to hear more about how it was socially for the kids - did they have a dance or similar event? Did anyone who arrived the night before get a chance to meet other students? Was it mostly students doing one set of meetings, and parents doing another, then joining up for meals and the spirit rally?</p>
<p>Thanks all!</p>
<p>
[quote]
could you ask your daughter specifically how she went about changing her major
[/quote]
She approached an orientations advisor from the relevant school during lunch on the first day, they took her over to the department office, she filled out a form, the department notified her of the decision during lunch on the second day. This was for Annenberg, not sure how things are at Marshal.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'd love to hear more about how it was socially for the kids - did they have a dance or similar event?
[/quote]
There were MANY kids who were there on their own, though mostly from the surrounding areas. There was a student mixer/dance starting at 10pm on the first day. There was supposedly something to do the night before, we arrived at 8:30am on the day of the session so I cannot say for sure. By the way, all the events before the "academic expectations" session on the first day were DEFINITELY fluff (welcome speech, meeting with the president of the Parents Council, etc), it is perfectly OK to arrive around 10:30am on the day of the session without missing anything of note.</p>
<p>If your S or D are reasonably self-sufficient, lack of parental presence is definitely not a hindrance for the administrative aspects. Depending on what your relationship is with your kid, it many be a benefit in the social aspect. My wife and I pretty much tried to turn invisible during lunch and dinner, to give D a chance to interact with her future classmates without feeling like there is a parent watching over her shoulder.</p>
<p>P.S. The super-shuttle runs from the airport to Gate 1 (50 yards away from the dorm where the students stay), on the way back they can get the office at the dorm to call up another super-shuttle to take them straight to the airport. The cost is $16 each way, I think (we took a cab) and given the logistics it should be perfectly safe.</p>
<p>Forgot to answer this one
[quote]
Was it mostly students doing one set of meetings, and parents doing another, then joining up for meals and the spirit rally?
[/quote]
With very few exceptions, parents and students are separated right after lunch on the first day. Even lunch during the second day was separate --- parents had a nice meal in the Town & Gown building, students ate box lunch on the lawn.</p>
<p>Thanks for your great input Groovy. Can you share what your D's schedule ended up looking like? Did she get the TO classes she wanted? Did they encourage her to sign up for Core 102 and Writing 111 the first semester? </p>
<p>Also, you teased us with "the student panel session where one parent asked a very interesting question of the students --- if they could do it all over again, what would they advise their parents with respect to "do's" and "dont's"</p>
<p>So what did they say? </p>
<p>Thanks again</p>
<p>
[quote]
Can you share what your D's schedule ended up looking like?
[/quote]
20 hrs of lectures and labs per week, some of which allegedly do not meet every week. This includes 2 hrs of freshman seminar. Relatively compact, nothing before 10am, some as late as 6pm. 1 TO core, 1 writing seminar, 1 language class, and 1 class related to her major.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Did she get the TO classes she wanted?
[/quote]
Yes, but she was lucky to have a good orientation adviser who told her to start clicking as soon as she gets in the scheduling session, and not wait for the TO advisers to finish their intro speech. As I said, they only open 5 seats per section at each session. The students are given the course descriptions the day before, and they are supposed to chose their top 3. If there is a clear #1, the trick is allegedly to click it in the system as soon as you walk into the door during the registration session. D was done with registration within an hour, but told me that some kids stayed considerably longer because the TO sections they wanted filled up and they had to move things around.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Did they encourage her to sign up for Core 102 and Writing 111 the first semester?
[/quote]
Yes, this is the "default minimum". SCA students, as well as select other majors that require getting GEs out of the way quickly are also advised to sign up for a Core 104, which can allegedly get to be a lot of work.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So what did they say?
[/quote]
<p>GroovyGreek -- This is incredibly helpful info, especially with regard to registering for TO classes. Is each student seated in front of a computer during the relevant registration session? Given the large number of students there for orientation, how do they make this work? If the students register in waves, how are the 5 spaces allocated? Or do TO students register separately?</p>
<p>^My daughter originally did not get the second TO class that she wanted because of this problem. However, they finally relented and let her register.</p>
<p>^^ Don't want to anticipate a problem, but how did she get them to let her do this?</p>
<p>I think several students there expressed their frustation and the people at the USC orientation finally let them registered.</p>
<p>Orientation was fantastic! There were many opportunities to meet people in your dorm and your major, which I appreciated. I really got an idea of what my life at USC will be like, which will help me prepare (whether that's buying dorm stuff or knowing which classes I will need to prepare for more or putting money on my SC card early.) If you have any specific questions for a student who has gone through Orientation, please ask!</p>
<p>How much of a schedule should kids try to arrange before they show up at orientation? My son is totally confused about trying to figure out pre-orientation what to take for general ed and how many electives he can take. Also, what about AP credits? Since he usually gets 5's, does he anticipate that and not sign up for anything that resembles his AP credits?</p>
<p>USC</a> ARR : Articulation : Advanced Placement Exams
that is the website that says which AP credits count for which GE classes and other pre-req.</p>
<p>No need to stress out over the infinite choices presented in the catalog. 1st semester will almost certainly be a GE class with its associated WRIT140 section
SI</a> | USC Schedule of Classes
WRIT</a> | USC Schedule of Classes</p>
<p>This will likely be supplemented with a foreign language class, possibly one class related to the major or a second GE class, and an optional freshman seminar. This makes the choices relatively well defined. Here is some additional info on the GE program
USC's</a> General Education Program
GE</a> Course Guide Index</p>
<p>Perhaps gotrojans! can provide with some more detail, but generally the job of the registration advisers is to sort out issues arising from analysis paralysis.</p>
<p>Apparently we are already afflicted with Analysis Paralysis - thanks for the links.</p>
<p>GroovyGeek, how did you find all these websites? We've been looking at the USC website for a while and don't remember coming across these sites at all.</p>
<p>If you google it, you'll find these websites.</p>
<p>I'm wondering if anyone has a sense of whether any kids who were admitted to TO decided not to follow through with it at orientation. My son, the spring admit who was moved up to fall, had to apply late. He just received a letter saying he is admitted to the program, but only if space becomes available. The program is full, assuming everyone admitted actually enrolls. So if you have any information about kids opting out, I'd love to hear it! I know this is not a scientific survey, but I just wonder how often students actually opt out. </p>
<p>Also, for people who have attended the TO sessions, were they fairly emphatic that you can't enroll in TO and then just shop around the first couple weeks before deciding whether to stay in the program?</p>