<p>Are any events during Welcome Week mandatory for engineering students? In a letter I received from the department, the "College of Engineering Orientation" has been scheduled for August 24th. Is the orientation solely for students who chose not to attend CalSO?</p>
<p>no, usually those orientations are meant for everyone. and that's where you might get specific information pertaining to your college that you may not have gotten at calso.</p>
<p>Not really. I lived in one of the units last year, and there was an all-building meeting the first night (I think?) and then there was a "mandatory" all-floor meeting during the week. They did take attendance at that, I think, but you could make up any excuse if you really didn't want to go.</p>
<p>The CoE orientation is "mandatory." However, after having gone through it, I must say that there wasn't really any useful information--it mostly consisted of faculty speakers and representatives from student organizations. Then, after the general orientation, you'll have a major orientation (also "mandatory"), in which the department chair goes over the degree requirements and crap like that. Interestingly enough, the PowerPoint presentation Prof. Malik presented for EECS was exactly the same one he used on Cal Day, which I attended. So it was useless for me, not to mention that all the information contained within those slides were in the Undergraduate Notes and elsewhere. For me, Welcome Week was a waste of time in that I didn't learn anything new pertaining to school (I reviewed the degree requirements on my own time)--it's about meeting people, settling down, and getting used to the environment.</p>
<p>but you get a free water bottle!</p>