<p>spiders are OK but I really really hate cockroaches...I want to exterminate them all...</p>
<p>MUAHAHAHAHAHA! :D</p>
<p>Oa=400$...</p>
<p>FA is available. [url=<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Eoa/ft/ftbroch.shtml%5Dhere%5B/url">http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/ft/ftbroch.shtml]here[/url</a>]</p>
<p>so, wha do you say, uh? Coooome on :D</p>
<p>yeah sure, FA is available for those who need it. but what about those who don't, but on the other hand don't want to pay the 400$ because they're already gonna be paying +40k a year for the next four years?</p>
<p>bummer... :o this simple judgement has totally scrambled my neatly sedimented thoughts... I suppose in this case you're right, i mean you do have a solid reason not to come.</p>
<p>on the other hand, you will work, won't you? If you will, the >2,5k you'll win a year might cover, appart from daily spendings, trips and similar stuff...</p>
<p>sorry to scramble your neatly sedimented thoughts pav ;)
yeah i guess you're right, since i'll be working i guess i can make OA
sounds like great fun!!!</p>
<p>DAMN</p>
<p>Look at what a current undergrad has just told me...
[quote]
Also, about Pre orientationI would highly recommend international pre-or. Its really fun, its free, and it helps international students settle down like nothing else. Also, you make amazing friendsthere are close to a hundred people you befriend at intl pre or as opposed to the 10 on outdoor action. We (as in the intl student group) help you figure out paperwork, like social security numbers and bank accounts, and we also happen to be coolest people to hang out with on campus, by virtue of being international. Its not all serious, therell be lots of cool games and parties (when I was a freshman last year, we went mini-golfing one dayawesome fun!)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm confused again...Now what???:(</p>
<p>Sigh. My friend who did IPO told me to go with my gut, as they're both great.</p>
<p>cevonia you aren't helping...well my gut says OA but I do have to pay attention to practicalities like bank accounts :(
<em>ugh</em></p>
<p>Yea, that's all they say: you'll go and play some mini-golf, go to parties, and receive <em>vital</em> help for the bureaucracy issues. Oh, that sounds fun :|</p>
<p>I think that you can do these things anytime after or before OA (for you sucharita, you can solve the ssn, bank etc things in the two days before OA). There's nothing unique to IPO, and i can't stress that enough. </p>
<p>My own feeling about IPO is that there will be a lot of wasted time, and nothing really exciting will happen (parties happen year-round, everything else is common). Also, their being the most cool ppl on campus sounds like the classical enthusiasm and propaganda. And about befriending tons of people instead of just 10, again i have the feeling that it's bullshlt: you will probably just, at most, make many superficial enthusiastic friendships that don't mean anything. Really bonding and more deep friendships, on the other hand, are OA's possible result. </p>
<p>So the main idea is that ten years from now you might remember OA as the incredible way you started off college, but IPO will most certainly fade away among the four year spent on campus.</p>
<p>Oh and my friend, who also did IPO last year, told me that he regrets that he didn't do OA, as IPO was so..... boooring.... :D</p>
<p>My friend met her two best friends at IPO. I don't think that a battle of anecdotes is really going to help swing it either way. I'm confused enough as it is.</p>
<p>you're right, these anecdotes are too subjective, but my earlier arguments are still up, i hope. My present question is: what does IPO has to offer that you won't experience during regular orientation? <em>raises eyebrow</em></p>
<p>I don't know (hence the confusion), especially if I arrive a day or two earlier (it looks as though I might have to because of flights) and set up bank account, buy lamps, etc, then. If that's the case, I'm definitely going to try to persuade my parents to let me do OA, but if I have to cut it much closer, it might be useful to meet the other internationals. </p>
<p>Apparently starting from this year we're only allowed a social security number if we work. That just sucks. And if I take an on campus job, I'm afraid they're going to cut my grant, which sucks even more.</p>
<p>i don't understand: how come your award doesn't include work?
1 Anyway, your award will become final very soon (or has already), so nobody will cut it down after the year starts;
2 even when the job is part of the award, you still receive the money, and you are expected to use them for the books and personal expenses, so anyway you don't pay any part of the tuition with them. I think everything is gonna be ok.</p>
<p>Except if you don't want to work at all, and in this situation i symphatize, but i don't see any solution...</p>
<p>And of the things you have to do (ssn, bank, random shoppings), which are those that a regular american doesn't have to do? The ssn, and maybe the bank account. Except these, everybody has to buy stuff for his/her room etc. The americans who do OA included :) </p>
<p>This is why i regard IPO as more of a social event, which supposedly helps with the acclimatization etc. OA does that fine, too:D.</p>
<p>So if the locals :p (j/k) can handle these practicalities in the first days of the regular orientation, so can we :D
But of course it would be best to arrive a few days earlier (attention, in this case you won't be able to check in your room though, as reminded at the beginning of this thread).</p>
<p>I graduated from a United World College, so my fin aid is covered by the Davis Scholarship. As part of the deal, it replaces work with grants. That means work isn't part of my grant. I don't mind working, and having an SSN is very useful, but I'd be less happy about it if they cut my grant because of it. I guess I'm just being greedy - I mean, it's only fair that they do, after all.</p>
<p>Well, yeah, the acclimatization is a big thing, but I guess I can live without it. And I actually would prefer going shopping with my roommates - kind of a bonding thing, and we'd get to decide together what we want for the room. </p>
<p>OA is getting really tempting...</p>
<p>Haha, that's the spirit!!
You're so right about going shoping with one's roommates! Great idea!</p>
<p>One more thing: do the davis scholarships cover your personal expenses, as well as the tuition, or only the latter? Anyway, if you say that working is ok with you, then there shouldn't be to many problems! Think about it: when you'll drink theat first pint of beer (ok, maybe soda for the next 2-3 years ;) ), won't you feel better when you know that you worked your a$$ for it? <em>winks winks</em>
no? yup, i saw that coming :D:D:D</p>
<p>Pavalon, how much does OA pay you to make such propaganda?
Or perhaps you are a lackey the Jersey Devil sent out to get fresh souls?
I think the second variant.</p>
<p>As for making friends... I befriended my three best friends in camps. There is something about cooking food at the same fire, sleeping in the same tent, eating from the same can of "Oltenesc Sausage in beans", and talking and singing songs at nite, (after a couple of pokemons or rockets), that gets people closer. Closer then say <em>a group of ppl informing 100 ppl on how to make a bank account</em></p>