<p>Hey there. Tomorrow is my Orientation for college. I'm in mixed emotions right now ranging from excited to extremely nervous. The program is an over-night program so I will be living on campus for the night. I'm just worried about the whole process and would appreciate any info you could supply me with. Basically in a nutshell, what is orientation all about?</p>
<p>Well, I can only speak for my orientation really, but here goes. I played games with people, learned about the university, and registered for classes.
I had to do an overnight orientation too; it prepared me for how unairconditioned the freshman dorms would be 
, and it was a great bonding experience.</p>
<p>I second what clarinette had to say. Plus, it really was kind of awkward because everyone is trying to be your best friend. Don’t let this ruin your idea of the school; once I actually started, it was nothing like orientation.</p>
<p>Orientation is a BIG waste of time and chances are, the people you meet, you won’t see ever again (or highly unlikely to meet again) depending on how big the school is.</p>
<p>The key is signing up for classes. Also, if you can avoid going to certain events…do so. Your main focus should be on getting into he right classes with the professors you want. Take advantage of special sessions advisers may have for helping you to select classes!</p>
<p>I thought it was a really great experience! I was really nervous too but orientation actually made me feel a lot more excited about college. Yes, registration is one of the most important things and it’s important to take time to think about what you’re signing up for (and think of back up options! have an alternative plan or two in case the classes you want are filled by the time you sign up) but I also had a great time talking to people and making friends. It’s probably true that I won’t hang out with most/any of them when we get to college but it was mainly nice to see that bonding with people wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Everyone’s looking to meet new people and make new friends, so although I know it’s much easier said than done, try to calm down because orientation has the potential to be super fun! And if it’s not, it’s only 2 days and you’ll get through it :)</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s nothing to really get nervous over. For the most part nobody knows each other so as others have mentioned most people are very friendly. For us we did bonding activities in groups, ate at one of the dining halls, etc. I found it fun.</p>
<p>As other have mentioned, have a plan for courses you are going to register for, because you will be registering for classes and most likely meeting with an adviser.</p>
<p>As a side note, I am friends with one of the people I roomed with on my overnight stay. But we became friends later, not at orientation.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. I’m a lot less worried! As mentioned before this is an overnight thing so I’m not sure if the person I room with tomorrow is gonna be my roomate for when the semester starts in September? That’s probably my biggest concern at this point because as many of you guys mentioned. It’s highly unlikely that I talk to the people that I meet tomorrow again.</p>
<p>Mine wasn’t, but we could have chosen to do so. My school had a special kiosk to request a certain person as a roommate during FOCUS (what Valpo calls orientation).</p>