<p>As we go through this process I feel more and more that the experience a student has Freshman year will determine a lot of his or her success, socially and academically. But it's been hard to find out what colleges do to make the new class comfortable and help them get the courses they want and need. So I was wondering what different schools do to break the ice. For instance, Wellesley assigns each Freshman a big sister (I think), from the upper classes. Some schools have freshman seminars that serve as social centers, or traditions in the dorms that can help kids bond with each other. Does anyone have experience of schools that do a good job reaching out to incoming students, or that don't? What seems to work really well? (Yes, D is a bit shy.)</p>
<p>A lot of schools (Tufts & Johns Hopkins, for example) have a pre-orientation program, where groups of freshmen participate in a common activity, led by upperclassmen. So, they can go hiking/canoeing for a week, do a community service project, etc. My S (JHU grad) made friends on his hiking trip that he kept throughout college; he also ended up essentially mentoring some of the kids from the trips he led (and referred to them as “his kids”).</p>
<p>One question to ask at any college visits is if they have a First Year Experience (FYE) program. This usually involves a group activity and mixers for orientation along with other small group activities throughout the year. My oldest son graduated from Roanoke College where they had that. They also had an optional outdoor adventure pre-orientation that involved a week of things like hiking in the mountains, mountain biking and white water rafting. My youngest son is going to an optional orientation called summer launch next week. It’s just a 2 1/2 day event. His involves an amusement park and camping out but he could have chosen biking in Canada or doing a service project. I think anything like that helps the kids feel more comfortable. The actual orientation is the weekend before classes start and the rest of the students arrive and I think it also has some fun activities as well as needed information.</p>
<p>Gwen, I’m sure you know this but I want to throw it out there for others who might read this thread: </p>
<p>When you read about these initiatives or hear about them on tours, take them with a grain of salt until you get the students’ perspective on them. TONS of initiatives sound very good, they are great at making the college attractive, but in practice (for various reasons), they aren’t funded well, utilized much by students, or for various reasons, don’t have their intended impact. That is true whether we are talking about the freshman book, orientation week, mentorships, or things like “living-learning communities”. I think most colleges do a pretty good job on this front, but it can sometimes be hard to compare colleges because some just sound better on paper than others. </p>
<p>For that reason, I think asking students with direct experiences about them online or in person is really valuable. So if something sounds great, ask around to see if current students got a lot out of it. What <em>really</em> plays out on campus is what really matters of course (best learned from the students’ perspective), rather than what the university marketing department tells you.</p>
<p>D is heading to the music conservatory (Peabody) at Johns Hopkins. In addition to placement exams, ensemble auditions & safety seminars, orientation week includes tours of Baltimore & Washington DC, a trip to the Maryland Zoo, an Oriole/Yankee game at Camden Yards and a community service project. Wow!</p>
<p>Great topic. This is something I think Whitman College does extremely well, as attested to by my sophomore son. They have the ubiquitous pre-orientation outdoor trips that are great, but they also spend an amazing amount of time introducing the freshmen to each other and making sure they are plugged in to the campus. Move-in day this year is on a Thursday and classes don’t start until the following Tuesday. During the intervening 4 days there are mixers, dorm section get-togethers, job fairs, club fairs, games on the quad, meetings with faculty advisors and registration. </p>
<p>After classes begin, the dorm sections continue to have an active role in each freshman’s life, there are regular meetings and all living issues are dealt with as a group. The RA’s are well equipped to mentor the new arrivals and live amongst them to make sure nobody is floundering. Each section has another upperclassman living-in as a student advisor who helps with picking classes, locating the appropriate resources and even proofreading papers. This is in ADDITION to the faculty advisor each student has.</p>
<p>Freshman year was not all roses for my son as he learned many lessons about independence and discipline, but he ended up being successful academically and socially. I think his good outcome was in large part because the college invests a great deal in making it so.</p>
<p>Thank you for the great responses-- yes, Starbright, I guess that’s why I’m asking on here, to hear from people whose kids have real experience of different schools and their programs. Whitman sounds great, the kind of thing I’m hoping we’ll find wherever D goes. I thing a really friendly, open, helpful atmosphere is as important as really good academics.</p>
<p>My d will be starting at Wellesley a month from today - they have the first years start a full week before the other students return. The students are assigned to a specific orientation group, so that they spend time with a smaller group of first years and have a chance to bond/get to know them.</p>
<p>It sounds like they really go out of their way to mix the students and help them get settled in.</p>
<p>I do think this varies a great deal by school. My older daughter was a freshman at Univ of South Carolina. Freshmen and upperclassmen all arrived the same day, and rush was the very first week – so this was a situation where a freshman would have to make more of a concerted effort to find her/his people!</p>
<p>I totally agree with you. Gwen. My son is reserved, he hangs back and observes initially, then once he feels comfortable he dives in. He was accepted to UC Berkeley, but his father and I were very afraid that he would be lost in the mass chaos. You have to be aggressive to survive there. I wanted him in a place where at least someone would notice if he never left his dorm room. Our friends and neighbors looked at us like we had boils all over our heads when they heard that he had decided to go to a small school they had never heard of instead mighty Cal. I just keep saying that Berkeley will be a great place for grad school.</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding sappy, I’d say that a good fit enhances these experiences immensely. My D is a maverick type who is often kind of cynical about these things, but she threw herself whole-heartedly into the activities at her recent orientation session. It helped that she was in a group with some kids that she really clicked with - but on the other hand, she really clicked with them, because she’s happy about going to this school. The events and services sounded pretty standard - ice-breakers, info sessions, registration, a talent show. D thought they were fun and can’t wait to get started.</p>
<p>It’s nice when there are some activities, and even some special classes, that continue this experience into the first semester. Where I went to college we had a house system, which was ideal for creating community and getting kids involved. I’m surprised that doesn’t seem to be more prevalent, actually. I think most schools encourage some kind of pod-like living, though. And just the fact that kids are on one floor, or a particular hallway, seems to draw them together.</p>
<p>Gwen, I just ran into one of your previous posts. Whitman has a terrific theater department!</p>
<p>Gwen, things certainly have changed over the years re: orientation. When I went through it at Iowa in the '70’s, I thought a GREAT common bond was the school making sure that the small orientation group I was in all ended up in the same Rhetoric (English) class, which at that time was a mandatory 1st semester frosh class. We may have been in different dorms, but at a big school it was a good linkage. Also helped that each night, our group ended up at the bars in Iowa City–18 year olds could get in then.</p>
<p>D1 went through orientation at Iowa 30 years later, and IMO it was still run very well, with a decidedly cool small school feel, albeit without the bar part at night! She still is close friends with girls from that same group. D2’s experience was at UW-Madison, and although she loves the place, I thought comparitively that the orientation program was a little haphazard & didn’t quite measure up with Iowa’s from a social standpoint. She made more friends once she settled into her dorm, which was substance-free by her choice.</p>
<p>But I will say that both Iowa & UW-Madison’s orientations were MUCH more focused on making sure these freshman got off on the right foot with their class schedules, despite the fact that these students at that point have nary a clue as to their career path for the most part. Back in the '70’s, before computers, it was “…OK, you want this class? Sign up here, but in PENCIL in case it’s closed out.” HAH! :)</p>
<p>Oh how I wish for an east coast Whitman! Thank you bopambo. </p>
<p>jnm123: Iowa City bars::my youth. I miss Dave’s Foxhead! And The Mill! And…The Vine?</p>
<p>My D is a rising sophomore at Elon. They really walk the talk on this subject. They have several optional pre-freshman experiences over the summer, then all freshmen have orientation for 4 days before classes start. The orientation is heavy on “bonding”, traditions, meeting people, etc. In addition once classes started they had a Sports Fest where kids formed co-ed teams and competed in all sorts of silly relay races, tug of wars, etc. There’s a big fair with all of the campus activities early in the fall, so kids can find groups that interest them. (I’m sure all colleges have an activities fair). D was also in an experimental freshman English class, where all the students in her class lived on her (co-ed) floor. It worked out really well - class discussions were livelier, and kids were able to work together on assignments. The professor said it was one of the best classes she’s ever taught. Elon is building new housing and moving toward doing this with either English or another freshmen core class for all freshmen. </p>
<p>The other thing they offer is a one-credit, pass/fail class called Elon 101. 95% of students take this class, which is once or twice a week for the first half of the semester. A professor and TA walk the kids thru the library, talk about who to see in the administration about different issues, discuss common pitfalls for freshman, and walk the kids through registering for their spring semester classes. It’s a really easy class to meet people in.</p>
<p>As an undergraduate, I attended a small LAC for a year (Colorado College), and then graduated from a large state school (UT-Austin). The differences with regard to this aspect were more than just significant, they were extreme. At Colorado College I remember quite a bit of handholding going on. At UT, they throw you in the deep end, without a life preserver, and you sink or swim on your own.</p>
<p>Two kids in college and two different first year experiences. Both were good for different reasons and for different children. My daughter was fairly shy and my son was looking to grab all of the college experience possible. Both of my kids are at Quakers colleges (we’re not Quaker). The community is very much part of their culture. After watching my daughters experience at Earlham and comparing it with her high school friends I wanted my son to consider it … no way not my sisters school… After talking with other I was hopeful that a different Quaker school would have many of the same attributes that I found so welcoming at Earlham. And although they are very different they have many of the same great qualities. </p>
<p>Earlham offered pre-orientation summer programs. My daughter did one that was to help with the international student (IS) orientation. Earlham has a larger percentage of IS. IS have a pre orientation the week before regular orientation to help them acclimate and deal with time changes as well as have a peer connection. They also offered a wilderness camping and something else.</p>
<p>They both did the typical 3 - 4 day orientation stuff… and then had a cool First Year Experience class. Guilford’s program included a learning community living situation based on the students FYE class. My son’s was the History of Food (or Cooking- I don’t remember). The class of sixteen lived together in a wing of one dorm and started their experience together the first night of orientation. So if your roommate wasn’t a good “fit” there was someone else you could connect with. My son has with a couple really good friends from this. </p>
<p>Both, Earlham and Guilford, did a good job matching my kids with roommates. Neither of my kids became best friends with their first year roommate but they were great matches. </p>
<p>Advisors—My daughter is still close with her original academic advisor who had her cohort to a meal at her house during the first two weeks and at least once a semester after that. My son’s academic advisor invited a group of the students to Thanksgiving dinner that weren’t going to have a chance to go home. Great experience. </p>
<p>Have you read the Happiest Kid on Campus? I picked it up because of a recommendation at the summer orientation for my son. Then I bought the Naked Roommate for my son. He’s made more than one reference to it during his first year. He’ll be an RA this coming year and my guess is that he’ll share that book with some of the freshman on his floor.</p>
<p>Many small colleges do freshman summer wilderness programs but College of the Atlantic has a wilderness orientation program for all students. My son looked at this school and one of the things the current students talked about was that orientation. It built instant community and an unbelievable common experience for all.</p>
<p>Austinareadad, I totally believe this would be true (from LAC to large state) but could it also in part be due to the fact that you did your freshman year at the LAC, but only experienced UTA in your second year? </p>
<p>Also can you provide some detail on what it was like? The reason I ask is this distinction between small and large schools comes up often and it would be good to have a handle on how it plays out. What does it mean to be thrown in the deep end? What would Colorado College, for example, have done differently or provided you with in your second year that UTA did not?</p>
<p>I suspect I’m a bit older than the average parent on CC. My observation is that since my college days and today, the colleges have gotten immeasurable smarter about a couple of things. One is the importance of aiding freshmen in making social connections. The second is the importance of providing academic help to students who need it.</p>
<p>starbright, </p>
<p>UT offered virtually no advising (they had student advisers who knew absolutely nothing) and choosing courses and selecting majors consisted of standing in long lines, going from one station to the next, and getting forms stamped. Everything was assembly line-style, with no personal attention. Colorado College offered that personal attention, with real faculty advisers with which the student could discuss classes, majors, degree plans, and virtually anything else school-related.</p>
<p>The professors at UT, teaching classes with several hundred students, had no time, interest, or energy to advise or otherwise help the horde of lower division students who were in their classes. At Colorado College, the classes were all quite small, and it was easy to get to know the professors, who could then add their advice to that the student received from the student’s faculty adviser.</p>
<p>Also, at UT, since it is so large and the admission requirements are not as high as at selective LAC’s, there is virtually no mutual respect between the students, unless they are in the same upper division courses in the same major. At LAC’s like Colorado College, there is some degree of mutual respect just based on being in the same school. That makes the social environment much warmer and friendlier.</p>
<p>OK, Austinareadad, let me ask you this, because my Houston-area niece who’s a rising senior is considering UT-Austin: is the advance advising NONEXISTENT or only there if the student asks for it? There’s a distinction there. I’m comparing it to my D’s experience at UW-Madison, which is almost as large & bureaucratic as UT. At Madison, the incoming freshman really had to initiate advisory contact in advance of orientation to make any progress. Fortunately the university website is top-notch & explained to a certain extent the nuances of choosing classes, requirements depending on major, ‘wish lists’, etc. Maybe in a perfect world it shouldn’t be left to the student, but budgetary concerns might be the cause of this & I told my daughter to do her homework & NOT leave her fate in the hands of a student at orientation.</p>