Freshman Orientation and Summer Plans

I am visiting my family in Iran and Holland a final time before I go to college for 2 months (June 15-August 15). I was wondering if I would be rejected from my schools if I did not attend orientation and if there is an alternative date or online seminar in which I can accomplish the important aspects of orientation.

**August 10

Different at every school, you need to call the school.
Often you sign up for classes at orientation.
Most schools having mid summer orientation have a final round of orientation just before school starts,
specifically for students that would have to travel very far to attend (and can’t attend mid summer).

@blevine would my parent(s) be able to attend without me?

No

First get into colleges and.choose where you will attend.
Second see when the orientation is, when classes start etc.
Third if necessary adjust your trip accordingly. You do not want to miss orientation or the start of the school year.

@happy1 my ticket has been booked, and I am going because it may be the last time I see some of my family members such as my Grandma and grandpa. If I am missing orientation, do you think if I contact the school I am going to, they will allow for me to still enroll?

It will vary by school, but the large public flagship and the small liberal arts school my two kids have attended have each had summer orientation, with dates starting first week of June, and then also have another process for international students right before freshman move-in, as those international students are not going to travel to US in the summer for the 2 day “regular” registration event in June or July.

Once you are admitted, you can contact the office which handles first year orientation, and find out how they handle special circumstances. Undoubtedly, students have special circumstances come up that interfere with regular programming.

Be admitted first, then find out what the options are. I’m pretty sure there will be a way to work around your travel.

You need to contact the college and ask your question.

One daughter’s school had several orientation dates from May through July, and then I think one the few days before school actually started. Absolutely no big deal if you couldn’t get to one although the students did register for classes at orientation. My daughter was in one of the later group and still got all the classes she needed as some majors ‘reserve’ spots for their students.

Other daughter goes to a school with about 1/3 of the student from instate, 1/3 from OOS, and 1/3 international. They just do orientation the week before school starts and they pre-register all students by major. 80% of the school is engineering or stem, so they are all taking the same calc, chem, physics, etc classes. Again, not a big deal if you can’t get there.

You will not be the first or the last college student who miss college orientation. Like other posters said, find out where you will be admitted and contact the admission there.