Freshman Orientation

Registration for freshman orientation opened up today and I was wondering which session to register for? I’m a business student and the options I have are July 6/7 and July 17/18. It would be slightly easier for me to travel to the later one, but are there any advantages to registering for the earlier session? Thanks!

You might have an easier time in picking electives since it’s so early on but people who go to the later sessions don’t usually have any trouble finding electives to enroll in either. If it’s easier for you to go to the later session that’s probably best. The programming doesn’t differ from session to session.

Sorry I forgot to add this, but will what session I choose matter if I have about 5 AP/college courses coming in?

@dsegCW the session should not matter but make sure you send your AP scores and transcript for the college courses because they setup a preliminary course schedule for you to review at orientation and you want to make sure they take into account those AP/college courses

Sending in the AP scores as soon as possible is the best course but if they don’t have the scores yet or if you’re unsure at that point in time, the advisors still will usually let you adjust your schedule on the assumption that you will get credit for whatever APs you did take. On the off chance that the score doesn’t qualify for credit, they can make the adjustment relatively easily afterwards as well.

Any thoughts on the “Parent Orientation”. Is it a worthwhile 2 day event ?

Back in 2012, my daughter had her AP score report sent to the school directly and they had the scores and her credits assigned before we had gotten our score report.

The Parent Orientation is fun and informative if you can do it - I suggest you go. The kids are mostly in separate sessions and they keep them very busy the night they sleep over (dance party til late). I learned quite a bit and enjoyed stuff like a walking tour of the neighborhood. You get a very good feel for the campus - eating in the dining hall etc. You also socialize with other parents - gives you a feel for the type of student/family that attends NEU. Of course, as luck would have it, the two moms I sat down next to at lunch both came from the same state I live in and one lived one town away!

Be warned the kids will be exhausted after their two days (staying up late the first night and sleeping in an very hot non-air conditioned dorm room). The best recommendation I have is to bring a fan for the student’s dorm room that they stay in (unless things have changed - they put them in stetson or speare).

Some kids make friends at orientation. My daughter did not. However, the crowd she ended up being good friends with (still now 5 years later - her best friends), had its core in an orientation session where a few of them hung out and ate together.

Great info thanks. We will try and get there. Do the parents stay in dorms as well ?

Yes, but in the air conditioned apartment style residences.

There is a fee for the parents to stay in the dorm- $50 per person.

@Juventas - the parent orientation is most useful if it’s the first kind you’re sending to college. I’m the second kid, and my parents said that there was a lot of overlap with the parent orientation at a different school when my brother went to college. But it’s definitely still useful. I went to visit previously with my dad, so it was also really important for my mom to see where I was going and be confident that I was making a good choice going halfway across the country for this school; it really put her at ease.