<p>Internationa student orientation
it begins on the 28th right? Is it worth it? ( I'd rather spend those days buying stuff for my dorm and then just do NSO) Is it obligatory to attend?</p>
<p>I'm not an international student, so I don't follow this too closely, but its my understanding that ISO is mandatory.</p>
<p>aghh god damn it, more orientation.. I just don't really feel like going to orientation with only internationals and then going through the same thing ( I guess its different though) with everyone else....oh well..thanks for the help</p>
<p>Lots of info online: <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/oip/iss/orientation/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.upenn.edu/oip/iss/orientation/index.html</a></p>
<p>Is International Student Orientation mandatory?
Yes. ISO is required for new F-1 and J-1 students, including transfer and exchange students. US permanent residents, US citizens who are living abroad and students on other US visa types are welcome, but not required to attend.</p>
<p>It's not <em>really</em> mandatory. I'm Canadian and although I did go to mine, I found it to be a huge waste of time and nobody ever took my name down to make sure I was there.</p>
<p>Though some activities are quite boring, i strongly recommend you to attend ISO. It's a great opportunity for getting to know all the international kids and by coming to the campus earlier you will learn where the important buildings are if you didn't have a chance to see Penn before. It's true that ISO and NSO involves some similar activities, however as nodnard mentioned most of the events are not mandatory therefore you don't have to attend the boring ones for the second time during NSO.</p>