Orientation 2014 Tips

Colleges and Universities A-Z Indiana University - Bloomington
1

<p>I finished New Student Orientation at IU with my son on Friday 6/20. Thanks to people on this board, we arrived with our collective stuff together and had a successful experience. Others did not... Frankly I was sad to see so many people arriving thinking everything would be okay with no effort on their part. Since the Orientation schedule is pretty full, you need to get ready now.</p>

<p>I know people on this board are well informed, but here are some thoughts and tips for your consideration:</p>

<p>Thoughts:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>A great majority of the information presented to both students and parents is redundant if you were paying attention during your IU selection process and campus visits. Honestly, we came away with very little new info and thought the whole process could have been done in one day.</p></li>
<li><p>Parents and students spend most of their time on day 1 separated attending independent sessions. When comparing notes on information presented, we found that most of it was the same. The big benefit to the students was the opportunity to get to know other freshmen and upperclassmen and get the inside scoop. That had a lot of value.</p></li>
<li><p>IMHO, IU spends way too much time at Orientation selling you once again on how great the place is even while the entire audience has paid their admission fee and is hopefully already excited to be there. On the other hand my son told me on the trip home that he finally feels like this is "his school", so there is a method to their madness. Nonetheless, I felt that things could be tightened up considerably.</p></li>
<li><p>Every session started on time and things were reasonably well organized. The kids running the sessions were all very friendly and helpful. Kudus to them!</p></li>
<li><p>Several of the sessions presented by staffers were rambling affairs, but you've got little choice but to endure them since the first day is one long track with no alternatives but to skip a time slot. Few kudos to them. Oddly enough, the Bursar gave the best presentation. LOL</p></li>
<li><p>You will be advised and register on day 2. The student will be alone. The student will then be sent to a location where computers are available to use the OneStart system.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Tips:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>WARNING!!!! Come to New Student Orientation with your homework done on the classes you want to take. I saw way way too many people showing up without having looked at anything and hoping for the best. You will get a 1 hour advising session and then you're on your own to use their software to register. Don't be the deer in the IU headlights.</p></li>
<li><p>Follow the steps IU gives you here: <a href="http://ud.indiana.edu/first-steps/index.shtml"&gt;http://ud.indiana.edu/first-steps/index.shtml&lt;/a> and take the placement tests. Also take the financial course and the myedu substance abuse course.</p></li>
<li><p>Use the IU course browser to find the class you want and then pay attention to the various sections offered. note the professors and times. <a href="http://registrar.indiana.edu/browser/soc4148/index.shtml"&gt;http://registrar.indiana.edu/browser/soc4148/index.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><p>Use ratemyprofessor.com to check out what people have to say about the professors and the IU grade distribution website <a href="http://gradedistribution.registrar.indiana.edu/"&gt;http://gradedistribution.registrar.indiana.edu/&lt;/a> to check out how many A's and B's were awarded in past semesters. I downloaded the past 2 semesters as a spreadsheet and sorted the sections for each course by the grades to get a sense of how hard or easy classes MIGHT be. Using Excel to look at this data is way easier than scrolling.</p></li>
<li><p>Become familiar with, and sign in to OneStart student services. Use the lousy interface to fill up the course planner with possible classes. Then start putting them into the shopping cart to see how the schedule might work for you. Pay attention to building assignments as it takes time to walk across campus. GET FAMILIAR WITH THIS SOFTWARE. You can't register now anyway, so don't be afraid to play.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't be surprised if sections are closed already. Many GenEd classes (with good professors and easy curves) were already full last week. Sure you can waitlist things, but have a plan B, C, and D for the more popular choices.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't count on much help from the advisors or other staff. Sure they're professional and they'll help, but you really need to get a handle on this in the comfort of your own home. Remember you'll get to register at IU at least 8 semesters. This orientation will be the most hand-holding you'll ever get from IU.</p></li>
<li><p>Complete the Academic Planning Worksheet at home. The Kelley advisor repeatedly told us that we needed to have 4 choices for each section or they wouldn't let my son attend the advising session on time. (no biggie for us anyway) When he checked in at Kelley, the sign said you needed 10 total as a minimum. If you've done your homework none of this will be a concern.</p></li>
<li><p>Last tip that IU may not want me to share... Right after my son checked in for his advising session at Kelley, the hold on his registration shopping cart was lifted. He knew this since he clicked "enroll" while logged in on his phone and had his schedule done. The advisor was surprised, impressed, and amused that he was already registered when they started talking. She double-checked his schedule and they used the time to talk about Kelley Honors and a few other things. He was done in 15 minutes. He never even visited the computer site (Foster) where everyone else had to go to register.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Final thoughts:</p>

<p>I sure do wish IU would open online registration to Honors, Direct Admits, etc. BEFORE NSO for those who are prepared, but understand why they don't as they want to be sure kids are off on the right foot. </p>

<p>We had a great schedule all lined up at home in the shopping cart weeks early but couldn't register due to the silly advising hold. In the interim before my son's appointment a GenEd class filled up and he had to adjust his schedule. He still has a great schedule and waitlisted the full class just in case.</p>

<p>Good luck to all those going to New Student Registration. Make sure to get the most out of your time there!</p>

2

<p>Those are good tips! You will get a survey from the fye office. I hope you tell them it could be done in one day. I told them registration could be done online and orientation could just be a day before school starts so people don’t have to make two trips. </p>

3

<p>Thanks Michhoos, trying to give back after lurking on here so long.</p>

<p>I agree with your thinking on registration and did fill out the FYE survey accordingly.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if orientation and school were so close, then people would have no time to adjust their assumptions before move-in day, so I doubt that would fly. In any case, I do think 1 day is plenty if they cut out all the stuff people should already know.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for these tips! I have my orientation tomorrow and this is good to know :slight_smile: </p>

5

Trying to download the past 2 semesters of grade distributions as a spreadsheet and getting error message. Please advise. Thanks.

6

I don’t know the reason for the error. I just downloaded a file myself with no issues. Was the error in the selection, the download, or opening the file?

Final grades for this semester are still being posted, so Spring 2015 won’t be available.

You can contact the registrar for help .

7

does anyone know the first date of orientation for fall 2015

8

You should have received an invite from the office of FYE. Available dates are online.

9

Thursday, June 11, 2015?

10

Hi All. O.k. I made it thru Orientation on June 10th and 11th. These tips were by far the most helpful information out there. It took two hours after my time slot to even see an advisor. That’s right they were two hours behind. If I did not have my classes in my shopping cart before my appt., I would have been there another two hours setting up my classes. Some of my classes were filled within 30 minutes after I was done. I was able to leave right after I saw an advisor. So a big thank you to all that were willing to share there wisdom.

11

@pwmwbw If you already have schedules saved in iGPS, I’m assuming they will still be there when you sign up right? Also, do you see any reason to fill out the academic planning worksheet if you already have a schedule saved that works?

12

yes they are saved in my shopping cart all the way up until you sched. I had classes in my planning worksheet just incase the classes in my s. cart were filled by the time I was able to get my classes. So if I had A100 at 11.15 in my shopping cart and it was filled then I would put A100 at another time( that would fit in my sched ) on the planning worksheet. This way I wasted no time looking for another classes that would work .

13

For orientation do we have to do the fall and spring schedules now or is the spring done at a later date - thanks

14

@pmcnyc Fall only. They haven’t even set the schedule of classes for the spring yet

15

@iubaccounting thank you - have you been to orientation yet? I go on Thur / Fri this week so trying to get all this done

16

@pmcnyc Nope. I am actually going the same time as you. Here are some links about scheduling that might help.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/indiana-university-bloomington/1656680-feedback-on-freshman-kelley-schedule.html

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/indiana-university-bloomington/1669300-kelly-standard-admit-question.html

https://onestart.iu.edu/sissrarm-prd/igps/map?id=5dc1bfa7-b3bb-11e4-83db-9463e9cd9b35&effDt=1438401600000&formKey=ba4a89af-cc3d-4247-b540-57a37af1352c&cacheKey=w5fatp77kw8hy6phevcwy611yv&pageId=find-page

http://bulletins.iu.edu/iub/kelley-ugrad/2012-2013/program-details/course-degree-req/i-core-prereq.shtml

http://www.indiana.edu/~iubgened/index.html

http://admissions.indiana.edu/apply/freshman/ap-exam-credit.html

The degree map is for an accounting major, but it doesn’t matter what your intended major it at this point because you have to take the same courses the first 2 years anyway. The 4th link is I-Core Prerequisites that you have to take before junior year. If you have AP credit for Micro, Macro, AP Lang, or AP Lit then you might be able to skip a few of them. You also have to fulfill the Gen Ed requirements at some point, but not necessarily before junior year. If you have AP credit, you might be able to skip some Gen Eds too. Sorry if you know all this stuff already. I should be able to answer questions if you want.

17

@iubaccounting - very helpful thanks

18

@iubaccounting - Is there a way to add a class to the planner with a filter that I do not want a class prior to 10am or after 4pm? I have tried using the “unavailable times” in the iGPS worksheet planner but the filter is not blocking classes at these times. I have manually went through each class and unselected the times I do not want but they show up as schedule choices either way - my first go around I have over 80 schedules and am trying to narrow these down to more like 10 or 15 so then I can look at the teachers. any thoughts/ advise on this? Are you done with your schedule? I do not have any AP credits and I am a direct admit. Do not love Math so any idea if M 118 -Finite or M 119 Survey of Calculus is the easier class (I just took pre calculus in HS this last semester).

19

Some people think calculus is easier as it follows what you just had in HS while finite is a different animal. Be aware that M119 at IUB uses calc in a business context. The tests are not the typical math calc tests in that they present business problems that require calc for an answer. That throws some people.

M118 is easier if you thought probability and the like was easy in HS. Most math folks laugh at people thinking M118 is harder than calc, but some people do.

My advice is to take both classes outside IUB either online or in summer at your local CC if you don’t love math. I took finite in summer prior to starting at IUB and calc online. Given the experience of people at IUB I know, I made the right choice and preserved my GPA. Since you will be lucky to ever use finite or calc again in Kelley or your business life, it does not matter if you take these classes elsewhere.

Additionally, as a Direct Admit with no AP coming in, I recommend you boost your credits anyway by taking classes elsewhere to get earlier registration times later on.

All freshmen are more or less registering at the same times this summer based on orientation sign up, but after that it’s based on how many credits you have. I will start my second year at IUB this fall as a calendar Sophomore, but I will have Junior status based on credits. That helps a huge amount when trying to get into the popular sections with the best professors since those classes fill up fast. Don’t worry too much about the credits though, IUB Kelley will make sure you can get into the classes you need in order to graduate in four years.

20

@pmcnyc I don’t know of any other way to do that besides the unavailable times feature. The other thing you could do is add an individual time of a certain class that you want to take to your cart. When you add a time to your cart, then you can go back to “build schedule” and it should only give you options that include that specific class and time. Basically, just start with a couple classes with ideal times and professors, and then you can fill the rest in from there.

And yes, I do have my schedule done. It might change slightly if a class fills up before I register though. I have a couple that are probably going to be close.