<p>S1's orientation was in the middle of summer and he went at the same time as a bunch of his high school buddies--local state U. Several of his friends were very stressed over getting the classes they wanted and were very unhappy people during orientation because of this stress. Since he was in engineering, he had nothing to decide--engineering students are pretty much just handed their schedule. As a result, he was feeling pretty good during orientation. He had a more difficult time adjusting to the social scene later once all of his friends joined frats and he did not. In short, I think the two experiences can be very different--both good and bad.</p>
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<p>The flights and hotel nights and rental car and food, etc., are annoying, aren't they? I'm "at orientation" now. Oh well, at least I am learning my way around my D's future campus.</p>
<p>I'm in a reverse kind of situation. I'm so used to hanging out with nerds, but unfortunately I didn't make the honors program at my large state university. I was absolutely miserable at orientation (honors has their own orientation). I think the demeanor of the students I was with is pretty well represented by the questions they asked our student guides when we were away from any staff members:</p>
<p>-how much drinking is there?
-do people get caught for drinking a lot?
-do kids drink off campus?
-did someone over 21 buy you drinks when you were a freshman?
-can I get expelled for the first time I get caught drinking?
-any liquor shops nearby that don't card?
-I'm drunk right now. Is that cool with you?</p>
<p>Okay, maybe I exaggerated that last one, but still...I'm not uptight about drinking, but if you had been listening in, you would've thought this was an orientation for bartender's school, not a pretty well-respected state U. I was actually so miserable that I skipped the last event of the day to go and sit in my room. I'm not antisocial by any means, but I didn't enjoy trying to engage football players who had clearly taken one too many blows to the head in conversation. I didn't expect to like it, since it wasn't a match for me in any way (my hands were pretty much tied by finances though), but I came into orientation wanting to get excited about college, because--it's college! Now though, I guess I'll give it my best shot when I arrive on campus, and if worst comes to worst I'll start filling out transfer applications.</p>
<p>Germoon--I sympathize. My D had a very similar experience at her first school's orientation. I have to be honest and say that she did end up transfering. Before you try that, if it continues to feel this way, there are things you can do. First, often students can enter the Honors Program after the first year, even maybe the first semester. Keep in contact with them; find out what's possible. Do as good in your classes as possible in order to make that possible. (this is also vital if you do decide to transfer.)</p>
<p>Then, look for the like-minded students. Right now it doesn't feel like it, but I promise you, they are there. Join a theater group or a political group or a community service one, the newspaper, the radio station, an improv group, etc etc. Whatever you may be interested in, or could decide to be interested in, in order to find the interesting people. I promise you, they are looking for you, too!</p>
<p>Transfering is a last resort answer; go into this first trying to make it work, but if it doesn't, be sure you have a fine record to present to other schools.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you.</p>
<p>S2's huge public had orientations throughout the summer. Due to participation in a summer program, he was only able to attend the last session of the summer, and all of the freshman seminars he wanted to try were filled. In addition, all of his other course choices outside of his very specialized major were also filled. He is only recovering some flexibility to explore now as a senior with graduate priority in registration. He feels cheated a bit out of the opportunity to use the four years to explore because of a very intense major, but he has truly loved his program and appreciates the skills he has developed over the last three years. He has used every summer to take extra courses outside of his major, and this has resulted in a minor that he loves which provides a balance by being very different from his major. Note: the roommates he had for orientation were thankfully nothing like the roommates he was assigned (freshman triple with engineering majors: great guys!) and with whom he is still friends. Out of three years of roommates, two years were excellent, but the ones he picked to live with off-campus turned to out to be roommates from h. He now has a studio for his senior year and expects to be very happy.</p>
<p>D's school, a women's northeastern LAC which is far away from us, has the orientation of yesteryear with a move-in day followed by 3 days of settling in of the students before classes start. I will go out with her a few days early because she wants to check out aikido studios in the area, and of course, we'll need to complete the shopping. But I leave by the second day of orientation. She has already pre-registered and had a combination of successes and waitlists which have left her feeling that she has an interesting schedule that gives her most of the courses she wanted. The first-year seminars provided excellent choices and she was able to register in time to get her first choice. After watching her brother, she has fairly realistic expectations of what one must do to get the courses one wants and how to change her plan if her first choices are unavailable.</p>
<p>Suggestions: 1. Try to get to earliest orientation possible in the case of multiple orientations. 2. Orientation may be very different from the actual campus life once school really starts. Be prepared for change.</p>
<p>Germoon--that is what I meant by the difference between S's orientation roommates vs his actual assigned roommates. He came away from orientation grateful that it was only the orientation and not the real thing. Huge as his school is, the residential life people paid attention to the roommate forms, and he was assigned compatible roommates.</p>
<p>Good luck! Can you apply for the honors program after a successful first semester?</p>
<p>Thanks, garland and operamom! Unfortunately, I can't join the honors program until after the first year, but I definitely will apply in the spring even if I'm considering transferring, just to keep my options open. I don't have much going for me in terms of a roommate, though--due to circumstances I'm going to be in a single, and they don't have singles available in the hall where all the students in my business school will be rooming, so I'm pretty much on my own in that respect. Not that their housing survey would've resulted in a perfect match--it basically asked if we smoked, if we minded smokers, and if we were going to study in our room or not. Not the most detailed survey I've seen by any means.</p>
<p>Good thing there are seven or eight libraries on campus, though--I don't think I'll ever get tired of that!</p>
<p>The school that I'm going to in the fall has summer orientations. Before I went, I was feeling a little bit bummed. The school was not my first choice, my second choice, or third choice, and it wasn't the "best" school I got into, which I had to turn down for financial reasons. The school has a reputation for being a back up for preppy rich kids, and I was afraid I might not fit in--while I am somewhat preppy, the people I've been friends with are pretty much the opposite of preppy. At my orientation, I couldn't have been more impressed. The people I hung out with were really cool. We stayed up until 2 in the morning, stole the staffers food, explored the town, checked out the freshly dug graves at the campus graveyard, and got horrible delivery pizza. After attending the orientation, I can't wait to start school in August!</p>
<p>At Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science you take placement tests and register for courses over the summer via computer. There was at least one girl though who was planning on protesting her placement. The schedule a number of the standard freshman courses at the same time so that you can move from one to another if you feel you are in the wrong course level. The orientation is a week of activities - lots of icebreakers - right before school begins. Not mathson's cuppa tea, but he participated.</p>
<p>I far prefer a fall orientation - Pittsburgh is a seven hour drive for us or a short, but increasingly more expensive plane flight.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose son is required to fly across the country for a two-day summer orientation - at great expense, which she can ill afford. The college will only provide ONE night of lodging, so he will have to have one night in a hotel on either side of the event. It's a small school, and it seems to me that there should be some flexibility to waive this requirement for those students traveling far distances. (If it was me, I would have just called the admissions office and told them that my kid would not be attending unless they provided the funds to do so!) Both my kids loved the Rice Orientation week (O-week) which is held the week before regular school starts in the Fall. Parents say "so long" after lunch, and then the kids have advising, fun and games, info sessions, schedule classes. It helps the frosh get settled in their res colleges and get comfortable on campus before the work begins and all the other students return.</p>
<p>I attended I believe my school's 4th summer orientation session.</p>
<p>Because of the freshman program that I'm in, I already had three of my classes scheduled. I added a Poli Sci class (I figured that'd be fun to take, especially with election right around the corner!), and had no problem getting in. However, I also had to add a remedial math course, and it was full by the time I could register.</p>
<p>However. I contacted admissions and records and was able to get placed into it because if I did not take it within a year of my acceptance, I would not be allowed to return for my sophomore year.</p>
<p>I didn't particularly enjoy the structured activities of Orientation.</p>
<p>However, my roommates and I got along great (four of us in a two-bedroom suite),and we ended up having several people in our room until about 2:30 the following morning (somehow it ended up being just me with two or three BOYS! <em>Gasp</em>). We had a great time, and I hope I'll have classes with some of them (which is a possibility, since everyone at that orientation was a Social Science Major, and everyone in my "group" was a Psych major).</p>
<p>I had a great time at Orientation...just not with the activities that they planned for us.</p>
<p>I don't understand at all why orientations are held in the spring or summer before the school year starts. Can someone explain the rationale to me? It costs money, it divides the summer, doesn't necessarily reflect the way life will be once school starts, etc. It is just so much more logical and cost effective to have orientation right before classes start.</p>
<p>My daughter and husband are at her orientation as we speak. Fortunately we only have a 6 hour drive, but I think the colleges are being ridiculous to make you go to orientation during the summer. Some of D's friends are having to go across the country at great expense. Couldn't the classes just be done on-line? With all of the computer knowledge out there, couldn't the incoming freshmen be assigned advisors to help with course selection? That way, the kids could just arrive a few days early (like in the dinosaur age when I went to school!) I really enjoyed my freshman orientation but it was real, since we were getting to know the other kids in our dorm.</p>
<p>fireandrain-I can't explain it either. I would've much rather just moved in early, but I didn't have much of a choice.</p>
<p>I don't even know what to make of these stories. They are so foreign to the experience we had as parents and daughter had as a first year student.</p>
<p>We arrived early on day one and unloaded the car (an RA had actually let us in the night before to see the room). There was a schedule for parents: meet n' greet of support offices (heath care, psych, career, etc.), Q&A with President and Dean, and Q & A with panel of senior students. Meanwhile daughter had her own schedule of similar meet n' greets.</p>
<p>Then we all gathered for a little reception (coffee, cookies, etc.) at 5:00 and parents said their goodbyes and left. Students then had four or five days of orientation events. We got a call on the third day saying, "these are the greatest kids I've ever met; it feels like we've been friends our whole lives" and that was that. We kinda figured things were probably going to work out OK.</p>
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<p>It's somewhat understandable why these early-summer orientations go so poorly. Right after high school graduation is when the reality hits for these kids that life as they know it is coming to an abrupt end. It's scary. A June college orientation without the payoff of actually starting an exciting new life has a high probability of triggering all these fears, even if they they are not vocalized.</p>
<p>A friend of my son's who went to UMich had one of these "pick orientation A through G" kind of weeks over the summer. I had heard it was because the freshman class is so big they want to break it up so they can get attention from the staff. but i agree -- too many negatives, IMHO.</p>
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[quote]
Orientation Angst--Did the Chosen School Lose Luster?
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<p>"There's something about this number; it's lackluster."
"What do you mean?"
"It lacks . . . luster."
--David Hyde Pierce and Debra Monk in Curtains, on Broadway</p>
<p>Sorry. Couldn't resist.</p>
<p>S1's school has Orientation the week prior to classes beginning. Makes sense to me. He and DH will drive out with all his gear, I will fly out one-way two days later, then DH and I will share the drive home afterwards. We won't be doing Parents' Weekend, and S is OK with that. DH goes out there for work every couple of months anyway. Even so, said school charges kids $850 for Orientation!!! (This does not count our expenses.)</p>
<p>S1 is anxious to get the placement testing done and registration completed. I think he won't care much for the rest of the organized social stuff. He knows he'll find like-minded folks there, and is just ready to get on with meeting them and chatting 'til all hours of the night!</p>
<p>I am surprised by some of the negativity towards orientation. I stumbled upon this board doing another web search. I currently work in student affairs, as an Assistant Director of Orientation. I work at a mid-sized private school in the northeast. We hold 8 3-day orientation sessions throughout the summer. I have additionally worked at a summer program at a large (30,000+) southern school, and at a small northeastern art school.</p>
<p>I will not post data here, but believe it or not, there have been many studies done on the benefits of attending orientation- it GREATLY increases retention rates and eases transition during the first year of college- this is a fact. Orientation is a time when there is a lot of anxiety for everyone- , but by the time students complete summer orientation and return for the fall, the level of anxiety is decreased. Everything about coming to college is a HUGE transition. Orientation is a great introduction to campus life and culture. It is, however, not a realistic representation of an actual college experience- we have a VERY tight, jam packed schedule for the 3 days students are here. We use the space available to house students that is available- renovations are often done on residence halls in the summer, so many of the first-year areas are not available. They receive so much information throughout those 3 days. They not only meet their fellow new students, but they also get to meet the great group of students who comprise the Orientation staff. These students serve as a great resource for new students.</p>
<p>We have students who come from all over the country, and we are sensitive to those traveling great distances. We will make accommodations for those who cannot afford to travel twice (once to come to orientation, and once to come for school in the fall). All students have to pay the mandatory orientation fee, whether they attend or not (though part of this fee covers a Week of Welcome program when they move in.) I'm curious about those schools who will make no accommodations and wonder if this is really the case. </p>
<p>We do not accommodate families for our orientation program. They do have a program on the first day of student orientation, that ends at lunch, but they are completely separated from their student from the moment the student arrives on campus.</p>
<p>I also read some comments regarding filled classes. Unfortunately this is a reality for all new students. Classes fill up, and first-year students will some day be the first and not the last to register. I do think that class unavailability for those enrolled and accepted into specific majors is unacceptable. Classes here are held for those in certain majors, but for gen ed classes, 8:00 in the morning is the usual and it should be for all new students. </p>
<p>Again, I have a lot of experience in this area, and let me know if I can be of any assistance.</p>
<p>When I was in college we had a 2 day orientation in June, when we chose our dorms and picked our classes with help from an advisor. S is attending the same private LAC, but they have switched to the "just before school starts" schedule because so many kids weren't able to come in June, due to high school ending late, sports events, senior weeks, etc. Don't know why the college didn't consider doing orientation in July, probably due to the travel expense for the students.</p>
<p>I thought the "just before school started" thing worked well EXCEPT that S had to pick his classes beforehand; they had an on-line sign-up system that is apparently pretty new. I found the whole course sign-up thing to be very confusing - if you're not an engineer, you have a lot of courses to choose from, and between fulfilling core requirements, major requirements, pre-reqs, etc, I thought it would have been REALLY helpful to chose classes with an advisor. The college said you could email and request a phone counselling session to pick courses. </p>
<p>Other than that, I think the just-before-school thing was fine.</p>