<p>inkaholic, nice post but I do NOT understand how your dad could come out of an ORIENTATION with sticker shock. Didn't you look at this college's price tag when you applied? When you were accepted? Why did you put down a deposit if no one in your family had bothered to see how much this school would cost? Plus you apparently double-deposited, an ethically questionable thing to do.</p>
<p>Glad it all worked out for you in the end, but it sounds to me like you did NOT do your homework before deciding where to apply and where to send a deposit.</p>
<p>I did look at the tuition before I chose the school, obviously--but the listed tuition & housing was not the same as the final cost of attendance. (I didn't know that they were going to charge us thousands of dollars in fees, for one thing.)
My father also never looked at the website's tuition rate, relying on the financial aid brochures they sent us which were a couple years out of date. (Which I think is unethical on their part, but whatever.) The tuition was my job to research, as was everything else. I knew that it would end up being over $10,000 my first semester, but he didn't. That's why he had sticker shock. I thought I had made it clearer to him, especially since I had done the paperwork for loans in my name, but he was still shocked and wanted me to reconsider putting myself in debt.
There were also other financial issues that came up at that time, such as the fact that a private scholarship I got for my freshman year turned out to be nonrenewable, something we found out only the day before orientation; and that the school didn't give me the same grant that all the other in-state schools I applied to did. </p>
<p>I ended up not loving the school after orientation as much as I had before, and I had to ask myself whether it was really worth it at that price. Which was really the point of my earlier post, even though I practically wrote a novel. haha. </p>
<p>As for depositing at more than one school, it probably isn't that ethical; however, personally I was so pressured in making my decision that I felt I really needed the extra time to make the right choice for me.
Also, I was still waiting to hear from my first choice school's waitlist at that point, so I figured depositing at two schools wasn't any worse than at one if I wasn't going to either.
Vicious circle: people depositing without intent of attending is what creates the waitlist in the first place...ah well.</p>
<p>My D' orientation was great. She had nothing but positive words about it. Even though UCR was my D' last choice of college she was very impressed it is everything and more than what she expected. She had 2 1/2 days of being on her own and then the third day was parent orientation which they had a wonderful and well presented lunch for parents and then we ended our orientation with having dinner with our daughter. </p>
<p>As a parent I was very impressed with UCR orientation.</p>
<p>My son was another one who used the term "nerds" to describe the other accepted students attending his school's Scholars' Weekend. I was really worried. However, I am happy to report that he found some regular students at this week's orinentation that he really liked. On a humorous note, he pointed out a girl he met on the admitted students' Facebook site, who has the same intended (very selective) major. I was surprised he didn't talk to her at all, but then I found out why. He said he's deleting her from his "friends" list because she has a picture of herself with a male stripper, in a totally disgusting position.</p>
<p>Just bringing this back to life since I’ve just returned from my own college orientation…</p>
<p>I didn’t care too much for it. It seemed like 90% of the students had their parents there with them, and I didn’t. I have some social anxiety as well and it was just an awkward time. I did enjoy wandering the city and campus by myself. I felt like it could’ve been an easy one-day affair; it was unfortunately two long days. I had to keep reminding myself that this is about business - advising, registering for classes, getting information, figuring out the campus. </p>
<p>I’m not at the point of questioning my decision, though, since I couldn’t meet my roommate and I think that would’ve made such a big difference. I do know that my parents are worried about my reaction - dull and negative and annoyed. But, hoping college isn’t like orientation…</p>
<p>Things will be better when those other 90% don’t feel obligated to hang around their parents You get to interface with more students. And yes, some of the info sessions can be dull.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about holding orientation at the start of the summer rather than just prior to the start of the school year. While I can see some of the logistical pluses of doing it early, it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives. It’s like you hit the ground running but then the race doesn’t start. You go back home and flip burgers through August. In other words, I think it can be hard to be in an “I’m starting college mind-set” when you’re not really starting college for two months.</p>
<p>When my son attended orientation, it was at a school with 3000 freshman. So they spread it out across about 10 sessions throughout the summer. For us it worked best to wait til July, when IB scores were available (to help with class selection). It also got combined with vacation at nearby relatives. For parents, it was nice learning things then and having time to digest it.</p>
<p>I started reading this thread then realized it was from 2008. Glad I jumped to end to see that Sally posted a new post. </p>
<p>My son’s orientation is the week before school starts which is great, though not sure what all they will need a entire week for. </p>
<p>I am also glad he doesn’t have to drive the 6 hrs each way just to do orientation then turn around in Sept to go again. </p>
<p>I think if a student did not do an overnite at the campus or even an full day of accepted student day’s activities then they may be taken more off guard and not get a sense of the kids at the school. </p>
<p>My son did not want to do the overnite, but he went along with it and I think it influenced his decision to go to this school. Will be interesting to see how orientation actually goes.</p>
<p>A couple days ago I got a notice in my email inbox that angelmichellex had posted on this thread. I wondered why I had received this notice because the thread title seemed totally unfamiliar to me, and I didn’t think I’d subscribed to it. So I followed the link and found out that not only had I subscribed to it, but also I’d actually started it! Funny how I can remember second grade pretty clearly yet I can’t recall four years ago! :eek: </p>
<p>BTW, the kid I mentioned in my original post must have just graduated this spring. I haven’t bumped into his mother in a while but now I should make a point of asking her if he stuck with his initial college and, if so, did he find it acceptably nerdless. ;)</p>
<p>^^Same here D was thrilled to meet people like herself (although she disavows being called a nerd). Our orientation was a huge success, even though I attended she met lots of students with similar interests.</p>
You get to interface with more students. And yes, some of the info sessions can be dull.</p>