Does anyone who has already been to orientation have any tips? Things you need to bring? Best way to get around? Problems they encountered? Thanks!
We are attending on July 17th and 18th. How 'bout you?
If later, then I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have you seen this link?
@AlabasterQueen We will be attending July 27-28, so will be eager to hear about your experience. Thanks for the link…very helpful!
I’m going to the orientation in a week. I can let you guys know how it went. So far I’m planning on bringing some change of clothes, toothbrush, stuff like that. I hear they already give you a blanket and pillow, and since I’m coming from a plane I don’t want to carry too much. Besides that I hear bring snacks because they either give you lunch really early or reallly late. I’m also going to bring my ID, because they need it to give you your student ID. 
Oh and I’ll be bringing my laptop because you need a way to access SISWeb so you can build your schedule and sign up for classes. If you don’t have a laptop you can always use a smart phone, but I hear laptops make it way easier.
^ all of that plus comfortable walking shoes. Davis’s campus is huge and you’re going to be walking a lot.
and they aren’t joking about the Ethernet cable in their what to bring list. the wifi network reception isn’t great everywhere and its a little bit of an involved process to register your computer to be able to connect with an ethernet cable. I suggest you do this before you get there if you can.
Parents Orientation:
Monday July 17: check-in at Wall Hall in the SW corner of campus. Parked easily in Lot #47. Old Davis Road was closed, so we entered via Rt 113 Murchinson exit, right on La Rue road.
Student received Aggie card, group assignment, and dorm key. Dropped off bag and then met group leader in the Tecero lawn area.
Parents picked up parking pass. We then met our Family host (a Junior).She led us to Scrub Oak Auditorium
Light refreshments served
9:40- 10:40 Family Welcome Session: Orientation leaders introduce themselves
10:40 - 11:25 UC Davis then and now: history lesson
11:30 - 12:20 Lunch @ Tecero Commons (next building over)
12;30 - 1:20 Family Networking: talk to fellow parents
1:30 - 2:30 College Orientation and Overview: the usual stuff (all on the internet)
2:30 - 3;15 Student Health and Counseling Service: all students will be cared for no matter what their insurance plan.
3:15 - 3:45 Financial Aid and Scholarships: skipped
3:45 - 4:00 Break
4:00 - 4;30 Student Accounting: seriously, its all on the website
4:45 - 5:35 Dinner (everyone is still stuffed from lunch)
5:35 - 6:25 Parent and Family Program: plea to join the Aggie Parent and Family Association
6:45 -7:30 Aggie Family Experience: mingle with campus reps and other families while sampling local goodies.
(skipped it)
Stayed with family in Lincoln Ca. 45 miles east.
If Old Davis Road is under construction, enter via Highway 113 and take the Hutchison exit (not Murchinson as noted above)
Parents Orientation Tuesday July 18th
Again in Scrub Oak Auditorium
9:30 Welcome and Reminders
9;35 - 10:45 Student Housing and Dining: interesting topic> They have changed the dining program. Now you have unlimited swipes rips throughout the day. Open until midnight. They hope to cut down on students devouring a whole plate when not really hungry = because one swipe used to mean one meal. Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner.
10:45 - 11-45 College Faculty and Advisor Meet and Greet: Mingle and ask questions of the college faculty - which turned into an unruly free for all. If you want to talk to a specific teacher, approach them as soon as they step off the stage. Lines form quickly.
11:45 - 12:45 Lunch in Tercero Commons. (I was able to see the students for the first time. You could even eat with them)
12::45 - 1:45 Campus Exploration: in other words, you are on your own.
1:30 - 2:30 Aggie Student Perspectives
2:30 - 3:15 Your Student’s First Year
3:15 - 3:30 Break
3:30 - 4:30 Campus Safety : Police and Fire provide an overview.
4:30 - 4:45 Study Abroad: plenty of opportunities
4:45 - 5:00 First Year Aggie Connection: group that helps students navigate the first year
5:00 - 5:30 Closing Notes: goodbyes from family host.
Was it all worth it? From a parents perspective, maybe not, as it does get a little tedious and repetiative.
From a students perspective, most definitely. They get a feel for the dorm life, meet fellow students, and come away with a schedule of classes.
Attended L&S orientation last week and I’ll add my two cents. The students are put into groups with others in the same major.
For the parents, most of the time you are sitting in an auditorium. You walk a short distance to the dining commons to eat and then back to the auditorium again. The meals are very early and your student will be in there the same time as you for all meals. Some students ate with their parents but the majority sat with their orientation groups.
At the end of the day parents walk to the ARC and back. Some parents didn’t realize the ARC was so far away from Scrub Oak (Tercero) - especially in the heat. UCD should have made accommodations to transport parents with mobility problems as there were a few in our group who had difficulty with the walk. The second day parents are in the same auditorium and walked a bit to get to the Faculty Advisor Meet & Greet but otherwise sat all day.
As far as what to bring, check the weather in advance. The week before it was 107. Our first day was around 100 but the second day was 88 which was rare. Make sure your student has lots of class options and does his/her research about GE classes before arriving. Your student should have a laptop rather than a phone or iPad for class selection.
Regarding the Family Program:
Surprisingly, I thought the History of UC Davis was well done. The speaker was pretty interesting
Family Networking was a waste of time. Hang out in the dining commons or wander around campus instead. They basically had No Cal people in the back of the room, So Cal people in the front and Central Cal and out of state in the middle and told us to mingle with each other for an hour.
College Orientation - They let us know that the courses were listed as closed on Schedule Builder but that they would open seats that evening. That evening it only showed one open spot in each class. Students trying to sign up for big classes like calculus, chem, bio, etc. started panicking. When the time came to actually sign up for classes (everyone submits their choices at the same time - 4 pm) there was more than one spot in each class but not very many spots. The rest of the information can be found online but it is not all in one place. If you are someone who had already read through the various pages of the UCD website then it was probably redundant. If not then the presentation was probably informative.
Student Health - Student must give WRITTEN permission at EACH visit for parents to find out anything about what was discussed. They cannot sign a blanket permission to cover all four years. For emergencies, students are taken to Sutter Hospital in Davis.
We have Kaiser insurance so were approved to waiver out of UC SHIP. The Kaiser facility in Davis has primary care, OB/GYN and eyecare. They are open M-F and don’t have an urgent care. For other services, the closest Kaiser hospital and clinic is in Vacaville. The bus to Vacaville is free with a student ID.
Even though we waived out of UC SHIP, any UC Davis student can use the student health services for a minimal cost ($15-$20/visit). https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/about/common-fees The pharmacists will help guide students and let them know if prescriptions are cheaper if the student goes to Rite Aid or Kaiser and uses their personal medical insurance.
Financial Aid has been covered if you went to open house or a local reception. Accounting was important and I didn’t think the presenter was all that great. She used the power point from 2015 that is on the website at http://afs.ucdavis.edu/our_services/student-accounting/documents-folder-not_used_by_navigation/sa201orientation.pdf
You can’t set up your auto pay until after you receive your first bill in August. I think it would be more efficient if they had people there ready to help new parents set up direct payment at orientation. They want your money. Why not make it easier for parents to pay? Parents had lots of questions about 529 plans but they ran out of time so the speaker, along with a large group of parents, went outside to answer questions.
Deferred payment plan (auto bill) only covers tuition, housing, health insurance and document fees. If your student charges anything else to the account (ex. orientation costs, student heath visits, prescriptions, etc), you must log on and pay for that separately.
Aggie Parent Association - Not a very good presentation.
Aggie Family Experience - Might not be worth the time in the heat but they had several hotels, a couple of large apartment complexes, Davis Creamery, Woodstocks, the bookstore selling shirts, hats, etc. Lots of give-aways and freebies.
Day 2
Student Housing and Dining - Students will find out their roommate and room in mid/late August. You will also receive dimensions of the room. Odd room numbers move in on the 23rd, even on the 24th. They are starting construction on Cuartro so less students (670) will be living there. They will break ground on Tercero 2 dining commons in the winter (?).
Advisors Meet & Greet - Poorly organized. Not all majors/depts present. Many advisors didn’t know the answers to parents questions. They were all very kind and receptive but just not equipped with much information. It was crowded. Would have been better if they did this in two sessions instead of one large session.
Aggie Student Perspective - 6 kids stand at the front and they ask if anyone has any questions for the students. Could be great if parents have good questions. Could be bad if there are no good questions.
In my opinion, the rest of day two was just filler.
Other things that might be helpful:
The orientation leaders took a quarter-long class to teach them everything they needed to know about different majors, class schedules, etc. I was impressed that they were well versed and knowledgeable. They are not academic advisors and don’t give your student a lot of input as far as which classes they should take. Make sure your student has researched lots of options before they arrive.
The schedule was on time to the minute.
For those who are interested, the Kaiser facility in Davis also has radiology, a laboratory and pharmacy.
Doctors appointments are from 8:30-12:30 and 1:30 - 5 pm
Pharmacy is open 9 am - 6 pm
Lab is open 7:15 am - 5:30 pm
Radiology is open 8:45 am - 1 pm, 2 pm - 5:15 pm
Optical is open 8:15 am - 5 pm
If you are not from Northern California, your student will need to get a Northern California Kaiser medical record number. They can do that at home before they leave for school. Kaiser Guest Services in Davis said that most students write their No Cal number on Sharpie on their Kaiser card. When you make an appointment or use any services, you will need to give them both your original Kaiser number (so they can look up your benefits and co-pays) as well as your No Cal number. You will be assigned a Davis doctor and your Northern California medical records will be kept separate from any records that you have outside of Northern California.
If you are not from Northern California, KP.org will not work while you are at Davis. That means that you cannot use it to schedule an appointment, look up labs/test results or e-mail your doctor. You will need to call the 800 number and leave messages for your doctors and they will call you back by phone. The Davis facility uses a lot of phone and Skype consults.
The Student Health speaker at orientation said they have several thousand students with Kaiser insurance who waive out of UC SHIP so it isn’t unusual.
Hello @Ikg4answers,
I have Kaiser insurance and I am from Southern California. I understand that I can call to receive a NorCal medical record number and be able to use the facilities in Northern California. If you have already applied for the UC SHIP waiver, which medical record number did you use to get it approved?
@00CPP00chemE we used the So Cal number but I don’t think it matters. They aren’t contacting Kaiser to find out your coverage when you apply for the waiver.
What is the situation with bedding for orientation? Do you have to bring it or is it supplied by the school?
@LilyMoon they provide two flat sheets, a pillowcase and a thin blanket. They also provide a towel and wash cloth. They do not provide shampoo or soap so don’t forget to bring those from home.
@lkg4answers thanks for the reply…so no pillow provided?
@LilyMoon yes, there is a pillow and a mattress.