<p>From a parent viewpoint here are my impressions for the first 2-day session: In short I highly recommend it.
Attending is not essential for information; you can study websites and learn much of it. But you will miss the friendly personal contact and chance to ask questions. "Dean Renee" is genuinely sincere and compassionate. Too bad she will be gone for awhile. But all the staff and students were available, helpful and really worked hard. Food and hospitality were great. Subjects emphasized were Health services, psych counseling, security and safety, dorm life, making friends, business and finance, study abroad--to name a few. One conflict was that we were told that your student is now an adult and making their own choices; but then we got this overload of information and tips that made you want to go out and give the kids hours of advice. Also a high GPA, like in high school, is not to be expected, but if you want to get into med school better go for that GPA. There was an underlying assumption that a lot of Revelle identifies as pre-med.
Parents seemed conservative. This is not a scientific sample, just the few I spoke with were mostly from Southern Calif. and the attitude was that, eww, Berkeley was not ever under consideration. There were no aging hippies!
The kids: Most applied to Stanford and did not get in. But there were some who were accepted to amazing small privates (think CalTech) who chose UCSD instead.
At Orientation they were divided into 12 groups of 12 and and they all wore the same T-shirt and were noisy and enthusiastic. Any students care to share what went on? At night it was cold; bring something warm to sleep in if this weather trend continues. At least one who comes from a tiny, cozy school seemed overwhelmed but it was better the 2nd day and better to get acclimated now than in Sept.
These a just a few random observations as Revelel has 2 or 3 upcoming orientations.</p>
<p>hey im in revelle too and my orientation is in september, was there anything to do with classes?</p>
<p>You get free food at orientation?? YESSS!!!</p>
<p>^i wouldn’t say free since you paid to go to orientation. i’m sure some of the money covered the food provided.</p>
<p>Way to ruin my willful self-deception. :(</p>
<p>a couple of kids from my orientation group snuck out and went to TJ in the middle of the night … pretty sure my roommate was one of them; she never did show up.</p>
<p>dtang: There were not many specifics about classes at Revelle Orientation. I think you will have your classes before your September orientation which will be just before move-in. Mostly they went over GE’s and highly encourage taking all hum quarters at UCSD. In fact “freshmen entering fall 2009 and beyond will be required to take HUM 1 and 2, and one course from HUM 3, 4 or 5 in residence at UCSD. That is, courses may not be transferred in to substitute for these three courses.”
So it was general stuff. It was said that Revelle tends to attract introverts who might become isolated. Rather than take a certain class, it was more like commit to make at least one friend and care about another person. Learn to cope with time management; involvement with structured activities, such as sports, actually helps with organizing study time. Don’t become unglued when that 4.6 high school GPA becomes, say, a 2.7!
I am only repeating what I heard in orientation sessions. It would be fun to hear what others have to say. I think the students are all in touch through Facebook.</p>