<p>The summer orientation is around 90 dollars for each person. Why is it so expensive? do we get to stay there for one night or something? what's the duration of the summer orientation? should i attend?</p>
<p>thank you for your time</p>
<p>You don't get to stay the nite and the "meals" they provide are less than palatable (read GROSS). Would that they cared about folks attending the orientation HALF as much as they cared about the trash they were collecting and sorting, the event may have been tolerable (I actually witnessed SEVERAL UCSC student volunteers digging deep into the trash bins because some "mindless" attendee inadvertantly threw their trash in the wrong bin). I think the event was poorly planned and insulting the way parents/guardians were made out to be "clingy" and "unable to let go" because they had the audacity of attending summer orientation witht their student. I actually believe the orientation fee is a "penalty." Incoming students get to come for free, but the accompanying parent or guardian has to pay--and then be told they need to let go. Hmmmmmm---no kidding. I think most parents get that real well--it's just that when they have to fork out thousands upon thousands of dollars--they at least want to have some confidence in the school. I think I lost some of that after yesterday's orientation.</p>
<p>Actually the food wasn't too bad. Hard to screw up fruit, salad, burgers, hot dogs. We were there when the Food Workers were on strike, so maybe the food was better. ;-)</p>
<p>As a parent, I appreciated spending 1 1/2 hours with the provost of Porter College, and the housing team. They answered every question and made a real effort to be upfront and honest. That was the highlight. The low light was the Admissions lady reminding everyone that she could revoke their admission for any transgression in their application. Definitely a Betty Buzzkill.</p>
<p>Some of the info in the afternoon was redundant, so my wife and I headed out to the bookstore, had a beer, bought some books, and it was time to go. Went downtown and had a good dinner and then prowled around the area. </p>
<p>The biggest advantage for the student going is registering for classes and getting help doing that from their department. The earlier you register, the more choices you have for classes.</p>
<p>Downside is that there was not a really good chance for the students to meet each other. My other 2 kids' orientations had a nightime event and overnight in the dorm.</p>
<p>uhhh orientation wasnt free for students. i think it was 100. I agree that we should've had more to it, but maybe it was so disorganized because of the strike. Just be a little more understanding. And I suppose they separated the parents from the students because they had different things they had to talk about. The parents dont really need to go to a lecture on their childs selected major...
I just wish the students had been able to go through the dorms...my parents were unprepared for the tour and took no pics :(</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I was sad that students weren't shown through the dorms too. But after lunch I was able to sneak in and check out a couple of Porter rooms and bathrooms. A bit cramped and plain, but you can make something out of it, I guess. As for the bathrooms... they're pretty bad.</p>
<p>ahh i tried to find a way in..but i was kinda tired so i quit looking after a few doors hahah</p>
<p>That's quite a bad experience you had there cabbitsy.</p>
<p>I agree 100% the fee for orientation was ridiculous. What are we going to do. They said it wasn't required, but highly recommended. They probably had to pay the speakers, counselors, advisors, student leaders, bus drivers, etc. Honestly, the lunch was not bad at all (I don't know what more you would expect). Hotdogs/Hamburgers/veggi burgers + various salads, fruits, and cookies. Seems like they went to quite an effort to feed hundreds of students/parents/staff. </p>
<p>The biggest problem for me (and maybe you too) was the fact that there was a strike going on the same day as orientation. For some reason, UCSC student leaders that were supposed to give various planned presentations did not get back in time from striking. The school had no idea what to do without their bus drivers. We had to walk across the campus so much that no one could attend any of the meetings after just a few hours. The most important events were before lunch, when students got a chance to see other students in their college and meet their college advisors. After lunch, about 80% of parents and students took off because few wanted to attend the different meetings anyways. </p>
<p>With regards to the trash incident, students in a Northern California at UC Santa Cruz and a member the 'Environment aware' college happen to be quite liberal. They are just trying to help the environment and that should not be frowned upon. </p>
<p>The phrase goes, "Your experience is what you make of it." I for one, tried to get the most out of the day, and in the end am extremely pleased that I chose to attend.</p>
<p>Orientation in my opinion was ridiculous. We all have our own opinions of course, but I didn't enjoy my experience at all. In all of our pre and post admission notifications in our email inboxes and mailboxes orientation was stressed. And one of the biggest selling points was the "on site advising" and "ability to enroll in classes". But in small fine print somewhere in the mass of emails there was a notice that there would be no bio or chem advising at transfer orientation. How many bio and chem transfers are there? A countless number.</p>
<p>And many people got the notice, but many people didn't. And a whole group of us bio majors were able to find each other and wander aimlessly around the campus for a few hours. I didn't mind it, we actually came pretty close with another. But it bothered me that in the morning they were able to mention that there was a SMALL typo in the program, and a room number was changed for the the theater arts majors. All what...two of them? But they weren't considerate enough to mention to the MANY bio and chem majors in the audience that there would be no advising that day. And on-site advising was the biggest selling point for paying the $100 for the orientation and making the trip out. </p>
<p>So after the morning welcome and announcements, everyone branched off into their respective departments for major advising. Us bio majors went nature watching for a few hours. After 1pm when we were able to sign up for classes, we were having problems signing up. We were told "oh great thats why our advisors are here to help you sign up if you need an add code". But oh wait...bio advisors were gone. And to make matters worse, they pushed for everyone to sign up and pay for orientation because we would be able to sign up for classes! Great! Then when I got home my friend who wasn't able to attend told me that he was able to sign up for classes as well. And he didn't even make the trip out or pay the cash.</p>
<p>I DID meet some cool friends and get a nice continental breakfast for my $100 spent. Okay, I sound a bit bitter. We had general education and residential college advising too, which was helpful. </p>
<p>Ok I'm done.</p>
<p>NoMoSacto,</p>
<p>Hi i can’t attend orientation and i was wondering how your friend was able to sign up for classes without paying for orientation. Did he have to do it during welcome week or was he able to do it the same time as you?</p>
<p>@nomosacto are there alot of people that go for transfer summer orientation, like is it easy to meet people, or is it pretty much cut and dry as far as where to go, where to eat, and signing up for classes. because im not trying to drop hella money just to walk around for a few hours.</p>
<p>futurestudent987: Students who don’t attend orientation get to sign up for classes in the same week as everyone else. You get assigned a date/time later on.</p>
<p>@Liesel: I won’t get really bad classes if i don’t sign up for orientation?</p>
<p>I signed up for the 3rd orientation session. Will this adversely effect the classes that I’m going to signing up for? (College 10 writing, Calculus III, Physics 6A, and Computer systems and assembly language)</p>