[Dystroxia]

Made this thread because I had orientation for college yesterday and Tuesday

What was (or will be, if you already know what it's like) your college orientation like?

[$eth]

Mine was last Thursday and Friday. University of Oregon.

Put into awkward situations. 450 kids out of my 4000 student class was at this orientation. The broke us up into groups by majors. I met a kid from near where I was from. Then they put us through 2 one hour long academic advising sessions. Those were pretty helpful. Then a lunch. Pretty awkward. Talked to kids, but I didn't really mesh with anyone who I could see as my best friend.

Then they made us take placement tests. That was all good. Met a cute girl who was one of the upperclassmen helping out. Haha. And a couple cool guys who I could see myself hanging with.

Then they stuck us in an auditorium for 3 hours and gave us talks about drinking and date rape. Then we were out for dinner. That night was a play about "what to expect your freshman year" and then we could go and play pool and hang out until 11. Haha. So I left after dinner and skipped on those.

Next day was one on one academic advising. Got my schedule and ID card. Then I dipped out of all the information sessions. I felt like I had grip on everything. It was just about "fitting in" and a couple info sessions on fraternities.

Overall, it was an okay experience. I just want to get there, start school, and make friends on my own without being thrown into "just mingle" situations.

[Dystroxia]

Originally Posted by $eth

Mine was last Thursday and Friday. University of Oregon.

Put into awkward situations. 450 kids out of my 4000 student class was at this orientation. The broke us up into groups by majors. I met a kid from near where I was from. Then they put us through 2 one hour long academic advising sessions. Those were pretty helpful. Then a lunch. Pretty awkward. Talked to kids, but I didn't really mesh with anyone who I could see as my best friend.

Then they made us take placement tests. That was all good. Met a cute girl who was one of the upperclassmen helping out. Haha. And a couple cool guys who I could see myself hanging with.

Then they stuck us in an auditorium for 3 hours and gave us talks about drinking and date rape. Then we were out for dinner. That night was a play about "what to expect your freshman year" and then we could go and play pool and hang out until 11. Haha. So I left after dinner and skipped on those.

Next day was one on one academic advising. Got my schedule and ID card. Then I dipped out of all the information sessions. I felt like I had grip on everything. It was just about "fitting in" and a couple info sessions on fraternities.

Overall, it was an okay experience. I just want to get there, start school, and make friends on my own without being thrown into "just mingle" situations.

My orientation was pretty similar to yours in some aspects. Here's a novel of my orientation. I'm pretty sure some of this shit is out of order because so much happened in these two days:

On the first day, we were separated in like 18 groups with about 18-22 people per group and each group was assigned two group leaders (one of my leaders was crazy, but he was funny) that are on the student orientation staff. Our group then went to a classroom and basically introduced ourselves and played the two-truths-and-a-lie game. Each group also had to create a "chant" and whoever had the best chant won a prize or some shit. After that, we took this test that made sure we knew how to use Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, which was really wasy. After we did that, we went to lunch and I sat and talked with some of the people in my group; after lunch, I went take my pic for my student ID. Then we went to an auditorium and watched a pretty long skit that summed up college life. After that, we went to two sessions that we picked that lasted for like two hours, and then we went to another classroom and talked and worked on our chant some more. After that, we went to dinner and all the students at orientation went to the ballroom to play games and meet new people in different groups. I then left and went back to my hotel with my sister (who is also gonna be at the same school as me). It was about 8:30 at night when that day was over.

Day two was shorter. One of my group leaders gave our group a really short tour of the university, even though the campus is huge. We then went to the "square" and took pics with our groups, and then with everyone that was at orientation. We then went to lunch and after that, we talked about Financial Aid and TOPS (a Louisiana thing), and then we went to another building and some people talking about fraternities/sororities, clubs, and shit like that. After that, we split from our groups and we were divided by our field. We then broke up to even smaller groups in our majors and a teacher talked to us (at this point, it was just me and like 13 people) about our majors. After that, I went to the library to schedule my classes and took a mandatory survey. I finished scheduling at the exact same time as my sister, and then we were able to go home after that! It was 4:00 when we were out of there.

tl;dr I had fun at orientation...haha

EDIT: I left some things out, but I don't feel like adding them in there ha

[$eth]

They really make the process way too long and drawn out, so it seems. Talking about college life and showing it to me in a skit doesn't make it any easier when you actually get to it. I know I need to go to office hours and keep up on my grades. The people I dealt with in the business department (where I'll be studying) were the only good ones. They treated us like adults and gave us the info we needed to know about our academics. But one woman was asking us "Do you know what a prerequisite is? Can anyone tell me what a prerequisite is?" It was awful. Treating us like 4th graders. It kind of irked me. Nothing they do or say is going to make college easier on me. When I miss home, I'll miss home. Telling me not to miss it doesn't make me not miss it, ya know?

[Dystroxia]

I agree about the process being too long. However, if my orientation was just one day and not two, I would have missed out on a ton of info. I can definitely understand you missing home. I mean, you're moving to another state and I'm just moving 2 hours west! I'm gonna miss home, but I think I'll get over it rather quickly.

At my orientation, I didn't leave with too many questions, which is a really good thing

[cubsml34]

My orientation was pretty long at DePaul but I liked it.
Bunch of seminars beginning with Honors Program, diversity, campus safety, financial stuff, drugs, booze, tours of the city and such, along with ice breakers and tours of Lincoln Park and the Loop since I'm a Communications student and will based in the Loop (pending a change in majors).
We went all night on the first night too with competitive group activities at the fitness center; I didn't get to sleep in one of the freezing cold dorm rooms till 1:30 AM. Finally on day two I was part of the last group to register for classes which was definitely the best part.

In short it's unavoidable and long at points but everyone was really cool and it just made me anticipate college even more.

[Dystroxia]

Anyone else have their orientation?

[_bluestOCT]

I had my Rutgers orientation last Thursday into Friday, and it wasn't too bad. Our orientation leaders were really chill with us, and my group actually got pretty close. I had lots of presentations at mine too, but they really made an effort to make it bearable and not too boring. They played an interactive game show with us, to test our knowledge of RU. Lots and lots of emphasis on sex, drugs, and harassment. They even had a video of a talking penis and vagina, and the fact that they sell 22 different kinds of condoms is permanently etched into my brain.

The only thing bad about it was the dorming situation. WAY TOO HOT. My roommate and I both brought fans, plus the ceiling fan was on too, but i just couldn't sleep. So I just chilled in the lobby where the vending machines were for a few hours, and then went back up when I knew I couldn't stay awake anymore. But I guess that's the price you pay for freedom.

[LetterBomb31]

What's a college orientation? Is that like an induction day? I'm English and we don't have 'college orientations' haha (we have open days where you can visit the university before applying and then we also have freshers week, which is basically your first week at uni, but there's no lessons).

[Jake Jenkins]

it wasn't too bad. just some icrebreakers in small groups, learning more about the school in larger groups. it was an all day thing though, from 8-8 so it got reallllllllllllly boring and tiresome near the end. still, it wasn't awful or anything.

[cwya]

I had my UNC orientation earlier this summer. It wasn't bad. Theyre all pretty much the same. Got IDs, listened to a bunch of lectures about the university, went to advising, registered for classes. My group leader was a really cool guy. At night on the first day, all the leaders got us together in a big theater and put on these skits about different aspects of living at UNC, which sounds lame but was actually hilarious. Then we went to some hang out thing at the rec center place, a friend and I started a huge dodgeball game which was awesome. Then, really late that night, we went out for burritos and to check out what was going on downtown. Next day was similar, then I got to pick up my Macbook. Meals weren't awkward, everyone was friendly, and there were some smoking hot girls. It got me really excited to go to school.

[suburbn_thrills]

Originally Posted by _bluestOCT

I had my Rutgers orientation last Thursday into Friday, and it wasn't too bad. Our orientation leaders were really chill with us, and my group actually got pretty close. I had lots of presentations at mine too, but they really made an effort to make it bearable and not too boring. They played an interactive game show with us, to test our knowledge of RU. Lots and lots of emphasis on sex, drugs, and harassment. They even had a video of a talking penis and vagina, and the fact that they sell 22 different kinds of condoms is permanently etched into my brain.

The only thing bad about it was the dorming situation. WAY TOO HOT. My roommate and I both brought fans, plus the ceiling fan was on too, but i just couldn't sleep. So I just chilled in the lobby where the vending machines were for a few hours, and then went back up when I knew I couldn't stay awake anymore. But I guess that's the price you pay for freedom.

I just graduated from RU and was an orientation leader last summer Who was your OL??

[spiffa0]

Orientation is stupid but fairly important socially. Let's you meet people and make new friends so you aren't coming into college with no social contacts.

[_bluestOCT]

Originally Posted by suburbn_thrills

I just graduated from RU and was an orientation leader last summer Who was your OL??

Really? That's awesome! I'm actually considering being an orientation leader once I figure out how, haha. And I had Kristin Yu as my OL

[Asadcow]

It's so awkward two years later when you see people you befriended at orientation but never talked to again.