College: Orientation Experience

My College Orientation: What It Was Like

So, late July, I had my college orientation.

If you don’t already know (I didn’t), orientation for most colleges are an overnight event where you spend two days learning all there is to know about the campus, university rules, your courses and is a great opportunity to make friends and meet up with your roommates.

If I’m being honest, orientation felt a lot more like summer camp. I was put into one of the dorm rooms with another person but spent all of both of the days with my orientation group attending different lectures and discussing student life with my orientation leader (OL). I think if you’re about to go to orientation and if you’re college/university splits up the different orientations in different sessions – my university did six sessions that were all on different weekends – then you should definitely arrange with your roommate so that you are at the same session and can meet (if you haven’t already) and get to know one another. My roommates and I (I’m in a triple) did so and I’m really glad we did because it gave me an opportunity to get to know them and (thankfully) we all got along great!

If there were any downsides of orientation, it would definitely have to be all the different lectures you had to attend. On the first day, which was and incredibly hot one, we spent most of the time doing different icebreakers (cringe) in small groups and listening to students and staff talk about safety regulations, etc. They didn’t give us that many breaks so by the time the first day was over, which was at 10 pm (keep in mind the day started at 8 am!) everybody was exhausted and just wanted to go back to the dorms and hang out with new friends.

Although I didn’t really do any of the after-oriention programs – they had ghost tours, movies, garage band and capture the flag – my roommates and I walked around the campus looking for our actual dorm building (the ones we were staying in were not ours) and ended up hanging in one of the dorm rooms just talking and sharing experiences.

The second day was more laid back and they only had a few required lectures but after those most of the people left for home – majority of them being those who lived in different states and had to catch flights. My roommates both left early and I hung out with my other friends from my orientation group.

I live in the same city as my college so I wasn’t in a rush or anything to go back home and since my parents really wanted me to, I met up with my counselor just to talk about my schedule. After a few surveys about the orientation itself and our OL, we were released and my new friends and I just ended up hanging around in one of the main buildings while waiting for our families. They also had a huge information session on the second day that had different booths for the different aspects of student life. There was a Greek Life booth, the college paper, service groups, etc.

If I could offer any advice for those who are about to head to orientation, it would be to definitely:

Pack ALL of your toiletries (and a change of clothes for the second day!), I forgot a few things at home and didn’t realize until I had to get ready for bed
Even if you’re not an extrovert, prepare to be one for at least the two days of orientation since its really about making new friends and getting to know your classmates
If you have any questions about your schedule/major use this time to actually meet face-to-face with your counselor. Since I graduated the IB, I’m really glad I was able to meet with mine since I ended up transferring credits and rearranging the classes I was enrolled in
If you have roommates, arrange it so that you guys can meet up during orientation so that you can just get to know each other before move in day (also it’s perfect for figuring out if you’re going to end up hating them or if you’re actually going to enjoy the next year with them)
Bring a water bottle and snacks with you so you don’t get hungry during the day (if your college has coffee shops/places to eat then bring money)
have an open mind – college is definitely a new experience (at least I think it will be) and you’re going to be meeting a whole bunch of new people so it’s important to be respectful
even though it’s normal to be nervous, remember to smile to the people you see while walking around – everybody is unfamiliar with their surroundings and probably as anxious about it as you are and seeing a friendly face always makes it less scary
If you have questions about ANYTHING ask your OL during group discussions (especially the actual questions like parties, bad roommates and what goes down during welcome week)