We attended new student orientation today

[Kalypso]

I just spent the entire day (7:15 - 4:00) at new student orientation with my dd. We are both so tired. I know the university is dealing with moving a lot of students through since this is a state university, but so much of today was a waste of time. The important items, such as talking to an advisor and scheduling classes, were saved until the end. The part that I found to be really inefficient was that the students were given a 10 minute time slot to pick up a computer generated schedule with classes selected for them. After that, the students could go to another building and make schedule changes. So, guess what? The line for schedule changes was VERY long.

 

The students could speak to an advisor before making changes or just go to a computer lab with many other students and add/drop classes on their own. It was crazy. After 45 minutes, my dd came out with a schedule she was happy with. Thank goodness she had looked through courses ahead of time and had a list of classes she was interested in. One parent that I spoke with while waiting told me that her dd hadn’t looked at classes ahead of time. I can only imagine how long she had to wait.

 

So, I don’t know if this is a vent or what. But, knowing that I potentially have 5 more of these to attend sometime in the future does not sound very appealing right now.

 

I really don’t know if I want to hear anymore about being a “Wildcat†for awhile.

 

I am glad dd is happy with her classes, and I like my new coffee mug. :001_smile:

[Wildcat]

I hear you. I found 90% of ds' orientation a waste of time. Nearly everything was found on the website, so why did we have to sit through lectures? Ds' advisor meeting & registration was also saved until the end (captive audience anyone?).

 

The only thing ds found worthwhile was registration (thankfully not as bad as what you went through, but definitely not painless!) and getting his ID made. The only thing I found worthwhile was a little tidbit I picked up while casually talking with someone about meal plans. Otherwise... total waste of time (and money, as we went through three tanks of gas, had to eat several meals out, and needed a hotel room). I was amazed/frustrated at the questions people asked in the lectures--- either the answers could be found online (easily), or they were so specific that a one-to-one meeting would have been appropriate. I also didn't need to waste 30 minutes hearing where everyone was from. Oh well, I'm just glad it's over!

[AngieW in Texas]

My 17yo has orientation this weekend with registration at the end. Since it's the same school my oldest is at, I can skip most of the parent orientation.

 

Definitely have your student pick out several classes to try to register for that will make a nice schedule beforehand. My dd selected 24 hours of classes to try to register for (with 2 of them looking like they might fill up before she got to register). Right now one of those classes is full, so she will likely register for 21 hours and then she can drop 3, 4, or 6 hours during the first two weeks of class.

 

After going through this with my oldest two years ago, I can say that your student should definitely sign up for one more course than she intends to take. That gives you leeway if you need to drop one of the classes. My girls have to take at least 15 credit hours every semester, so dropping below that amount can't happen.

[Kalypso]

It is interesting to hear about the different experiences. My dd signed up for 18 hours, but maybe I should have her add another class if possible. She needs to take a minimum of 15 hours also. After yesterday, she has some questions to ask that they didn't cover in all of those hours of orientation.

[Kalypso]

I hear you. I found 90% of ds' orientation a waste of time. Nearly everything was found on the website, so why did we have to sit through lectures? Ds' advisor meeting & registration was also saved until the end (captive audience anyone?).

 

The only thing ds found worthwhile was registration (thankfully not as bad as what you went through, but definitely not painless!) and getting his ID made. The only thing I found worthwhile was a little tidbit I picked up while casually talking with someone about meal plans. Otherwise... total waste of time (and money, as we went through three tanks of gas, had to eat several meals out, and needed a hotel room). I was amazed/frustrated at the questions people asked in the lectures--- either the answers could be found online (easily), or they were so specific that a one-to-one meeting would have been appropriate. I also didn't need to waste 30 minutes hearing where everyone was from. Oh well, I'm just glad it's over!

 

 

 

I guess I should be grateful that I only had to travel 30 minutes to get to ours. I, too, was amazed at the basic questions that were asked. Thankfully, there were so many people at ours that we could not go over where everyone was from. I'll have to admit that I laughed when I saw that a "Wildcat" was the first to respond to my post. :lol:

[Vida Winter]

I hope that dd can handle everything at her orientation because I was planning on skipping it and going shopping with my younger dds. We live in remote nowhere and it has been months since I have been near a store other than a grocery. We need to get dd a dorm fridge and a set of sheets. I guess she should take a look at the classes she wants beforehand - we have talked about it in general but thanks for the reminder to look them up. She also wants to look up some of the profs on ratemyprofessor. The summer hasn't even started and it is already whizzing by.

[AngieW in Texas]

Definitely check out ratemyprofessor. Be sure to read through the comments, not just the ratings. The very thing that turns off other students could be what your dd is looking for. My girls prefer short answer and essay tests over scantron tests and a lot of students on ratemyprofessor will complain about tests that aren't scantron.

[Wildcat]

My 17yo has orientation this weekend with registration at the end. Since it's the same school my oldest is at, I can skip most of the parent orientation.

 

Definitely have your student pick out several classes to try to register for that will make a nice schedule beforehand. My dd selected 24 hours of classes to try to register for (with 2 of them looking like they might fill up before she got to register). Right now one of those classes is full, so she will likely register for 21 hours and then she can drop 3, 4, or 6 hours during the first two weeks of class.

 

After going through this with my oldest two years ago, I can say that your student should definitely sign up for one more course than she intends to take. That gives you leeway if you need to drop one of the classes. My girls have to take at least 15 credit hours every semester, so dropping below that amount can't happen.

 

I armed ds with two lists of classes -- one was the 'ideal' list. Ideal meaning all of his DE classes transferred. The other list was the "worst case" list where none of his DE classes transferred. I was annoyed that we didn't know before hand. I mean, how hard would it have been to have the system generate an e-mail to the student once that info was entered into his/her record? That was actually a question that many parents had..... did their kids' AP and DE credits count? No one knew.

 

As for the hours thing, that is a great idea, and I wish I had thought of telling DS that. He should be good with his schedule, but I'll file that nugget away for future reference. One caveat though.... at the cc where ds did his DE, once a class was *paid for* any drops showed as a "W" on their transcript. Not just after class began, but after it was paid for. I didn't like that policy, but it has stuck in my head to have ds be careful about dropping classes and to know when he can drop and have it not show up on his transcript.

 

It is interesting to hear about the different experiences. My dd signed up for 18 hours, but maybe I should have her add another class if possible. She needs to take a minimum of 15 hours also. After yesterday, she has some questions to ask that they didn't cover in all of those hours of orientation.

 

See my reply to Angie above about dropping. It's a fabulous idea (and would have saved me a semester back when I was in school!), but be sure what the policy for dropping is at your dd's uni.

 

I would imagine most of the lingering questions people have are 'unique' to their situations. My theory is that having parents come to the orientation is just a money maker for the school! I was happy in that ds got into the Honors college, because our orientation was only one (very long) day.... the rest of the kids have a full 2-day orientation. I can't even imagine that!! :svengo:

 

I guess I should be grateful that I only had to travel 30 minutes to get to ours. I, too, was amazed at the basic questions that were asked. Thankfully, there were so many people at ours that we could not go over where everyone was from. I'll have to admit that I laughed when I saw that a "Wildcat" was the first to respond to my post. :lol:

 

I almost made a joke about the "Wildcat" thing, but I have a hard time making jokes over the internet, so I refrained in case it went south. I'm glad you caught it, though, and got a chuckle out of it! :lol:

 

 

I hope that dd can handle everything at her orientation because I was planning on skipping it and going shopping with my younger dds. We live in remote nowhere and it has been months since I have been near a store other than a grocery. We need to get dd a dorm fridge and a set of sheets. I guess she should take a look at the classes she wants beforehand - we have talked about it in general but thanks for the reminder to look them up. She also wants to look up some of the profs on ratemyprofessor. The summer hasn't even started and it is already whizzing by.

 

If past posts on orientations are any indication, she should be fine. If you read the school's website (and maybe facebook page), I would imagine you would know most everything you need to know and any other questions wouldn't have been covered, anyway. At ds' uni, parents weren't allowed to go with the kids to register, so ds was alone, anyway. I'm sure that not all parents can come to orientation and as such, the unis are very good at helping the incoming class.

 

Definitely check out ratemyprofessor. Be sure to read through the comments, not just the ratings. The very thing that turns off other students could be what your dd is looking for. My girls prefer short answer and essay tests over scantron tests and a lot of students on ratemyprofessor will complain about tests that aren't scantron.

 

I love ratemyprofessor. I agree with reading the comments, though, and not just looking at the 'rating'. I specifically told ds to look for comments where the prof was highly thought of, and not just an "easy A".

 

We went to orientation having not looked at the course schedule as it was so early it hadn't been posted yet, so we had no clue about the profs. Interestingly, ds' uni has an 'in house' rating system, so he was able to check out his profs that way and choose while he was registering. I thought that was neat.

[creekland]

It is interesting how different schools are different. My guys register for classes online with only a few being added at orientation. Middle son also would not have been able to sign up for more classes than he wanted as fall freshmen are limited to 4 classes (sometimes a 1 hour class can be added).

 

We skipped oldest's orientation and never realized parents were supposed to stay. That didn't happen back in "our" day for our state Us. We had gone to a summer pre-orientation for him and thought that was "it." He had his ID and everything made at that time. We attended middle's orientation (2 days) and found some meetings informative and others kind of boring. It was kind of nice having a longer good-bye though.

 

Time will tell what happens with youngest. It's interesting reading what happens at different schools.

[Michelle My Bell]

This is all very new to me. My daughter will be going to orientation on Wednesday. Could you clarify more about choosing extra classes with the intent to drop them? I think I understand but I want to be sure.

[QueenCat]

Always remember that ratemyprofessor is only as good as the students who post there. Dh has two students that have rated him. Both made him look terrible. It was obvious to him as to whom both the students were... Both got an F in his class. One for blatant plagiarizing and one for not turning in most of the work and only showing up to class 3 times. Of course, they didn't mention that part in their complaints about how hard it was to pass his class. Thankfully, that is NOT what his boss cares about when determining his contract. They look at overall grade spread, student evaluations, and SUPERVISOR evaluations, along with a few other criteria.Good students do well in his class. He defines good students as those who show up, do their work, ask questions and make an effort.

[AngieW in Texas]

At MOST universities (but you have to check the policy at your university), you can drop a class during the first two weeks with no penalty. In Texas, you can only drop 6 classes over your entire college career, but classes dropped in the first two weeks don't count.

 

If you sign up for 18, but intend to take just 15-18, then you can drop the class that has a teacher with an accent you don't understand or that is not what you had hoped it would be. It gives you the ability to try out an extra class without necessarily committing to it.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Later this month, my dd will attend orientation specific to the honors program. They have half a day scheduled for (priority) registration. But she got an email earlier this week saying that online registration is opening now and that students should register now to get their first choice classes/times.

 

While I was looking forward to registering at orientation, I can roll with this now. I am soooo thankful we've navigated CC dual enrollment and have a bit of an idea what we are doing. But I will miss that face to face interaction with an advisor. We've had papers spread out all over the kitchen table tonight in an effort to work her schedule. She'll definitely have to contact her advisor ahead of time anyway with specific questions.

 

The honors orientation is 2-1/2 days, which means we--I--will be spending three nights in a hotel. So boring!! Coincidentally, an old elementary school classmate-turned FB friend who lives in CA will be in DC at the same time I am, as her dd is attending orientation at a school 30 mins. away from my dd. We have plans to meet, so at least I won't be totally alone!

[Michelle My Bell]

Today is the day.