preparing for freshman orientation - written to the student

[AngieW in Texas]

We just got back from freshman orientation for my middle dd. She really benefited from her sister already going through it two years ago. We knew what needed to be done in advance this time. Here are my recommendations:

 

 

I recommend keeping a folder with all of your essentials in it. This would have a copy of your transcript from high school and your transcript from community college (if you took classes there) along with your SAT/ACT scores, AP scores, and any important mail from the university (like a scholarship notice).

 

Make sure you look at the degree plans for everything you are interested in before going to orientation. Come up with at least 10 classes you need to take that you can take (already have the prerequisite). Try to come up with a workable schedule for any 7 of the classes so that when your advising turn comes up, you can go first (and have a better chance of getting in to the classes you want). You should have class options that you are interested in written down and easily accessible for orientation. Your list should include the class prefix, course number, and section number. If there is another identifying number, it should be written down as well. You should also write down the day/time, teacher, and location of the class. If there is a particular teacher you want to avoid (see my ratemyprofessors note below), then be sure to note that.

If you are planning on a state school, everybody has to take the core curriculum classes, regardless of major. Taking some of these (especially history and government) at ACC is a very good idea. Many universities teach these courses as huge lecture hall classes with over 200 students.

 

UT Dallas will not allow freshmen to sign up for more than 18 hours and actually encourages them to take just 12-15 hours their first semester, although scholarship students have to take 15 hours each semester unless they get a waiver from the scholarship office.

 

If you want to take a class that has a prerequisite you don't already have, you can email the teacher BEFORE orientation and ask permission to take the class as a corequisite instead. The worst they can do is say no.

 

Be sure to look up all teachers on ratemyprofessors.com and read the reviews. The reason given for low ratings might be why that teacher would be a good fit for you or the reason given for high ratings might be why that teacher would be a bad fit for you.

 

Many schools require you to take a placement test before you can sign up for any math class and another before you can sign up for any computer science class. You should generally get these completed several weeks before you are scheduled for orientation.

[Brenda in MA]

Great advice, Angie.

 

When my oldest was registering during summer orientation, he had been admitted into the college for one major but was strong considering switching to a different major. He wanted to try a couple of classes from the other major his first semester to see if he liked it, but these courses were limited to kids in that second major. Getting into these courses was very important from a scheduling perspective because they were only offered in the fall, and if he did decide he wanted that major, he'd be "behind" if he didn't take them right away. If he eventually decided that he didn't want that other major, these courses would count towards general humanities and free electives anyway, so there wasn't any downside to taking these two classes his first semester.

 

We ended up arriving a day early for orientation and making an appointment with someone in the second major department and explained the situation. They were very nice, and they gave my son an "override" which allowed him to sign-up for those two classes even though his official major was listed as something else.

 

So I agree that sometimes going that extra mile to prepare for orientation is a good idea.

 

Best wishes to all,

Brenda

[regentrude]

Many schools require you to take a placement test before you can sign up for any math class and another before you can sign up for any computer science class. You should generally get these completed several weeks before you are scheduled for orientation.

 

 

Angie,

I do not understand this, could you please elaborate on this? Don't students take the placement test at the school they are going to attend? How would they take the placement test early?

Thanks!

[Luckymama]

 

 

Angie,

I do not understand this, could you please elaborate on this? Don't students take the placement test at the school they are going to attend? How would they take the placement test early?

Thanks!

 

 

For dd's school the students take an online math placement test (it's really only through precalc) before their summer orientation date. They will then be placed into the appropriate course by the advisor or (hopefully in dd's case, due to her major) be excluded from any math requirement.

 

The information about the placement exam was sent in a packet of what-to-do-before-orientation paperwork she received after accepting the admission offer. It is also a checklist item on her online school portal.

[Wildcat]

We just got back from freshman orientation for my middle dd. She really benefited from her sister already going through it two years ago. We knew what needed to be done in advance this time. Here are my recommendations:

 

 

I recommend keeping a folder with all of your essentials in it. This would have a copy of your transcript from high school and your transcript from ACC (if you took classes there) along with your SAT/ACT scores, AP scores, and any important mail from the university (like a scholarship notice).

 

Make sure you look at the degree plans for everything you are interested in before going to orientation. Come up with at least 10 classes you need to take that you can take (already have the prerequisite). Try to come up with a workable schedule for any 7 of the classes so that when your advising turn comes up, you can go first (and have a better chance of getting in to the classes you want). You should have class options that you are interested in written down and easily accessible for orientation. Your list should include the class prefix, course number, and section number. If there is another identifying number, it should be written down as well. You should also write down the day/time, teacher, and location of the class. If there is a particular teacher you want to avoid (see my ratemyprofessors note below), then be sure to note that.

If you are planning on a state school, everybody has to take the core curriculum classes, regardless of major. Taking some of these (especially history and government) at ACC is a very good idea. Many universities teach these courses as huge lecture hall classes with over 200 students.

 

UT Dallas will not allow freshmen to sign up for more than 18 hours and actually encourages them to take just 12-15 hours their first semester, although scholarship students have to take 15 hours each semester unless they get a waiver from the scholarship office.

 

If you want to take a class that has a prerequisite you don't already have, you can email the teacher BEFORE orientation and ask permission to take the class as a corequisite instead. The worst they can do is say no.

 

Be sure to look up all teachers on ratemyprofessors.com and read the reviews. The reason given for low ratings might be why that teacher would be a good fit for you or the reason given for high ratings might be why that teacher would be a bad fit for you.

 

Many schools require you to take a placement test before you can sign up for any math class and another before you can sign up for any computer science class. You should generally get these completed several weeks before you are scheduled for orientation.

 

Excellent post! I wish I could have given it more than one "like".

 

Re the part I bolded:

I would also include printed copies of the school's policies with regards to pre-reqs, placement, testing out of a class, and credit by exam (AP, CLEP, ACT, etc). I armed ds with such info 'just in case' and it was the best thing! The school ds is attending awards English credit based on SAT/ACT score and, if the student is in the honors program, can place immediately into the Honors English II class. When he went to register, there was one assistant and eight students. The school pre-registered ds for Eng II, not the Honors Eng II that he wanted, so he asked for help as the system wouldn't let him make that change. The assistant said Hon Eng II wasn't included in the 'test out' program, so ds pulled out his printed copy from the Eng department's web page and showed her the portion I highlighted. She said "huh, what do you know?" and made a phone call to get an override number. Sadly, the class was full by the time she got the number so ds didn't get in, but still.... having that paper 'proved' he was eligible for the class. As an aside, ds didn't fight being locked out of the class, as he later learned the prof might not be a good fit for him, so it worked out in the end, but we were both ticked at the 'well you'll just have to check the system for drops over the summer and see if you can get in" attitude!

 

So yes.... bring any supporting documents. And bring copies in case you need to leave them with the school.

 

Excellent thread!!

[Candid]

One thing to consider, if your student comes with a smart phone or laptop computer, is not to bring a folder, but to make sure they have the documents they would need available either on the laptop or in a cloud storage system.

 

I'd have them in Evernote which I can email directly from to someone else. This way you can have lots of details and keep all your lists, etc on it, too.

 

The disadvantage is not having the physical copy, but that's and advantage, too since physical copies can be lost.

[AngieW in Texas]

And I recommend scanning everything into the computer or taking a picture of all the documents with your phone so you have backups.

 

UTD uses aleks for placement testing. They require you to take a placement test before you can sign up for a math class. Even if you took AP calculus BC and got a 5, they still want to see a placement test before you sign up for a math class. If you don't need to take any more math, then you don't have to take the test.

 

http://oue.utdallas.edu/home/math-placement/

[Vida Winter]

Good grief. Thanks for the heads-up. I can only find honors courses online listed with sections/times/profs. Are you generally able to find out fall course sections in advance of registration? Cross referencing with ratemyprofessors is time-consuming and needs to be done in advance of meeting the advisor.

[AngieW in Texas]

They generally do have the schedule posted well before freshman orientation because all the upperclassmen start registering by April (and sometimes in March, depending on the school).

 

However, they generally have a bunch of sections that they don't add to the schedule until shortly before the first freshman orientation is scheduled. For instance, UTD had only 2 sections of HIST 1301 posted up until one week before freshman orientation, when they added 6 more. This is a core course that everybody at Texas state schools is required to take.

 

You may need to call or email to find out how to access the schedule. My dd had to email the honors department to find out how to find those courses. They weren't on the schedule originally. The freshman seminar that all freshmen had to take wasn't on the schedule until the week before orientation either.

[QueenCat]

Just remember, as I've said before, ratemyprofessor is only as good as the students entering the info. Disgruntled students are often those students who weren't willing to do the work and then decided to get back at the professor by saying untrue things about them.

[Vida Winter]

Just remember, as I've said before, ratemyprofessor is only as good as the students entering the info. Disgruntled students are often those students who weren't willing to do the work and then decided to get back at the professor by saying untrue things about them.

 

:iagree: Still it is useful to get a sense of what's going on.

[regentrude]

I can only find honors courses online listed with sections/times/profs. Are you generally able to find out fall course sections in advance of registration?

 

The fall schedule of courses should be available online through the registrar's website. At our school, all our enrolled student have advising in the last week of March and sign up for classes in April - so the schedule for the fall will be definitely finalized and available by then.

[Vida Winter]

They generally do have the schedule posted well before freshman orientation because all the upperclassmen start registering by April (and sometimes in March, depending on the school).

 

However, they generally have a bunch of sections that they don't add to the schedule until shortly before the first freshman orientation is scheduled. For instance, UTD had only 2 sections of HIST 1301 posted up until one week before freshman orientation, when they added 6 more. This is a core course that everybody at Texas state schools is required to take.

 

You may need to call or email to find out how to access the schedule. My dd had to email the honors department to find out how to find those courses. They weren't on the schedule originally. The freshman seminar that all freshmen had to take wasn't on the schedule until the week before orientation either.

 

Since I posted I found the course sections online. Many sections are already filled - rats. I wonder if the math dept would let us know informally who the professors are for sections marked "STAFF". Dd is out of town but when she gets back she has a lot to do. The honors kids get to register early but not their very first semester.

[Wildcat]

They generally do have the schedule posted well before freshman orientation because all the upperclassmen start registering by April (and sometimes in March, depending on the school).

 

However, they generally have a bunch of sections that they don't add to the schedule until shortly before the first freshman orientation is scheduled. For instance, UTD had only 2 sections of HIST 1301 posted up until one week before freshman orientation, when they added 6 more. This is a core course that everybody at Texas state schools is required to take.

 

You may need to call or email to find out how to access the schedule. My dd had to email the honors department to find out how to find those courses. They weren't on the schedule originally. The freshman seminar that all freshmen had to take wasn't on the schedule until the week before orientation either.

 

Oohh... awesome tip! I have that filed away for future reference and will mention it to ds in case his school does the same!! :thumbup1:

[Jane in NC]

My son's school holds slots in many courses for incoming freshmen. During their registration periods (at the end of scattered orientation sessions) x number of slots in these courses are opened. That way students at a later orientation session will have a chance at getting a slot.

[regentrude]

I wonder if the math dept would let us know informally who the professors are for sections marked "STAFF".

 

 

You can ask, but it is quite possible they do not know yet.

For our courses that run multiple sections, all the instructors involved meet the week before classes start and divide up the sections.