Spring Break
Editorial: Orientation could better use campus resources
Our Opinion
Issue date: 6/15/09 Section: Commentary
Thinking back on freshman orientation, what is it that you remember? Is it hot weather, rushed information sessions and silly plays? For many students, orientation was not exactly the pre-college experience that they were expecting.
But summer orientation is only one part of a three-step orientation process. According to Maria Sedotti, coordinator for UConn Orientation Services, the purpose of summer orientation is to take care of administrative business. That's why we found ourselves stuck learning how to use NetIDs, Peoplesoft and register for courses. The next step of orientation is Husky WOW, which is the first weekend of school. This is when students truly begin their college experience. The orientation process is completed with a First Year Experience class, where students learn how to use the library, and if lucky, the Dairy Bar.
For many students, summer orientation tends to be a big letdown. Due to safety concerns, participants are kept under close supervision and not allowed to leave the group at all. They are led around campus learning things that they will inevitably forget by the time they arrive at the end of August, where they may or may not participate in the Husky WOW activities.
There are several things that could be changed about summer orientation to make it more effective. The biggest problem with orientation is the timing. Held from the beginning of the summer until the start of July, orientation takes place at this time for many reasons, including the school calendar, the availability of advisors and the conference housing schedule. This should be something to keep in mind as UConn's academic calendar is determined in the future. If orientation were held closer to the start of school, the information would remain fresh in new students' minds. They will also be out of high school by that time and ready to go out on their own, allowing students to explore the campus themselves with fewer liabilities for the university.
Another thing that could help orientation bring college to life would be the opportunity to focus on individual majors. But it is too bad that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has the largest amount of majors and programs, which makes it very difficult to give its students any individual attention during orientation. They do, hold an open house at a different time, but it is not an opportunity to get a good picture of your major.
A lot of planning and work goes into orientation on behalf of the university, and orientation does do the job it is meant to - getting business out of the way. But there are many different things that orientation could accomplish if the resources were available.
But summer orientation is only one part of a three-step orientation process. According to Maria Sedotti, coordinator for UConn Orientation Services, the purpose of summer orientation is to take care of administrative business. That's why we found ourselves stuck learning how to use NetIDs, Peoplesoft and register for courses. The next step of orientation is Husky WOW, which is the first weekend of school. This is when students truly begin their college experience. The orientation process is completed with a First Year Experience class, where students learn how to use the library, and if lucky, the Dairy Bar.
For many students, summer orientation tends to be a big letdown. Due to safety concerns, participants are kept under close supervision and not allowed to leave the group at all. They are led around campus learning things that they will inevitably forget by the time they arrive at the end of August, where they may or may not participate in the Husky WOW activities.
There are several things that could be changed about summer orientation to make it more effective. The biggest problem with orientation is the timing. Held from the beginning of the summer until the start of July, orientation takes place at this time for many reasons, including the school calendar, the availability of advisors and the conference housing schedule. This should be something to keep in mind as UConn's academic calendar is determined in the future. If orientation were held closer to the start of school, the information would remain fresh in new students' minds. They will also be out of high school by that time and ready to go out on their own, allowing students to explore the campus themselves with fewer liabilities for the university.
Another thing that could help orientation bring college to life would be the opportunity to focus on individual majors. But it is too bad that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has the largest amount of majors and programs, which makes it very difficult to give its students any individual attention during orientation. They do, hold an open house at a different time, but it is not an opportunity to get a good picture of your major.
A lot of planning and work goes into orientation on behalf of the university, and orientation does do the job it is meant to - getting business out of the way. But there are many different things that orientation could accomplish if the resources were available.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 14
Timothy Woodruff
posted 6/14/09 @ 8:53 PM EST
Hopefully this commentary is not reflective of the year to come. Either an extremely S L O W news month in Storrs if this is topic A or there are some dubious changes at the DC for 2009 and 10. (Continued…)
Sarah
posted 6/14/09 @ 9:44 PM EST
I frequently have strong negative reactions to commentary articles in the DC but this one in particular just seems inappropriate. You don't really seem to know what you're talking about. (Continued…)
Amy Jancewicz
posted 6/14/09 @ 10:49 PM EST
Wow. Grammar and content are lacking here. Obviously the graduating class of DC reporters took the talent with them. Just because it is the summer doesn't mean that the newspaper should allow sub-par articles on the website. (Continued…)
Joe Shmoe
posted 6/14/09 @ 11:18 PM EST
There was not one good argument in the entire article. If you do not think incoming students can retain information for two months, than how do you expect them to retain any information taught in college that will not be implemented until after graduation? The purpose of Orientation is to familiarize the freshmen to the campus they will be spending their next four (or five) years at. (Continued…)
Disappointed in the DC
posted 6/14/09 @ 11:27 PM EST
I find it disappointing that a student-one who fails to even take ownership of his or her article-would undermine the importance of a program such as orientation-a program intended for the purpose of benefitting incoming students to the university-and to what avail?
Your criticism of the program is based off of your personal orientation which unfortunately did not live up to your standards, but what of the many students that come through UConn's orientation program feeling more comfortable about returning in the fall, excited for the opportunities awaiting them, and satisfied knowing the classes they will take when they return. (Continued…)
Calm down
posted 6/15/09 @ 1:31 AM EST
While many disagree over the specific arguments presented by this article, I feel few have been able to counter the heart of it. That is, orientation is overall a negative experience. (Continued…)
food for thought
posted 6/15/09 @ 11:49 AM EST
this is just food for thought, and feel free to ignore it if you don't see the importance, but upon reading the article and comments I have a thought. (Continued…)
Tony
posted 6/16/09 @ 1:09 PM EST
Wow, why so much controversy, especially without any strong argument? Apparently there are no other (pertinent) issues to write about...Has anyone else noticed that many of these articles look more like a 7th grade essay than the work of a college student?
Sammy
posted 6/24/09 @ 8:56 AM EST
I was a former Orientation leader so i think I probably have more authority to talk on the subject then the DC or most of these commenters on here.
1) Do we tell the students a lot of information that they will probably forget? Yes. (Continued…)
Criminal Justice Degree
posted 8/07/09 @ 2:53 AM EST
I remember when I was a freshman for at one of the best criminal justice colleges in the nation I had the worst time keeping my head together during the orientation. (Continued…)
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