Orientation seals the deal

Christopher,

IU also had a program for prospective students in the spring called Red Carpet Days, but I don’t think it was nearly as fun as what Dimensions sounds like. First of all, Red Carpet Days is really only one day.  We arrived in the morning with our parents for a presentation at IU’s main auditorium followed by a tour of campus.  After lunch, we had tours of our prospective departments followed by tours of residence halls.

It makes sense that IU doesn’t have too elaborate of an admit weekend/day due to the fact it admits tens of thousands of students. (I must add that IU has separate admit events for students receiving named scholarships. For example, as an Ernie Pyle Scholar, I was invited to an awards ceremony and reception in April.)

Judging from social media and my own experience, what really gets IU students excited (the same kind of excitement that Dimensions evoked in you) is orientation. IU and many other state schools have a two-day summer orientation program for students who have already committed. The orientation program is in addition to Welcome Week, which is similar to your orientation in that it occurs the week before classes start.

My orientation was in June, and it was a lot like Dimensions sounds. There were separate programs for parents, so we pre-frosh were forced to get out of our comfort zones and actually talk to one another. We were split into groups of fifteen, which was conducive to making friends. I lucked out in that my orientation leader was in my prospective major and lived in my residence hall. Orientation made college seems real. I got my ID card, and met with an advisor to choose my classes.  The best part was a musical put on by older students about touchy subjects (sex, drugs, rape, sexual orientation, peeing in bed) that one doesn’t normally associate with musicals. The actors made the issues less taboo and I think made everyone more comfortable with coming to school in a few months.

In a previous post, I wrote about the differences between making friends at a state school close to home vs. a school far away.  I must note that during my Red Carpet Days event, one of my high school friends was in the group. I ended up hanging out with her for nearly the whole day and didn’t really talk to anyone new.  In contrast, I didn’t have anyone I knew in my orientation group, and ended up making a really good friend with whom I am still in touch with.

I can’t believe I have less than a week until move-in day!

Neha

See you during Thanksgiving…or next week

While Christopher was in Chicago, I was with our group of friends at Ellie’s – one last night of games and snacks before we all go our separate ways in the next weeks. The thing is, though, most of us aren’t really separating. The majority of our friends are either staying right here in West Lafayette to attend Purdue University or are coming with me to IU.  In fact, there are five girls from our high school class on my dormitory floor. In addition to old classmates, several debate friends from throughout the state will be at IU.

I’m not sure how I feel yet about attending college with so many people I already know. (I should mention for our readers that our graduating class had less than 200 kids, and that most of us have been attending school together since Kindergarten.)

On one hand, I feel like I’m missing out on part of the college experience.  There will be people at IU who remember my middle school science fair projects or that I dressed like Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl every day of the eighth grade. I certainly don’t plan on reinventing myself in college or anything, but I have obviously changed over the years, so it would be nice for people to not have preconceived notions about me.  Also, I hope the fact that I already have some friends at IU won’t make me lazy and less motivated to take the effort to make new friends.

On the other hand, college seems far less daunting. I have already spoken to several older friends from high school who now attend IU to pick their brains for advice, and I know many of them will look out for me this year.  I also feel like I have some semblance of a network already in place.  For example, there is a Facebook page for our high school’s alum who are at IU to coordinate rides between home and school.  I know I will have the opportunity to make new friends due to IU’s enormous population, but I can also rest assured that I will have several familiar faces to turn to if the need arises. I am also genuinely looking forward to developing deeper bonds with high school friends who will be with me in college. After all, nothing beats old friends.