Spring Orientation

Many college and universities offer a form of orientation that takes place in late June. This program goes by a variety of names, and often includes advising, placement testing and registration for students. Family members are often invited too, and if that’s what your student’s school does, please attend, because this program is really for you. I’m referring to it as Spring Orientation to distinguish it from the orientation that occurs just before classes begin in August/ September.

Think about it: incoming students are all caught up in the euphoria of graduating from high school, and not yet focused on the year ahead. You’re worried about the roommate they’re going to have, about them making friends, how they will handle their new freedom and how you’re going to pay the bill. Colleges and universities know this, and the smart ones hold parent orientation sessions so you can learn how you can support your student. In fact, during Spring orientation, parents and family members usually ask far more questions than the students do.

What goes on

Spring orientation is designed for entering students to complete important tasks such as taking placement tests, learn about the curriculum, meet with an academic advisor and register for classes. The colleges benefit as well, since spring orientation is one more way to connect students to the college and prevent them from losing interest over the summer. Typical sessions for orientation are things like: Understanding General Education, Support Services for Students, Campus Safety, and Selecting a Roommate. Parent sessions in addition to these might be: Career Services, How to Support Your Students, Health Service and Health Insurance, and Athletic and Recreational Opportunities on Campus. Furman University includes their tentative schedule for Spring orientation for parent and family members on their website.

During this orientation, don’t worry too much about embarrassing your student by the questions you ask if they are in the room with you: after all, all you have to do is show up and you’ve already embarrassed them, so why worry about it now? Plus, if you want to know something, you should ask, because your student isn’t likely to. If they do, however, support and thank them for asking the question, and tell them that their asking the questions is a good a sign for their college career.

Choosing their first term courses

I get it: you’ve been involved with your students through all of their schooling, and want to be involved in this next stage, too. But as a young adult, your student has to take the lead in registering for classes, so their attending the advising session alone (required at many colleges) is a good thing. Help them think through what their choices might be before they go into their advising session so they can hear “what would Dad ask if he were here?” in their heads. Another thing: what if your student takes a course you think they shouldn’t or doesn’t take the courses you think they should? Take the leap of faith and let them take what they’ve chosen. Also, they will have seven semesters after the first (or eleven quarters) so if they are really off with their course selections, they can make a correction for the next term. After all, this is their first time at this.

An important note for overnight orientation programs

Some colleges and universities like Furman, include a stayover during orientation where students live with other students for a single night. I would urge that you discourage your student from choosing their orientation roommate as their permanent roommate. Whether they want to share it or not, when students come to Spring orientation, they are likely a little uneasy about the students they’re going to meet, including the person they’ll be spending the night with. So, they are often surprised to finds that that student is not an axe murderers and that they actually like them. The temptation is to head to residence life and ask to become roommates on the spot. This is a bad idea: the students don’t really know much about each other, except that they’re not axe murderers. For example, they don’t know what music they like, if they are a morning person or night owl, if they want the window open or closed at night, etc. As small as these things may seem, they are actually important. I’ll be sure to blog about roommates soon. Enjoy your orientation and this important time with your student!