10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Orientation At FSU

You’ve heard your very last tardy bell, been handed your diploma, and walked your way across the stage to become an official high school graduate. All you can think is, “I can’t wait till I go to college!” as you have a countdown on your phone, tallying off the amount of days you have left until the freedom and experience that is Florida State. But before the day comes for you to move into your first college dorm and start your classes as a freshman, every incoming student must go through the process of orientation. Each school has their own method of conducting theirs, and listed below are 10 helpful hints I wish I knew while I was going through my own at FSU.

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1. Whoever’s in front of or behind you in line when you check in, will be your roommate for the next two days.

This person will become your other half for the next forty eight hours, so choose them wisely. More likely than not, you two will become inseparable, considering the fact that you are in a new place away from home, your parents, and your safety net. But it’s also very likely that once orientation is completed and school officially commences, you will never see or hear from this person again.

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2. Be prepared to wake up at the crack of dawn to the “Fight Song” being blasted throughout the halls.

Waking up bright and early at the good old time of 6 am you and your roommate are awoken from your peaceful slumber to the loud music of our schools anthem and the stomping of the entire orientation leader staff running throughout the halls and pounding on everyone’s doors. So I hope that you’re a morning person because it’s about to be a long and hot day.

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3. Expect to sweat – a lot.

The temperature of Tallahassee during the summer months are almost unbearable. With the sky usually being clear, the heat just bouncing off the pavements, and no wind to help or cool you down walking around the campus will be highly uncomfortable. If you are one that is known to sweat make sure to pack light clothes that will keep you as breezy as possible, cause the last thing you want is to sport are sweat stains.

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4. You WILL have your picture taken for your FSU ID (which will follow you throughout your college career).

That’s right, your picture will be taken that will in turn be printed onto your official FSU ID. So make sure that you’re all dolled up and prepared, because once it’s taken, you can’t go back. No pressure.

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5. Try to choose the earliest orientation date, so you have the most options when you make your freshman year class schedule.

The longer you wait to complete your orientation the more incoming students have planned out and registered their classes ahead of you. Filling up class spots that you might have potentially wanted to be in your chances of getting the ideal schedule (aka no Fridays or 8ams) greatly decrease. So hopefully the odds are in your favor or you’ll be forced to potentially alter your schedule for better or worse during drop/add week, which can be a severely stressful time for a college student.

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6. Don’t even think about scheduling yourself an 8 a.m. class.

I understand how you might think that because you just graduated from high school, where your classes started at 8 a.m., you should be able to do the same in college. Well, you’re wrong! You forget to take into account that you’ll be watching Netflix till 3 a.m. almost every other night, and that most of the best nights to go out are during the week. So please do yourself a favor now, and shelf the idea of ever having any class before the time of 10 a.m. on your schedule. You’ll thank me later.

7. Make sure to sign the banner.

At the end of every orientation, the incoming students have the chance to sign a banner marking you as the “class of [insert year here].” By signing this, you’ll put your own little personal mark on FSU, and you’ll see it once again when you graduate in 4 years, so don’t forget where you signed!

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8. Your parents have their own separate orientation.

Your parents might have thought that all they were doing during this trip was providing you with a form of transportation, but nope, they have to go through their own version of orientation (without the dorm lodging included). For their two days, they will be learning all about what their child will be doing during their career at FSU, and how expensive it could potentially turn out to be. So if your parents come out of orientation a little more rigid than you were expecting, it’s because they were given the actual realities and economics of being a parent to an incoming broke college student.

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9. Hustle the people selling meal plans for extra coupon books.

By the time orientation has come around, your housing situation should be in order. If a meal plan is required for your dorm, I deeply suggest when signing up for your meal plan, to try your best to get as many coupon books as possible. Tented up all around campus you could easily approach someone selling a meal plan and say, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I noticed that I was never given a book when I bought my plan from another table. Could I get one here?” Just like that, you’ll have an extra one to use during the school year, which you will love and cherish once you realize you can eat meals for free (that don’t come from Suwannee or Fresh Food).

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10. You WILL look like incoming students.

During orientation at FSU, you’re mostly walking around in groups, being led by an orientation leader wearing the iconic garnet and gold stripes, so there’s no point in trying to hide the fact that you obviously look new. In a year from now, you’ll understand the look of an incoming student, when all you can see in there face is, “oh my god, I can’t believe I get to spend the next four years of my life here. I can’t wait!”