Orientation can be the first intimidating experience for any new college student. You may pack, unpack, and repack 10 times because you can’t decide what to wear. Never mind the stress of making new friends. It is also known to be the place where you encounter your first (and hopefully last) horror story roommate. All-in-all, orientation can be a nerve-racking time. Here are ten things I wish I knew before orientation at FSU!
On the top, right-hand side of your myFSU portal there is a box labeled “My Tasks” with two categories: “Holds” and “To-Dos”. If you have anything listed under the “To-Do” box, this means that you don’t necessarily need to complete these tasks now, but you should get them done when you can.
You do NOT want to have anything listed under your “Holds” category during orientation unless it is orientation itself. If there is anything listed under this category, you can’t register for classes when it is time for you to do so on the last day. Things that will fall under a hold would be your insurance, immunizations, and financial agreement. Once you have completed the task, it will take about 15 minutes for the hold to be listed.
You will be away from your dorm room from 7am to at least 9:30pm. If you don’t use your phone all that often during the day, maybe this one doesn’t apply to you. Most of you will use your phones a lot whether you are bored during a presentation or taking a whole bunch of pictures of the beautiful campus.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to see the inside of your assigned dorm during orientation unless you try and sneak into it. The Orientation Leaders (OLs) take you on a full campus tour so you will get to see the outside of it and know where it is, but you will not be able to get in.
While the school sends you a “Schedule,” it only really says that there is programming from this time to this time, but doesn’t say what programming entails. I wish I had known the schedule and all that we would be learning during that time. I would have prepared a little more to take notes and bring a folder for some of the worksheets.
I knew that I was going to be walking a lot but I didn’t actually know how much it was going to be. In the Florida heat, walking can be the worst activity to do. The reason this was seriously concerning for me is that my mom has a severe knee problem and it was very difficult for her to get around campus. If you or your family member has an issue walking/standing for long periods of time, it might be beneficial for you to note that when signing up for orientation.
For all those late-night munchers or constantly hungry humans, make sure you bring food to the dorm. Curfew is at 11pm which means you can’t leave the hall after that. That being said, if you are willing to spend money, they have vending machines or you are allowed to order something and have it delivered. If you are looking to save some money, just bring your own snacks.
Your wake-up call on the first day is 7am and 6:30am on the second day. For my night owls, this could be a struggle for you. In case you are worried about sleeping through your alarm, you are in luck! The OLs assigned to your hallway will run around blaring music and banging on walls and doors. Mine played the Drake and Josh theme song on the first morning and Year 3000 by Jonas Brothers on the second day.
During a certain part of orientation, you get to pick workshops to go to. If you finish with workshops early, you have some free time to do whatever you want. Unless you 100% need the workshops or have a specific question, you can probably just take a break during this time and relax. The majority (if not all) of the information in these workshops is mentioned or talked about at least once during one of your required seminars.
For some, this wouldn’t matter all that much because either they are very independent or their parents didn’t attend. For other students, this could be strange considering your parent is probably the only person you know at orientation. They really force you to talk to your group and make friends during orientation and let you get a taste for what life is like with no parent around.
I know, surprise! Parents don’t actually have to pay for orientation. The cost of orientation is for their meals only so if they would rather pay for their food at any of the restaurants on campus or even at the dining hall, they can do that instead of pay for orientation.
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