College Orientation

[Ph.d]

Man, sad that there hasn't been any posts in this forum yet. Let's start filling it up!

I just had my freshman orientation a few days ago, and it was pretty crazy. For my identity's sake, I won't say what my school is, but it is fairly well known, medium-large, kind of suburb-urban. Good Lax and Bball team but not good at anything else really, haha. Anyways, you know that everyone had dressed in their best outfit since it was like their first impression being made - holy shit these kids were trying hard. I wore my indoor soccer cleats, blue/white plaid shorts, and a long sleeve plain white shirt (sleeves pushed up). But god damn, you'd think some of these kids were about to do a photoshoot.

So the beginning starts in this big room, like a ball/dining room with a stage in front, and we are all sitting at big round tables. My table had a few cute girls and the guys seemed alright. The people on stage talked for a while and then instructed everyone to learn the names of every person at their table and find 3 things everyone had in common. Damn these kids were quiet, haha, so no one said anything for like 5 seconds. So I'm like "Wow, looks like we're off to a great start. What is everyone's name?". After that it was chill.

From then on there were upperclassmen that were like showing us around campus. When it came time to eat, we got a big table and I called the upperclassmen guides over to sit with us so I could ask them more questions about campus life and shit. If a person looked like they awkwardly didn't have a table or was sitting alone, I invited them over. It was really chill, though I basically was hanging with the same core 10 people throughout the entire day. Before everyone left we all got each others numbers so we could hang out before school started.

Before I went to this orientation I was talking to clark asking him if he had any tips. All he told me was that everyone was in the same shoes, no one knows anyone - and it really is completely true. Afterwards I was looking around the book store and I just saw a girl, also walking around. I just went over and was like "Hey, you here for orientation?". "Yeah" and then I'd introduce myself and start talking about it. Let's be real, anyone would rather be talking to someone than sitting alone. And basically if people are shy, they are waiting for someone else to approach them.

My advice is BE THAT SOMEONE. Kind of take leadership if you can. Like I kind of dominated conversations asking questions but I think it made me seem like the most comfortable (even though I was nervous about this stuff too).

Anyways, I have a few numbers, I'll probably try to get a group thing going, but maybe I'll set up something just me and a girl . Not really worried about hooking up or anything yet though, I'm just trying to meet people. Overall it went good, CAN'T WAIT TO START IN THE FALL!

[MrBen23]

Not sure if this is a field report, but it is inspirational. Good post.

[WanaBeMac]

my orientation went the same way...but i ended up not meeting ne one, we were all shy

[Clark Cassidy]

Originally Posted by WanaBeMac

my orientation went the same way...but i ended up not meeting ne one, we were all shy

The most important thing you need to remember about being a freshman in college/at orientation is that EVERYONE is in the exact same position as you.

There might be a few people who know a handful of their high school friends that are going there, but the majority are going to be alone and are probably more nervous and anxious then you are.