Similar to 4 Weddings and a Funeral, except nobody dies... or gets married. So, I guess it isn't actually similar at all. Anyway, in this post, I explore and compare the New Student Orientation programs of University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, Maryland University, and UC San Diego.
Like you can see, all of the programs I researched had many similarities. Firstly, all the programs take place over the course of 2 days. Every school provides information on residence life and offers tours of the campus. They all offer break out sessions that provide information on subjects such as studying abroad, disabilities services, financial aide, Greek life, etc.
At some point, all schools discuss involvement opportunities and academics. However, Maryland focuses most heavily on involvement and Ohio State focuses mostly on academics. Maryland offers the most break-out session topics and has a resource fair for students to learn about campus resources and opportunities. Ohio State completes their placement testing and academic sessions on day 1, before discussing any involvement. All of the programs, except UC San Diego, requires students to pick their classes at the program. UC San Diego has students pick their class online. This reminded me of Rutgers Orientation, as we don't cover registration during the program, but on a different day (APA day).
Through my comparison, I found some of the programs to be quite lacking. For example, UC San Diego and Minnesota don't offer any information about Parent & Family programs on their orientation website. Also, from their schedule, it appears that Maryland lacks commuter programs, and focuses entirely on residence life. This led me to critically examine Rutgers NSO program. Although I don't necessarily see anything we severely lack, through my exploration, I found activities that we should consider adding to our program. For example, OSU offers tours at night and Maryland offers tours of the recreation centers where students can play basketball, swim, and watch movies during their social hour. I believe both of these ideas could be implemented to give more options for fun night activities. Minnesota introduces the technology of the school to their students at the program. Rutgers should included more technology aspects to the program. I also like the way OSU allows parent and students to be integrated for parts of the program. This idea could be implemented during day 1 of our program. Possibly during a bonus question at the gameshow?!
Although there are these differences between RU and the other programs, there are some really awesome similarities. For example, Minnesota and Maryland both have their Orientation Leaders perform skits about campus life. Minnesota calls these skits Pieces of the Puzzle. I personally like "Life on Campus" better! :)
However, my favorite similarity that all schools have in common: Orientation Leaders are fun! For proof, check out these videos.
UCSD:
Ohio State:
Maryland:
I'd post a video of Rutgers OLs... but you all already know how fun we are. :)
I kind of hate you. This is fantastic.
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