First-Year Wisdom

Though some of us may deny it now that we are “at the top of the food chain,” at some point in our college lives, we were all First-Years.  Transitioning from being the big, bad Senior in high school to “First-Year” is awkward enough, but the new experiences of college life may make this an even more difficult conversion.  However, of course, we have a solution for that: New Student Orientation (cue the angelic chorus.)  As Orientation Leaders, we serve as the bridge between the students we serve as well as the Rutgers community.  But what do those First-Years really think about Orientation?  Does it help?  I interviewed my friend and neighbor, Jess, to find out!

Each of us comes from different areas of New Jersey, the country, or even the world, and where we come from often influences our perspective on Rutgers. However, sometimes this includes negative influences and predispositions.  Jess is a First-Year from Pittsburgh, PA, and from an outsider’s perspective, she had always heard about how Rutgers was everything she was looking for in a college: big school, spirit, great academics, college town feel, and it was also close to two major cities: Philly and NYC.  All of us have heard horror stories of Rutgers, and even Jess knew how people sometimes look down on Rutgers and take the university for granted, but when she told people from her hometown she was going there, it was a big deal. 

Jess attended Orientation mid-summer, under the care of Jess L., one of last year’s OLs.  She believes that one of the best things about Orientation included meeting tons of people—she even met her current roommate and best friend at Rutgers (awwwww.)  The things that seemed to be frustrating included countless ice breakers and the “miserable” Livingston Towers.  She, “[didn’t] mind getting to know people, of course, it’s just that [she wishes they] could have done other activities to get to know one another…Such as mingling with other groups.”  Although NSO cannot do much about the overnight accommodations for the First-Years, we can try our best to put forth a positive attitude and not only ignore the heat but also be as accommodating as possible.    

 
I next asked Jess to take a retrospective approach towards her past year and Orientation.  She mentioned that her first weeks with the bus system were a little shaky, so she wishes that they had a chance to get more accustomed to using buses during Orientation.  Also, because there are, five different campuses she, “[wishes they] were given the opportunity to explore the other campuses more.”  I definitely agree with this viewpoint.  Whether it is a simple bus tour of the other four campuses after the actual one campus walking tour, I believe that it would be very beneficial.  Jess agreed and said she thinks students would feel much more comfortable the first week of classes if they had a rough view of what the campuses were like. 

Now that she has completed one semester here, Jess has definitely learned some important concepts that I think we, as Orientation Leaders, should definitely bring up at sessions this summer.  One idea to focus on is time management.  In high school, students essentially do the same thing everyday: wake-up, school, after school activities, homework, bed, and repeat.  Now, in college, it’s a totally different playing field.  Jess felt as if she struggled with time management and organization skills so that by finals, she was very stressed out.  Of course, she learned from her mistakes, but maybe at Orientation, one of the seminars on Day Two could be about De-Stressing or about the different resources available for students during the regular school year as well as finals time such as tutoring, Learning Centers, Career Services, libraries, CAPS, and so much more!  When I asked her for a bit of advice for future First-Years, she said, “It’s never too early to get involved.  You’ll meet much more people that way, and feel more at home at such a big school.”  This is definitely something we should encourage all First-Years to do—even I can testify to wishing I got more involved before this year.  Each of us is involved in something, so spread the word to your students.  Or, if one of your students is interested in an activity, there might be an OL who already participates in that group or club so definitely refer the student to them!

All in all, Jess believed Orientation to be an important experience for First-Year students.  It helped her become more accustomed to the university—especially because she is an Out-of-State Student.  If we take these positive notes and constructive criticisms and make changes, we can further enhance our program and help out even more students.