University Orientation Check List!

I went to my orientation for my university last week. Granted, I am not a freshman, I am a transfer, I still think this list will be a few things across the board you will need to know/want to take into consideration. So, let's just get into it:

1.Get yo walking shoes on!

• Most likely your university's campus is going to be large. My campus is on the medium size, but as a transfer student from a community college, I can say it feels ENORMOUS compared to the campus size of my CC. So, just know you will be walking a lot. You'll be going between buildings, you'll be trekking across large parking lots, and you'll most likely be going up and down stair cases. 

2. Bring someone with you!

• If you can, and if it's something being advertised by your campus, bring someone with you. It doesn't have to be one of your parents, it could be a sibling, a friend, or a significant other. For instance, my campus invited parents, siblings, ANYONE to come with you. My parents were busy, so my boyfriend went with me. It was honestly the most helpful thing about that day. If you're a freshman, you're going to probably feel overwhelmed and having someone familiar in an unfamiliar place is helpful. For me, I'm a transfer student, so it wasn't the same kind of overwhelming, but there was still a lot going on. David was able to pick up pamphlets I might've missed, and was able to hold onto all of the flyers and folders and merch I was being given throughout the whole day. 

3. TAKE THE ADVICE OF YOUR ADVISOR 

• Please, please, please, not matter how much you think you know about what you want to do with your schedule and money, take the advice of the advisors you're given. They're there to give you the best advice possible, and they deal with shitheads all of the time. This doesn't mean they're always right, or that they'll have the same ideas in mind as you, but it is good to know other options than just the shit in your head. 

4. Fuck your shitty attitude.

• Basically, no one wants to sit through an orientation for like generally four plus hours, but if you have a shitty attitude about it the whole time, you're going to have a shit show time. You're being given a lot of important information during this time, and having a bad attitude isn't going to help you retain everything. So, like, get a fucking redbull and don't be a dickhead.

5. BRING ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY

• I can't give a blanket statement about this because I know it varies from campus to campus and state to state. But for me, as a transfer student all I had to bring was my ID, a scholarship acceptance sheet signed, and my deposit money. I know if you're under the age of 22 you have to bring in a form proving you had the Meningitis vaccine, but outside of that, I'm not sure. My school sent out an email right before orientation that had a list of forms needed for freshman and a separate list for transfer. If you don't get some kind of list like this, it doesn't hurt to call someone and ask. Do not think you'll be turned away from orientation though, you won't. I saw many people who didn't have certain forms they needed, they still got to do the orientation. 

All in all, orientation is fun, It's long in most cases, but it's shit you need to hear at least once.