it's been like years since i updated this but i read through my other thread and realized that i promised an orientation/check-in day post (thanks younger me) so here i am to fulfill that promise since i have nothing else to do.

as you can probably tell, it's been A While since i went to orientation. i honestly cannot remember much and since every school does orientation differently, this post will be very specific to my personal experience. however, i don't expect that things will be all too different across the country since, well, it's orientation lol.

1. ID cards and move-in:

to my knowledge, all universities give you an ID card so you can access buildings, including dorms. hence, the first step to orientation is actually picking up your ID card. maybe some schools mail them to you beforehand, but for us, since our dorms are not all in one place, we had designated pick-up places for each dorm 'cluster' (it's hard to explain lol). for us, while we (the students) were doing that, our parents were guided to parking and then luggage was unloaded and taken into your room by upperclassmen volunteers.

that part is not universal. i think some schools will have volunteers, staff, etc but others might not (move-out day is the same; on the other hand, we are totally on our own that day LOL). 

anyway, on move-in day there's not a lot of events because most ppl are way too busy, you know, moving in. however, at the end of the day (4-5pm for us) the president of the school usually gives a speech about welcoming the class of [insert year here] and thank you to the parents and things like that. and then (if your school's not an ) everyone has dinner together!!!! it's usually decent catering lol but idk.

so then for us, our parents get to see us one more time the next day and then they leave, and that's when orientation truly begins for us, but again, it might differ from school to school.

2. orientation:

long section because there's really no other section here LOL. most orientations last a week (at least three days, but no more than a week) and are filled with events. that being said, you do not need to go to all of them!!!! half my hall skipped every single event unless they were required LOL. that being said, YES there are required orientation events, and honestly you should probably try to get up every day for the free food--

but anyway.

orientation is mostly to get you acquainted with the school, its clubs, and most especially THE PEOPLE!! you're supposed to make friends during orientation! there are many cases of ppl meeting their best friends during orientation and end up lifelong friends or even romantic partners later in life! that being said, if you're an introvert (which i'm gonna guess a lot of us are) then it's a difficult time.

however!

they will definitely assign you orientation leaders. i think this is pretty universal too, but they do it by dorm, and they do it by dorm floor. in our dorms, guys and gals each took up half the floor, so each half of the floor had two orientation leaders (i'm going to abbreviate them as OLs from now on). then each dorm had an orientation head, which was basically the person who was in charge of the OLs for that dorm (or even the entire event).

your RA (resident assistant) will also participate in orientation. in fact, the OLs are basically there to assist your RA: your RA is in charge of technicalities and has a lot of responsibility, like teaching yall how the dorm rules work and what to do in case of an emergency; meanwhile, the OLs basically take you around to play. 

most OLs and RAs are super nice and you can pretty much ask them anything (as long as it's not too personal) and they'll be very ready to share their own experiences and stuff. they'll also know the best places to study and eat and stuff like that.

3. orientation events:

okay i lied i decided to split up the orientation section. like i said before, you don't need to go to all of the orientation events. sometimes you literally cannot since there are time conflicts, other times maybe you're just tired and you want to sit in your dorm and go on asianfanfics or something. or, idk, maybe you do way better when you can actually wander around by yourself and make friends on your own!

that being said, there are some cool events that i suggest you go to, like club introductions and showcases. i went to a couple of club introductions and 1. it was super convenient since one of the clubs took place in a classroom that i had previously not known how to find, and 2. i found gay club through this (okay okay don't murder me actually pls do gay club is how we all call the lgbtq alliance) and they were my solace for a very long time until covid hit. our showcase was also hella cool and featured a bunch of performances from performance clubs (kpop cover club, bhangra club, hiphop club, etc) and there was even a professional magician!

That Being Said, there are some events that are absolutely required. most of them will be dorm stuff that your RA will lead. they'll likely be later in the day (like 8-9pm) to make sure everyone can attend, and you basically gather in the public lounge and your RA will go over the Important Things You Need To Know (campus police phone number, title ix stuff, etc). this will happen more than once, but you will have to go to all of them.

then there are required school events, which actually are not many lol. the only one i can think of is the last official speech before we're set loose on the weekend before class starts, but even that wasn't truly Required. it was just strongly suggested lol and there are definitely people who didn't go.

this is copied over from my other thread about college apps.