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I doubt that you chose a school that accepts 75% of all applicants, unless you were a poor student in highschool. I'm sure you took care to select a good school. Why would you have chosen an "easy" school? If I were you, I'd be spending my first days and weeks at college looking forward to all the new experiences and to course registration, instead of focussing on the negative.
I chose my school because I really enjoy urban living. The "traditional college experience" to me is not appealing. You might describe me as an average student in high school and I did the most I could with my résumé. However, if I were a more stellar student I still would have chosen the same school because of its location in Seattle and the numerous cultural opportunities the city has to offer. I figure ill be able to grow intellectually being in a vibrant city regardless of rigorous the college is. That being said, I don't think that the school I have chosen is subpar by any means but I also don't know if I would describe it as a bastion of intellectualism. I think it is what I make of it and I will hopefully attain some work in the journalism field if I put myself out there enough.
I have to agree with most posters here. You picked this college. If you didn't want a warm, fuzzy LAC, perhaps you should have chosen a college that was a bit more business minded.
You said,
You should probably be aware that they were not tailoring the orientation to you and if no one else was making objections to it or participating, then the majority were probably okay with it.
People were participating because it was mandatory, which defeats that logic.
To the OP:
1) When you visited this school, what about it appealed to you? Was it the educational philosophy of the school? Strength of specific programs? Did you meet with faculty that worked in a research field of interest to you?
2) What specifically about the social interaction games was a problem? I am sort of curious what exactly was organized for students? In general, social "games" can be a good way to help people break the ice and get to know others.
As for study skills, while you may not need any instruction on this. The transition from high school to college can be really challenging. There is a lot more independence in scheduling your time, with students being away from home and a bit more of a rigid structure. Grading is different, and expectations are different. The college ultimately wants students to succeed and earn a degree. Letting students know and provide resources to help develop good study habits is not a big deal.
I chose this school primarily because of the location in downtown Seattle. I am not interested in the "traditional college experience," and will take advantage of the city for journalism opportunities and take advantage of its amenities for recreation. So to be honest, I did not put a thorough amount of thought in to the aspects you mentioned and really could care less about a liberal arts cirriculum and more interested in challenging myself intellectually through cultural opportunities in the city.
People were participating because it was mandatory, which defeats that logic.
Mandatory Orientation? That's unusual. They may make the orientation seem like it is mandatory, but it is very rare that it actually is. (Consider that freshmen athletes have already started their season weeks before you arrive on campus and would be unable to attend much, if any, of orientation. If it was mandatory, they would all be punished for absences that were out of their control.)
Mandatory Orientation? That's unusual. They may make the orientation seem like it is mandatory, but it is very rare that it actually is. (Consider that freshmen athletes have already started their season weeks before you arrive on campus and would be unable to attend much, if any, of orientation. If it was mandatory, they would all be punished for absences that were out of their control.)
At the university where I work, it is mandatory for all incoming freshman and transfer students. All the the incoming freshman and transfer athletes all come on a specific day. I work at university with Division I sports, so most of the football and basketball athletes are quite physically different than most of the other students. You definitely know the day they are all attending.
hmmm, this particular college may not be the right fit for you. I would give it a shot for a semester, but if you read this story, some of these colleges may be more in line with the type of experience and collegians you are looking for.
Thanks, and I agree with you on the unfortunate circumstance of many colleges becoming a business. The school I am going to has a 75% acceptance rate, which certainly illustrates this dynamic. I think the degree of monotony at these seminars has a direct relationship with admission standards.
Very informative post.
My alma mater where I now work full time has about a 25-30% admit rate and we have a similar orientation program. However, the study tips are aimed at the TOP 10 - 20% of a group that is mostly made of people who were in the top 10% of their home classes. You have 800 freshman who are used to being a big fish in a little pond. Many of them, myself included, didn't have to work too hard to get As. Maybe we had to work harder to do well on AP exams, but I had plenty of classmates who likely aced APs without really doing much studying. I walked into college with NO idea how to study effectively, and I was far from the only one.
The ice-breakers is all you, man. I love them! On a residential campus with people from all over the world (my university was less than 30% in-state and 15% of students are international) who don't know anyone, ice breakers give an opportunity for kids who have never left their small town to find commonalities with other people. Some of my closest friends today are from orientation 7 years ago. Give it a shot.
P.S. Icebreakers don't stop after college. Get used to them - you will see them your entire professional life.
I wanted to bring this subject up because I was somewhat shocked by the dynamics of the incoming freshman orientation seminar I attended recently. In a nutshell, I felt like the same generic statements were repeated over and over again and it seemed like they assumed freshman were extremely incompetent. The "effective study habits" schpeel was delivered so frequently that I thought I was back in high school. I would assume that as young adults it should be expected that a fundamental grasp would already be in place and ideally extensive tutorials on this subject shouldn't be needed. A certain amount of assistance is appropriate but I truly felt as if they assumed the worst from the freshman. I think subconsciously this causes people to feel inadequate although this effect is not intended.
Furthermore, the efforts to get the students "engaged" with each other reminded me of something out of an elementary psychology handbook. Games that were similar in style to telephone/duck duck goose etc (except more awkward and intimate) were imposed on everyone for no apparent reason besides a weak effort to integrate students socially. It should be taken account that these infantile social rituals are not for everyone and thus creates a somewhat uncomfortable environment. I think young men and women should be treated like young men and women and not late adolescents that still need their hand held when entering a new environment.
Lastly, being so sentimental about the liberal arts education/spirituality and community/getting involved/etc, is not necessary and should mostly be negated. I'm personally very efficiency minded and if some of this non essential dialect was taken out my seminar could have been reduced to an afternoon rather than two days.
This is just some food for thought for those of you in charge of coordinating these efforts. In no way do I mean to attack or spread malice, I just think some of these suggestions could be taken into consideration.
This is just the beginning.
You will probably find yourself in more "team spirit building" events throughout the rest of your professional career.
I chose this school primarily because of the location in downtown Seattle. I am not interested in the "traditional college experience," and will take advantage of the city for journalism opportunities and take advantage of its amenities for recreation. So to be honest, I did not put a thorough amount of thought in to the aspects you mentioned and really could care less about a liberal arts cirriculum and more interested in challenging myself intellectually through cultural opportunities in the city.
Oh my. This sounds like a recipe for bad things.
The thing is, you are a full time student at a residential liberal arts college. Everything... your classes, dorm activities, campus life in general... will be geared towards those sensibilities which will have nothing to do with what you are most interested in. You are going to have a full course load of "liberal arts curriculum" and it will take a considerable amount of time, energy and intellectual investment to get through the classes. If your primary reason for being there is not to experience that environment, then this might be harder than you think.
I wish you luck. Keep us posted on your adjustment!
1. Schools obviously do everything in their power to ensure that students will graduate as a result of achieving a desirable graduation statistic. This obviously entices students and parents alike and increases tuition dollars. Part of the motives might be genuine, but like you said, some students just aren't college material.
Or, as another poster pointed out, they may be VERY good students, but did well in high school because they were not challenged and didn't ever really need to study. I was one of these students. I attended a small, rural high school, and was easily the top of my class without breaking a sweat, because the curriculum was not the most challenging. I often worked above and beyond,and did extra work, extra credit projects, and assignments, but any challenging came from within myself, not from my teachers, who spent most of their time focusing on the students who struggled. It was too small a high school to have much by way of extra programs for students who were well ahead of grade level.
When I got to college, I was VERY aware that I was attending a selective school where most of the other students were the heads of their class, too, and that many/most of them were coming from high schools more academically rigorous then mine. I was painfully aware that I had never had to really study much before, and that that would be changing. BUT, it didn't take freshman orientation "reality check" seminars to clue me in to this...I was more than aware going in that by choosing a good school, I was choosing a situation where more would be demanded, and was up for it. I did find out that I wasn't nearly as ill-prepared as I'd feared, and did very well. But I WAS, for the first time in my life, studying pretty intensively. Some students in my position may come in cocky, and need the reality check, though, that maybe it's not going to be the same cakewalk, even if you are bright and motivated (depending entirely on where you go, I suppose).
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2. Making these social integration games optional and tailored to the
appropriate maturity level is the key here. The trite games I unfortunately was
forced to endure were neither of these things.
Yeah, that's bad planning, but I'll tell you, I've endured many a cheesy icebreaker in work-related settings, trainings, and seminars in my professional life, as well. There are always gonna be those who feel that embracing the inner child is the way to go. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing, but is it really a huge deal in the grand scheme of things that you went around in a circle and told some detail about yourself or whatever?
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3. I choose my career (journalism) as an effort to be philanthropic and overall serve the good of the people. However, this doesn't mean that I am so dramatic about my goals and so mushy gushy about "making a change," "leaving my footprint," etc. Once again, I think this is a bit of a marketing tactic because parents love to hear how altruistic their college is and fancy their child as the next Bill Gates/Ghandi/John Lennon/etc. As far as community mindedness goes, I am not the most social person but I do value close friendships. That doesn't mean that I need to be part of every club/campus event/etc to fulfill this aspect of life. I prefer to not be so sentimental about the process and if I happen to meet some good friends, great, but ultimately I am attending college to challenge myself intellectually and get my career rolling. You might say that I underestimated the gushy meat that was so apparent during the orientation.
This is just a personal taste thing. The warm fuzzy works for some, others, not so much. Again, it's about finding an atmosphere in which you can be comfortable. You'll find the same thing in post-college life, as well, when you may find that a particular workplace culture can be make-or-break for you. It's good to know the sorts of things to look for or ask about when you are considering these life choices, and knowing what you want/value and what you don't out of a given setting, be it school, work, whatever.
I was VERY academically focused when I was a student. As it turned out, along the way, I made some VERY close friendships that have bene lifelong, despite life's paths taking people miles and countries apart. I happened to go to a school that prioritized both rigorous academics and strong sense of community very comparably, and it was all the better for me.
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