Cars full of over-packed luggage, chronically lost students and a plethora of red shirts can only mean one thing: 2015’s first-year orientation. As a first-year student myself, I don’t have any other orientations as comparison, but this seems to be their usual: a mix of pep, excitement and new experiences. While there are many pros and cons to Orientation (as first-years aren’t hesitant to mention), as the first real college experience that we’ll have, it is an important representation of our collegiate beginning—even with conflicting perspectives.
On the one hand, a major benefit to Orientation is the chance to meet new people. While some first-years arrived with friends they’d already made in the Facebook group, the majority of new arrivals didn’t know anyone, so Orientation was the first opportunity to meet people. Many of the Orientation Leaders (OLs) declared that they made some of their closest friends during their Orientation, which leads to the next pro of Orientation: the OLs themselves.
Endlessly excited and helpful, the OLS never seemed to run out of energy and were the glue that held the countless activities together. Speaking of activities, most of the planned programs were what made Orientation worthwhile. Events like Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams’ This Is Our House, the Museum of Science takeover and A Call for Change introduced first-years to the spirit of Brandeis, in terms of both its current passions and past legacy. Plus, the packed schedule left first-years so busy that those who may have felt homesick weren’t given the chance to dwell on being away from home. True to the Brandeisian way, the schedule had so many events with so little time.
However, the constant bustle was also one criticism of Orientation. Most of the events were rigidly scheduled with little room for leeway, causing some first-years to feel dragged to programs that they weren’t interested in. This was also overwhelming for some people; one day of Orientation was probably busier than a week of a relaxing, post-graduation summer. Additionally, many students deemed the North vs. Massell rivalry unnecessary. One first-year I spoke with said that by immediately creating division, the quad competition weakened the community vibe the activities otherwise promoted.
Orientation also seemed like a difficult adjustment for some international students. While they arrived on campus a few days earlier than the other first-years, some were clearly still jetlagged and couldn’t match the surrounding enthusiasm. Others then missed several events because they had things to do in International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO). Couldn’t these appointments have been better planned with the Orientation schedule in mind? And that doesn’t even account for Midyear students, who didn’t attend orientation at all. Yes, there will be programs for Midyears when they arrive in January, but nothing on the same scale as the August Orientation. It would be best to have an additional event separate from Admitted Students Day in which all freshman, Midyears included, could have an experience similar to Orientation before the actual move-in day.
Despite these conflicting opinions, it must be stressed that Orientation is what you make of it. This year’s Orientation motto was “Share stories, create connections,” and there is no simple way to accomplish this. First-years’ stories may have been shared to the admissions office in our applications, but now that we’ve arrived on campus, the effort must be made to share them with each other. By sharing stories with fellow classmates and creating connections in unlikely places, the first few days can make an impression that will remain for the coming years as a reminder of why we chose to be Brandeisians.
