Unstructured Orientation Does Not Ease the Transition as Much as Amplify Anxiety

Everyone knows the transition into your first year of college isn’t easy. You have to find new friends, create a new home, and navigate a whole new town. That’s why at the University, we have all these systems set up: a five-day orientation full of community guidelines meetings, dance performances, and small orientation activities. And while the purpose of all of these events is to slowly integrate first-years into the culture of the school and help them meet new people before the pressures of classes begin, it can sometimes have the opposite effect.

For me, orientation was anxiety inducing, unstructured, and just way too long. Five days felt not only redundant, but also overwhelming and draining. Even for someone like me who loves to meet new people, orientation didn’t serve its intended purpose. 

Let’s start with move-in day: it was either your favorite or least favorite day of the year. I’m sure you can guess for me, it was the latter. I had just packed up my whole life at home in Brooklyn, and ended up in a place that was foreign to me. Of course I wanted to go to Wesleyan, but in the midst of all the chaos and emotions, I struggled to remember why I had even wanted to be here in the first place. After entering my dorm and seeing that it looked like a nicer version of a hospital room (thanks Hotel Bennet), I was pleased for a moment, then a wave of sadness came over me. “Is this going to be my room for the whole year? Is that really how small my bed is? How will I perform my usual 20-step nighttime routine?” All of these questions flooded my brain and I couldn’t help but sob. 

About an hour later, my family and I took a break from setting up my room and decided to get my first lunch on campus from the “14th rated school cafeteria in the country”: pre-packaged turkey sandwiches with pineapple on them. Now, I know the University actually has decent food, and the sandwiches were a lot more convenient than classic cafeteria-style food, but it just wasn’t what I had in mind for my first meal here. I didn’t need five-star sushi, but I wouldn’t have been opposed to a simple plate of chicken and rice. 

After we picked apart our sandwiches and each ate two bags of chips, it was time for the class photo with a bunch of strangers. To wrap up the night, we had First Night on Foss. Despite being fun for a lot of people, for me, an overthinker, I could not get out of my head for one minute to enjoy laser tag or the bouncy castle. It felt like I was a little kid again, lost and confused about where to go or who to be with. Not to mention the line for dessert was entirely too long. I didn’t feel like taking photos or playing mini golf with new friends because all I could think about was how tonight I would be in a place I had never been before, with people I had never even met. 

The next four days each consisted of two daily events. There was In the Company of Others, Common Moment, the summer reading conversations and presentation, and a lot of small group orientation meetings. Each day, there was an average requirement of about two hours, but the rest of the day you spent filling yourself. While there were optional events, it was hard at times to feel motivated to go to them, especially if I didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask someone to go with me. Even lunch felt like a daunting task.

Personally, I think I would have benefitted more from a three-day orientation with three or four mandatory events a day, spaced out enough so we had time to relax in between. There would only be about two “heavy” and information-filled events per day, while the others would be dedicated to meeting new people and doing fun activities. For people like me—the ones who don’t like having free time during which our minds can wander—five days is just too much. Hopefully next year the University can find a way to cater to the nervous first-years, and maybe even give us some better food.

Genevieve Eisner is a member of the class of 2030 and can be reached at geisner@wesleyan.edu.