In light of changes in the orientation program, several UW students shared their personal experience with UW’s current orientation process.
Students commented on the social networking benefits that can stem from orientations.
“I liked orientation. I thought it was really cool, since I was completely new,” Freshman Alyssa Reeve said. “I’m from California, so I had no idea about Wyoming when I first came. So it was really nice to just meet people.”
“Some of the people I did meet, we didn’t end up staying friends. But some of the people I am still friends with to this day. They’re really cool,” Reeve said.
Orientation is a typical requirement for first time college students across the nation and often it proves to be a useful measure to acquaint students to their respective campus.
One aspect that students, such as Freshmen Isabella Sesley, appreciate about orientation is meeting people within their own major.
“I met people that were also in my program, so we figured out ‘Oh, we’re going to have these classes and we can make study groups’ and I was really lucky for that,” Sesley said.
Orientations give new students a chance to meet new people and learn about the many policies within a given campus, but there are still ways in which orientations can improve.
Some students took part in online orientations, which were used more frequently in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.
Sophomore Grace Sopko recalled her orientation being online, at a time when the university refrained from in-person orientations.
“I don’t remember a ton about it. But I remember it was through WyoCourses,” Sopko said. “It was like a course in the modules called Virtual Orientation. And it was, I’m assuming, all the things you would learn at an actual in person orientation. Just the basics and the codes of conduct of UW.”
Due to Sopko’s online orientation experience, she felt that she may have missed out on meeting new people which is a standard benefit of orientation.
“I don’t think I know, exactly, the purpose of an orientation,” Sopko said. “Is it just to introduce you to the college and are you supposed to meet people through it? Because in that aspect? No, I didn’t meet anyone through it. Because it was online and very individual.”
“But I did feel like I was informed. The social aspect just was not the same,” Sopko added.
Another student, Sophomore Taylor Despain described a similar experience.
“It was hard for me to gain access to the online orientation ahead of time. In fact, I had to ask my older sister, who is also a student at UW, to help me figure it out,” Despain said. “Truthfully, I didn’t really get much out of it. It was sort of just another box to check so I could go to UW.”
Students shared some of the things they would do to improve their own orientation experience.
“If I could, I would want it to be like a week long, but it’s maybe every other day for that first week,” Reeves said. “So then it’s spread out, you can get used to your classes, and then you’re learning, slowly but surely, what some of the resources are.”
“I think I would’ve gone to more of the activities that they had at the beginning of the year,” Sesley said. “I went to a couple, but not as much as I probably should have.”
“The ones that I went to were a lot of fun and I got to meet new people. And it helps get you into different activities,” Sesley said.
UW aims to improve the orientation experience of incoming students, with the introduction of their new Saddle Up program, beginning in the fall of 2022.
To read more about the Saddle Up program, click here.
