The orientation program is something that any college or university conducts at the beginning of the first year for all students. It is crucial not only to conduct but also to attend these programs because of multiple reasons; it sort of acts as a guide to the hundreds of questions that almost every new student wishes to find out the answers to! Here, let’s know How long is an orientation at UCLA?
Questions like, ‘what kind of peers will I be learning with’, ‘what is the environment going to be like’, ‘what sort of facilities is the campus offering’, ‘how many classes will I have per week’; basically, about everything from peers to mentors to the campus; it is indeed one of the most important aspects for the first-year students. A student will still learn a lot throughout the year but the orientation is where they start.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has built a range of insightful orientation programs which include transition programs for new students as well as transfer students, and also provides Family orientation programs. This article will cover details about such orientation programs and the duration of the same.
To begin with, the student orientation is mainly split into three different categories which are:
– First-year students
– Transfer students
– International students
Orientation for the first-year students:
The first-year students are those who commence their college directly after graduating from high school. At UCLA, the orientation program for these students lasts for 3 days. The students who fail to attend the orientation are later compensated by a fall orientation in the later semester.
Orientation program for the transfer students:
The transfer students are those who have already begun with their college but have taken a transfer from another university to pursue something at the current university (UCLA). For these students, the orientation generally lasts for one day.
Orientation program for the international students:
International students are a prominent part of the community for most international colleges and universities. They take up more than half of the total number of students in any university. UCLA has over 3000 such students who act for more than 75 different countries of the world.
For international students, the orientation program will either be for 3 days or 1 day depending on the mode of entry chosen by them for studying (i.e., transfer or first-year).
Duration of each day and the activities (for first-year students):
The duration during each day of this orientation program will typically last from about 10 am to 7 pm, which will cover a variety of aspects including student interaction, college requirements, class schedules, activities outside the classroom, etc.
Each day of orientation (for the first-year students) will be dealing with a different aspect of university life.
– The first day of orientation will be more campus-based information and information regarding the student communities.
– The second day will be rather interactive wherein students will be meeting their student advisor and discussing aspects regarding their degree and their courses and finalizing the courses that they wish to opt for in the further semesters.
– The third day will be about the campus offerings and about giving students a better idea of the campus by conducting a campus tour.
Duration and activities for the transfer students:
As for the transfer students, the orientation will typically last from 9 am to 7 pm.
The program will majorly include workshops and presentations regarding the campus activities, degree requirements, and the course planning leading to the scope of career opportunities and will conclude with students getting enrolled for their classes.
Duration and activities for the international students:
For the international students, currently, the orientation will be conducted online which needs to be completed by the students within a specified due date.
The contents of the online orientation will include students going through different sections which will lead to videos and quizzes at the end of each section. The program is mainly designed to make them acquainted with the campus life, the visa regulations, the culture of LA, and so on.
This online orientation program is only applicable for students who will be attending momentary online classes, and students who will start attending classes from LA will be attending the regular offline programs depending on the mode of entry selected by them.
As mentioned earlier, the orientation program is extremely important to attend for any new student, because it is not just about obtaining important information regarding campus life and academics, but it is also about meeting new people, making new friends, building a network, knowing about the culture and history of your university, simply easing yourself into the environment that you’re going to be surrounded by for the next couple of years and for all this to happen in a short period, you ought to experience every aspect of the orientation!
