Your orientation experience may be great. You might have an amazing time, register for every class that you want and make friends that will last throughout your entire time at Binghamton University. My orientation was not that. But,
I came to orientation with extremely high expectations. I signed up for the opening weekend because I was so eager to come and experience a taste of college life for the first time. On the trek from Long Island, I would not shut up about how excited I was for the two days and all of the people I’d meet.
Orientation most certainly did not live up to my expectations. While the other students in my group were nice enough, I didn’t really click with anyone. I spent the entire two days either forcing awkward conversations that would last all of a minute or two, or spending time by myself. This was definitely not what I had envisioned. To make matters worse, it seemed as if everyone had made friends instantly, while I was struggling to even meet one person I could consider an acquaintance. I remember sitting at dinner on the first night of orientation and feeling pretty much alone.
On top of the battle to meet people, registering for classes was a nightmare. I literally had no idea what I was doing. I had no clue what I wanted to major in, let alone any specific classes I wanted to take or even what a GenEd was. Again, it seemed scheduling was coming easy to my peers, as if they had known all along the exact classes they would be taking at the exact time on the exact days. On top of that, the few classes that I did decide I wanted to take closed out instantaneously, forcing me to choose classes I really had no interest in.
While I had entered orientation extremely excited, I left miserable. I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice coming to BU. In the back of my mind, when leaving, I considered not even coming in the first place. What if this was what it was going to be like when I came back in the fall?
Don’t let your experience at orientation intimidate you. It’s the first time you will ever register for classes and meeting people isn’t always the easiest. Orientation is not a preview of what your time as a Bearcat will be.
If you have an awesome orientation experience, that’s incredible; you should consider yourself lucky. But if you’re like me and you don’t, don’t worry. It’s OK, and it all works out in the end.
My three years so far at Binghamton has been the polar opposite of my orientation. While I may have struggled to find a group of people I fit with in my first experience on campus, I came to realize that there were so many people to meet on campus and I have found friends who I’m not forced to have awkward two minute conversations with. I’ve also realized that most students on this campus are no longer friends with those they met at orientation.
You shouldn’t feel pressure to make life long friends at orientation. If you meet the right people, great. But if not, don’t feel disappointed or like a failure. There will be four years to make all different friends that you never expected.