Iowa State oriented thousands of students to campus in June, introducing students to their future alma mater and showing their parents where their money will be going.

“We provide students with a lot of information during orientation,” said Ardys Ulrichson, coordinator for the orientation and retention program. “Our Cyclone Aides talk about how to be a successful student and what living in the dorm or fraternity or sorority is like, how much books cost, how to manage money and about the social life on campus.”

“It was nice to get to know people and get a feel for what it’s like to walk on campus,” said Clair Roth, an incoming freshman in liberal arts and sciences. “Actually, staying in the dorm was interesting because you have to live with someone you don’t know and adjust to them.”

More than 3,200 students and 3,500 parents participated. These statistics were slightly greater than last year’s, particularly in the percentage of transfer students who will be attending in the fall. The growing number of non-traditional students (those over 25 years old) accounts for much of the increase, Ulrichson said.

Students met with their academic advisers, learned about the requirements in their respective majors, developed a fall course schedule and registered for classes.

“Orientation really helped me to understand what it will be like to adjust to college life,” said Jason Wray, a freshman who hasn’t picked a major. “Meeting with my adviser was good because it got me involved with the faculty. The transition is going to be easier.”

“I didn’t know that much about the classes, and my adviser really helped me a lot with my schedule,” said Roth.

Students also experienced the freedom of living without parental supervision. “Orientation was a good chance to be yourself and realize that at college you’ll be on your own and no one is going to watch over you,” Roth said.

Wray stated that he was most benefited by the student speakers who addressed the incoming freshmen.

“The student representatives know what it’s like to be in college,” he said. “They gave some good advice about how much I’ll have to study, some good classes to take, who the good professors are and university information in general.”

Students are not the only ones who learned about college life, however. Parents also had the chance to attend informational workshops on a wide variety of issues.

“We have an exceptionally strong parent program,” Ulrichson said. “We help them understand what their student will be encountering academically, the adjustment they will have to make, university regulations and bill payments. We do a lot of reassuring and explaining to the families how things work on campus.

“Our parents’ program also addresses the adjustment and letting go process that parents encounter. They’re going to be going through a big change. It isn’t for every parent, but for those whose children are the first or the last to leave, they might need it.”

The program began in 1991 and is co-sponsored by the student counseling service and the ISU Parents Association. Ulrichson said that not many schools offer such a program for the parents as well as for the students.

Roth, who is from Ames, added that summer orientation would hold a great deal of interest for students from out of town. “I think if I were coming from someplace besides Ames, it would be even more exciting,” she said.

Seven of Iowa State’s colleges participate in the program, with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering sponsoring the majority of the workshops.