Surviving First-Year Orientation Week: A Foolproof Guide

I transferred to a private boarding school an hour away from my home as a sophomore in high school– that was my first time living in a dorm. Now, I am a first-year at Arcadia halfway through my first semester. I have often significant generalized anxiety, yet, I have had great experiences with both transitions. That being said, I’m one of the most qualified people to give this advice: moving away from everything you’ve ever known is not as scary as it seems. 

For the sake of all anxious high school seniors out there, I am going to detail every tip and trick I have for making it through freshman orientation week and out the other side with dry eyes and a bunch of new friends. Quite honestly, these suggestions could be applied to a variety of life-altering situations. For me, this is how I’ve managed to tackle unfathomably terrifying life changes with grace multiple times over– and have more than lived to tell the tale. 

Step one: Breathe. If you’re anything like me, the weeks (and possibly even months) preceding a pivotal experience like your first college move-in are full of worries. Like, “What if my roommate is super messy?” or “What if everyone thinks I’m weird?” and the classic, “What if I don’t find my people?” I am here to tell you first-hand that none of my fears have ever come true. The reality is, your brain is preparing you for battle– it’s feeding you every horrific scenario that could possibly play out, in order to equip you to handle it all. Luckily, college move-in is not a nightmare, especially at Arcadia. So, the first step is to tell your anxiety that it’s being irrational. 

Step two: Go to Everything. Obviously, trying to self-remedy your anxiety is not always a perfect fix. Especially in the case that you’ve moved all your things into your dorm, given goodbye hugs, and your parents drove off– now you’re sitting in your room feeling the weight of adulthood crashing down on you like an avalanche. This is NOT the moment to get into your new twin bed and cry for fourteen hours. Of course, take a modest ten or fifteen minutes to text your hometown friends about how much you “hate it here,” but the key is to leave your room before you get stuck in it. 

Bingo, group ice-breakers, and community service projects: all orientation activities that look increasingly optional to you by the hour. In terms of getting out and to events, your social anxiety most likely won’t cease. You have to do everything you can to shove it down. Once you bite the bullet and walk out of your room, it only gets easier. It’s a million times harder to make friends if you don’t. No matter how lame you think the orientation activities sound, you must force yourself to go. I promise you, the goal is not actually to win Bingo or learn about your dorm hall’s favorite ice cream flavors, but to bond with the people around you in light-hearted ways. 

Step three: Don’t Be Afraid to Look Stupid. You might think you’d look pathetic if you walked up to a table of people and asked, “Is it okay if I sit with you guys?” News flash: multiple other people at that table probably got a seat there by doing just that. The greatest thing about first-year orientation is that everyone is equally desperate to connect and make friends in a brand new place so far from home. Go up to anybody and everybody; ask for names and be friendly! The worst thing someone can do is be dismissive, but I’ve never encountered someone unwilling to have a positive conversation when we’re all looking to find our people in a sea of new students.

I sincerely hope that the advice I’ve laid out can give someone peace of mind. Freshman orientation isn’t as daunting as it seems– in fact, it was fun for me once I put myself out there. Using these methods, I couldn’t have wished for my transition into college to be any smoother.