UNM Orientation Helps Prepare Students for Successful Year

Whether just start­ing a col­lege jour­ney or return­ing to col­lege after a few years’ break, the first few steps on a col­lege cam­pus can be daunting.

“Who do I talk to about classes?“
“Where do I go for finan­cial aid?“
“What am I doing here?”

For those prepar­ing to attend the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico, New Stu­dent Ori­en­ta­tion answers those ques­tions and calms fears that arise from going to col­lege, for stu­dents and the fam­i­lies send­ing them to the Albu­querque cam­pus. Every sum­mer, all incom­ing UNM stu­dents – fresh­man, trans­fer and non-traditional – have to attend ori­en­ta­tion before being allowed to enroll for fall classes.

Corine Gon­za­les, Stu­dent Ini­tia­tives Man­ager, said, “It’s to help pro­vide stu­dents and their fam­i­lies with a suc­cess­ful tran­si­tion to UNM. Ori­en­ta­tion helps them learn about cam­pus resources and ser­vices and, more impor­tantly, to meet other stu­dents and receive aca­d­e­mic advise­ment and reg­is­ter for classes.”

Those fresh out of high school often worry about mak­ing new friends, which classes they will be tak­ing, and how they will adjust to life out­side of their family’s home. It can cause great stress for new stu­dents, and the stu­dent lead­ers and other employ­ees of the Dean of Stu­dents Office do their best to help stu­dents with any anx­i­ety they feel when they visit UNM.

“I think that fresh­men are ner­vous because they are com­ing to a uni­ver­sity and one of the things they worry about the most is that they are not going to meet any­body or know any­one, so we try to help them with that tran­si­tion,” Gon­za­les said.

Incom­ing fresh­men attend the tra­di­tional two-day Lobo Ori­en­ta­tion — learn­ing about cam­pus life and events from cur­rent UNM stu­dents, meet­ing with their aca­d­e­mic advi­sor, reg­is­ter­ing for classes, learn­ing about liv­ing on cam­pus, or park­ing options on cam­pus if they are com­mut­ing. The fam­i­lies of these new stu­dents can take advan­tage of the “Fam­ily Con­nec­tion” pro­gram, help­ing them adjust with the tran­si­tion of their chil­dren to college.

Later in the fall semes­ter the Dean of Stu­dents office holds its annual “Keep­ing It Fresh” event for stu­dents to recon­nect with new friends they made at Lobo Ori­en­ta­tion, but with whom they lost touch.

The Dean of Stu­dents office also runs ded­i­cated Face­book pages for each new class of stu­dents arriv­ing at UNM. Stu­dents arriv­ing this fall have a page for the Class of 2016. Stu­dents can visit these pages to con­nect with their fel­low fresh­men, or to ask ques­tions or dis­cuss their con­cerns with a stu­dent ori­en­ta­tion leader dur­ing open “chat hours” listed on the page.

Trans­fer stu­dents com­ing to UNM with over 24 credit hours have a cou­ple of options for ori­en­ta­tion. UNM’s “TNT” ori­en­ta­tion pro­gram is avail­able for trans­fer (stu­dents com­ing to UNM with over 24 credit hours of work) and non-traditional stu­dents. There are two options for TNT stu­dents, either the “TNT Express” pro­gram which con­denses the ori­en­ta­tion down into two hours, or the full day “TNT” orientation.

For do-it-yourself stu­dents who would pre­fer to take care of advise­ment, reg­is­tra­tion, and other UNM related tasks on their own, the TNT Express pro­gram is an option.

The tra­di­tional “TNT” pro­gram takes a full day, allows new stu­dents to visit the uni­ver­sity, meet with aca­d­e­mic advi­sors and the full ori­en­ta­tion staff as needed for all of their reg­is­tra­tion con­cerns, and to help these stu­dents not just be college-savvy, but UNM-savvy.

Those stu­dents enter­ing UNM in the first cou­ple of weeks of the fall semes­ter still have to visit the Dean of Stu­dents office in Uni­ver­sity Advise­ment and Enrich­ment Cen­ter for a one-on-one ori­en­ta­tion ses­sion before they can reg­is­ter for classes. For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact the Dean of Stu­dents office.

Media Con­tact: Ben­son Hen­drix, (505) 277‑1816; email: bhendrix@unm.edu