Column: Campus orientation must be improved for incoming students

When you sign up to do an inperson orientation it is more in depth and is more like new student a workshop.

Jaël Allen jallen.roundupnews@gmail.com

As a new student in college orientation is without a doubt a necessity and many students may not realize just how important it is when starting at a school.

Pierce College like all the other colleges within its district has a set matriculation process that includes three things that are listed on the student information system, which are assessment, counseling and orientation.

An assessment is required for anyone who is planning on taking an English or a math class. The assessment helps with placing you in the appropriate level of either subject based on your knowledge.

Meeting with a counselor is necessary for students trying to pick and register for classes, complete transfer requirements or receive a degree or certificate.

Where it gets tricky for incoming students is that in order to meet with an academic advisor and register for classes you must complete some a new student group orientation.

To fulfill the counseling portion of the matriculation process students need to sign up for the new student group.

It would be better to give students the option to simply do the online orientation or the in person workshop and have that count for both counseling and orientation in the matriculation process.

Knowing that most students want to get things done and get them done quickly they would probably choose to do the online orientation rather than the in-person orientation thinking that the sooner you get to meet with the counselor the better and this is not always true.