Chipper leaders, eager parents, and inquiring students came together for Transfer Orientation this week.
Starting June 22, transfer students dominated Squires Student Center for three one-day sessions. A total of 886 students received their Hokie Passport, picked classes, and met in small groups to discuss Virginia Tech with orientation leaders.
"I was really impressed," said Jessica Johns, orientation coordinator. Orientation isn't mandatory but rather "strongly encouraged," but a high percentage of the 950 projected transfers was present.
The smaller transfer groups were loosely organized by department, so that students could meet transfers within the same area or major. Some leaders were assigned to students from their college as well.
The sessions took only a few hours for some students, choosing to partake in the barebones activities. Orientation leader Jessi Kim, a rising senior and history major, didn't think that a two-day orientation for transfers was necessary like it is for freshmen.
"Transfers have already been in college, so most information would be useless that freshmen learn," she said. However, she did think an extra day could be useful for getting to know the campus once students received their first-semester classes.
One orientation leader, Angel Waddie, said that the main questions she's had to answer had to do with parking and getting lost. The rising junior said that walking tours were available in the afternoon, but the orientation team plans to advertise the tours better next year so more students take advantage of it.
Kara Mountain, a rising sophomore transfer student, had taken a tour when she previously visited Tech, so her and her mom didn't take one today. Kara's mom, Kelly, was mostly worried about a sprawling campus and didn't know if students "could even walk from one side to the other," but felt like orientation gave her a better perspective on how compact the campus was.
Kara thought the orientation sufficiently covered what she needed to know. Transferring from Longwood University, she wanted to be at a university where school pride was more dominant.
"The feel about it is a family feel," Kara said of her new school.
Waddie and Kim both noticed the diversity of demographics within the transfer group - students on the younger and far older side were present, visiting alone, with family, or with significant others.
Johns cited housing and classes as the two main concerns voiced to her by students and parents. All transfer students who were on the waiting list for on-campus housing received an e-mail June 22 that they received a spot on campus.
Freshman orientation begins July 6 and runs through July 23.