Orientation?

[ecm07e]

Just found out the tentative dates for my Orientation at American and I will be working on those three days . Does anyone know if Orientation is mandatory at the graduate level? Considering that it is preservice week for us teachers, I know I won't be able to get time off to attend Orientation.

[biotechie]

Orientation in my program was mandatory, but we also aren't allowed to have jobs on top of our studies.... I would do my best to attend orientation even if it isn't 100% mandatory. There will be things you think don't matter, but also tons of things you wouldn't think of. You don't want to inadvertently mess up your course schedule to screw up your qualifying exam or your teaching schedule, plus there may be more detailed descriptions of your requirements.

[danieleWrites]

Orientation was mandatory for my TAship. It's not actually "preservice" so much as it is getting required stuff out of the way, such as mandatory sexual harassment training.

The best person to ask would be the graduate school itself, and likely the department.

[reinhard]

Do you mean first year orientation?

[ecm07e]

I am going to school part time. I don't have a TA or GA, I work full-time as a public school teacher and that is the first week before the school year starts. I plan on contacting the school when they finalize the dates but I wanted to get other's opinions on the matter. 

[kimmibeans]

Just found out the tentative dates for my Orientation at American and I will be working on those three days . Does anyone know if Orientation is mandatory at the graduate level? Considering that it is preservice week for us teachers, I know I won't be able to get time off to attend Orientation.

I'm in a similar situation. I have to miss the last two days of Orientation due to a prior commitment. I notified my the head of my program, but I have yet to hear back. Any advice would be appreciated.

[TakeruK]

International student orientation was mandatory for J-1 status holders (maybe F-1 too? not sure). There were a few mandatory orientation sections during the "regular orientation" that cover Title IX, FERPA, TA training and all that. However, I think the school did hold alternate date workshops on these mandatory sections at other times in the year for those who cannot make orientation. But orientation was the week right before classes began so it's unlikely someone would arrive any later than that.

[Sigaba]

I am going to school part time. I don't have a TA or GA, I work full-time as a public school teacher and that is the first week before the school year starts. I plan on contacting the school when they finalize the dates but I wanted to get other's opinions on the matter. 

 

MOO, you should go especially since you're going to be a part time master's student. In addition to the excellent guidance provided in post #2, consider the following.

 

Down the line, you're going to need the support of your classmates, many of whom are "all in." You will most likely benefit from seizing every opportunity to show your level of dedication to the program and the field.

[CageFree]

Is this the department orientation or the university's? I found the one organized by the university to be a colossal waste of time, but the department one (which lasted a day) was not only mandatory, but incredibly beneficial.

[rising_star]

The university orientation is totally skippable. I went to them for both my MA and PhD schools. All I got out of it was two semi-friends at the PhD school's university-wide orientation. A lot of the TA training stuff is online these days, so they can ensure everyone receives and takes a test on the same material. If you can't go, you should be able to get the agenda and other materials from someone since they know not everyone can attend. I doubt the OP is talking about their department's orientation, if only because those rarely last more than a day.

[wildviolet]

In my program, several people missed the two-day orientation. No big deal at my institution. We received a packet and lots of information--too much to process! There are also a few people in my program who teach public school full-time. Good luck!

[RBWilliams]

We are registering at our Orientation in July, MSW Program.  Originally, I tried to register early because of VA Funding processing timeline.  I decided against it to attend cause I will be meeting the rest of my cohort then.  Just want to make sure I don't register for wrong classes.....lol.  

[juilletmercredi]

Whether or not orientation is mandatory will depend on the program.

 

Whether or not it's skippable also depends on the program, but in my experience most are.  Both of my departments have a one-day mandatory orientation; lucky me, they were scheduled on the same day at the same time my year.  I attended my primary department's orientation, which was a waste of time.  I did help organize my secondary department's orientation in later years (and also advocated for the two to be scheduled on different days for the students coming in behind me - I was the first person to have done my joint program in 6 years) and that one was marginally more useful.  But in the case of both, you could get all of the information you needed either from the handbook, the departmental office or your fellow classmates (and that's what I ended up doing for my secondary department).