The University of Wisconsin Center for the First-Year Experience is working on implementing widespread changes to the first-year orientation process to ensure students have a successful start to college.

As of next year, first-year students will be faced with revamped orientation programs at Student Orientation, Advising and Registration throughout the entirety of their first year at the university.

Director of CFYE Wren Singer said changes have been thought about for the past few years and are based on the need to stretch the orientation process beyond the time spent at SOAR.

“[The] big picture for these efforts is to make sure all students have a great and successful first year,” Singer said.

While many changes are already set, CFYE is hosting a conference Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to discuss more ideas for making freshmen and transfer students more comfortable at UW.

The new program will include two required orientation seminars for first-year students. One will focus on campus life and safety, and the other will place emphasis on academic achievement and campus involvement.

The current Wisconsin Experience Seminar available to students as a one credit course open for first-year students features instruction to help students learn about the ways they can adjust to a college academic and social lifestyle. 

There are currently separate versions of this class for both freshmen and transfer students.

Additionally, Singer said CFYE speaks to faculty and TAs to instruct them on how to teach in more appropriate ways to help with the first-year immersion process.

Singer said there are “still things all students need to hear,” and students will benefit from CFYE’s prolonged orientation because the information is delivered at the time when it will have the most impact.

According to Singer, SOAR is going to become more academically based and feature more focus on advising and enrollment. 

Singer said students attending SOAR next summer will experience advising on both days versus previous sessions that featured one day of campus life orientation and one day for advising and course enrollment.

Singer said more time for advising and enrollment will give students the ability to think about their course enrollment choices and the modifications will hopefully create a less stressful and rushed environment concerning first-year course enrollment.

UW freshman Tessa Coggio said she thought changes concerning a prolonged orientation would be highly beneficial and said she wished new students had more time to adjust to life in college before classes started. She added enrollment advising at SOAR was lacking.

“In hindsight, I realized that I didn’t get the best schedule I could have,” Coggio said.

Coggio believes she was not given enough information to create a schedule that worked for her and felt as if she had to “teach herself” as she “did not really understand the system.”

Signer also noted in a release from UW the center is looking to revise the way transfer students are welcomed to UW, adding they are currently in the initial stages of forming a new Transfer Transition Program to help with this goal.