Starting college is as exciting as it is daunting. It’s a huge break from school. At third-level there’s nobody to punish you for being late or missing an assignment, which can be a relief or a curse, depending on your perspective. You’re free to join any one of dozens if not hundreds of clubs and societies but you’ll also have a lot of costs that you didn’t have to worry about before.
Going from a class of perhaps 20 or 30 students to a lecture hall with hundreds of classmates can be nerve-racking and, for most, it does take a bit of time to adjust to the different teaching styles.
Ideally, new students will have been on campus before, most likely when they attended an open day. Or, because some students may have missed out on the open day due to Covid-19 closures, they may have taken a virtual tour online. But many aspects of starting college can still be confusing; from figuring out how to use the library to simply finding where the canteen is, there’s a lot to take in.
You won’t be alone: every other first year student – also known as “freshers” – will also be grappling with these feelings and this is why third levels run orientation programmes to help people settle in.
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At TUS Midlands-Midwest Linda Barry and Sarah La Cumbre are the student support services managers at, respectively, the midwest campuses and the midlands campuses, and they help students through the first few months. At UCD, meanwhile, Nadia Clarkin is a student advise projects and programmes manager, while Aisling O’Grady heads the student advisory service. Together, they play key roles in student orientation.
All four have extensive experience of talking to new students about their fears and hopes, what they enjoy in their first few months at third level and what they need to know about settling into this new life.
“Coming to college is a significant change from what students are used to do,” says Clarkin. “It is exciting but can be disorienting.”
Clarkin points out that not all freshers are school-leavers who have just completed the Leaving Cert; these days there are also more mature and international students, as well as those who came in through further education routes, and so orientation is tailored to welcome a broad range of people from different backgrounds.
At UCD, orientation begins around the start of August, when students hoping to secure a place in the university get in touch with questions. The UCD website can answer many of these, as well as provide a taster of campus life.
When students arrive in college the bulk of orientation runs across three days, with a welcome from the university president and the students’ union president, as well as from the dean and programme staff in their course, and a peer-mentoring programme which connects new students with second or third years.
“Typically orientation involves getting familiar with campus, taking a campus tour to discover both the practical and interesting places,” says Clarkin. “They may do a library tour, learn about clubs and societies, the campus facilities, the academic supports and the student advisers, students’ union, welfare office and chaplaincy.”
But this is just the start because, as O’Grady says, it’s important not to overload new students.
“We do an extended orientation to avoid information overload, so although they get a lot of information in those early days, our programme reinforces this information throughout the first term,” she explains.
“Week five, for sentence, is around the time that the first essays are due, so in week four we reinforce information about plagiarism and time management.”
Orientation at TUS, meanwhile, takes seven weeks. “There was a time when orientation or induction ran for a day or two, but we found that there was an overload of information,” says Barry.
“It could be hard to take it all in and sometimes the student would only hear the piece of information – perhaps the number of the grants office – that they had been waiting for. This is why we decided to spread it out over a number of weeks instead, and now we call it Connect and Engage, a seven-week programme with a different focus across each.”
At TUS, week one includes a general overview, while week two is all about settling in and engaging with fellow classmates, connecting with the academic and professional-services staff, meeting students’ union representatives and getting engaged in college life through a line-up of student club and society events.
After that, there’s a focus on finances and budgeting while, in week four, students are supported with their health and fitness. Week five focuses on mental health, week six is about academic success and tutoring supports and, last but not least, week seven helps students take all they have learned so far and focus on all the opportunities for learning and personal growth.
There’s also – as in most, if not all, third-level institutions – an understanding of how the experience can be more overwhelming for neurodivergent students, and this is built into orientations.
“College is about so much more than the academic and cognitive sides,” says La Cumbre. “College is also about social aspects, finding your tribe and the secret sauce to students staying: integrating. Induction is a time to find new friends, connect with faculty and lecturers, and spread your wings by joining clubs and societies.”
At UCD, Clarkin says that “impostor syndrome” is common among new students, who may worry if they have chosen the right course and the right college. They may struggle with the cost of living and, because they’re having to manage on a budget, can be worried about money.
Remember that all your lecturers and college staff are rooting for you, and all want you to succeed
— Sarah La Cumbre
“This, combined with the stress of finding accommodation, can be quite a challenge. And that’s before the challenge of simply settling into a new environment which may be far from home,” she adds.
Those who have moved away from home have to get used to house shares and all the irritations they can involve, says O’Grady. Barry advises students to take time to settle in, be aware that self-doubt is remarkably common in the early days and don’t be afraid to reach out for help, which is available from multiple sources.
And, for those students who start in college at a later date due to securing their college place in later CAO rounds, most third levels will organise an orientation process – although, in some institutions, if students have missed Freshers’ Week, they may need to use social media to explore the variety of clubs and societies on offer.
“Behind the facade, everyone is bricking it,” says La Cumbre. “Remember that all your lecturers and college staff are rooting for you, and all want you to succeed.”
O’Grady says that orientation ultimately makes a huge difference. “It is where we start to build a community, recognising that the transition can be daunting but reinforcing that they are part of the university community and that there is so much support and care for students who need us,” she says.
“It is the energy of the new students coming in, and those few months, that really create a sense of vibrancy, and it is my favourite part of the job. Yes, students can feel self-conscious in those first few weeks but remember this: while you may be concerned about how you are perceived, everyone else is too busy worrying about how they are perceived to even notice.”
Peer mentoring
At many third-levels, including UCD and TUS, incoming first years are matched up with a student from second year onwards who can help them settle in and answer any questions that they may have.
“The peer-mentoring programme matches between five and seven first-year students with someone who is usually from second or third year and can help them understand the campus and answer any questions they have,” explains UCD’s Nadia Clarkin.
Her colleague, Aisling O’Grady, says that there are 800 peer mentors, all volunteers, who are there to support new students.
“They can even help understand the campus lingo – such as where to go if someone says they will meet you at ‘The Blob’ or ‘The Wall’. They can answer questions about practical matters, as well as fill students in on campus colour and characters.”
TUS runs a similar programme, with student leaders sharing their experience and providing help and support wherever freshers may have questions, whether that’s about financial supports, how to contact a disability officer, get a counselling appointment or, indeed, something else entirely.
“Vulnerable students will navigate towards the student leaders and if those student leaders see someone looking lonely or lost, they bring them for a coffee or a chat and help them to make connections,” says Linda Barry, student services support manager at TUS.
Seven questions to ask in the first seven weeks
- How do I navigate my way from class to canteen?
- How do I find out more about clubs, societies, campus media and the students’ union?
- Can you give me any advice on budgeting and the basics of being away from home: cooking, cleaning and washing?
- Where is the campus medical centre, is there a gym or pool and where can I get counselling or student advice?
- Where is the library and how do I use it?
- What tutoring support, including a maths support centre and an academic writing centre, are available, and how do I access them?
- Where is the disability office and what supports can they put in place if I need them?
