Pre-Orientation Programs Facing Changes

First-year pre-orientation programs (Pre-O’s) will look a little different next semester–groups will be bigger and will spend more time with each other, and transportation will be limited to bigger groups.

The 300 Pre-O spots available each fall have been filled the last few years, said Anna Baldasarre, associate director of sorority life and leadership programs, so “ we are trying to scale up.” According to the Dickinson College website, Pre-O’s cost $300 per student. 

Each of the 12-14 campus-based programs regularly has 12-15 participants. However, next fall each will have 20-25 students. The Pre-O’s are run by one to two unpaid leaders and a first-year mentor, who receives $500 annually regardless of Pre-O participation. “Recognizing that we’re asking Pre-O’s to be a little larger now, we’re likely to put two first-year mentors [on each], because that keeps the ratio the same,” of first-years to leaders, said Baldasarre. 

“There’s been some discussion” about the possibility of having all first-years participate in Pre-O’s, said Baldasarre. “We are not looking to do that right now, but that’s part of why we’re exploring the possibility of scaling things up right now,” she said. 

Next fall, Pre-O groups will be placed under an “umbrella group” organized by theme, such as sustainability or civic engagement, said Baldasarre. Small groups will still function independently but will sometimes hang out with the other groups in their theme.

“We got some feedback from students that they wanted to meet more people during orientation, even outside their Pre-O group,” said Baldasarre. By grouping Pre-O’s, “not only will you get to spend time with your Pre-O and get really close with that group of 20-25, but you also have a chance to meet some of the other Pre-O’s in that umbrella category,” she said. 

Pre-O leaders can suggest joint activities or work with Baldasarre to schedule those events. 

Baldasarre said some off-campus Wilderness Introduction to Life at Dickinson (WILD) pre-orientation programs will be classified by skill-level, and some groups will organize joint transportation. Some will have base-camps at particular sites where they can re-convene after their individual programs.

To that end, “we’re trying to make our transportation a little more streamlined, a little more efficient,” said Baldasarre. In the past, she said scheduling available vehicles for many small groups “was just a complicated puzzle.” 

“In the past couple of years we had rented additional vehicles to try and make things work which was also a huge cost addition,” said Baldasarre.

Maizie Ober ’21 was a first-year mentor this year, and helped lead a Pre-O. She said she likes that more students will be able to participate and meet people in bigger groups. “Exposure to more students in a small setting should be beneficial to building community in the incoming class,” said Ober. 

Still, “There are also Pre-O experiences that may not happen with larger group numbers,” Ober said. “For example, my Pre-O was able to attend a Phillies game and get a behind the scenes look at all of their media production, even during [the] game. It was a very unique and special opportunity that probably couldn’t have happened with a large group.”

Sean Volz ’21 was a first-year mentor and Pre-O leader, and said “I think it’s good to have more first years interact from the beginning. From the perspective of a group leader, as long as the student-to-mentor ratio is around 10-1 and no more those should work well.” 

Sarah Bock ’20 was a WILD Pre-O leader and wrote in a statement “having so many [students] in one group allows for natural smaller groupings and divisions to form within the group rather than being encouraged to get to know all of the members of a smaller group.” 

Bock also wrote “I think increasing the amount of pre-o’s available is an awesome move, considering that they are always in high demand.”