Dive Brief:
- OOHLALA Mobile's survey of 25,000 college students finds that first-year orientation impacts overall student life experience, with students reporting a positive orientation being 17% more likely to say they had a positive student life experience.
- At the same time, students who reported a negative first-year orientation experience were 71% more likely to report making grades C or lower — reflecting the impact on student retention and graduation, especially for low-income and first-generation students.
- The survey also reflects how orientation may affect part-time students — who are typically non-traditional, adult learners — as 25% of part-time students did not participate in orientation, compared with 9.5% of full-time students.
Dive Insight:
First-year orientation is a critical first-start for many students, especially those who might come from low-income, minority backgrounds, or perhaps at traveled far from home for school, because orientation offers them guidance and an opportunity to build support system from current students before classes begin. Therefore, it is important for administrators to focus on the orientation experience and work to increase participation for all incoming students — or risk losing some students who may feel uncomfortable, disengaged, or unsure of how to succeed at the institution.
Goucher College President José Bowen recently explained that student satisfaction is a key factor in running a higher education business overall, because if students — the customers— are dissatisfied, the institution could suffer, especially in an age where information spreads easily over social media.
"Remember, in the age of social media, authenticity is everything. It's no longer about slogans, nobody cares what a school's slogan is. What they want to know is whether the students who are there want to come back," he said.