[alum]

The big thing @ my D's school is pre-orientation. This is the week before the actual freshmen orientation. The freshmen who opt for pre-o have a choice between various outward bound themes or community service themes. If the freshman is on an intercollegiate fall season team, that preempts Pre-O.

Some parents do attend the real orientation but not many. Because D's school draws intls & students from all 50 states and the administration was well aware that parents who dropped off their kids for pre-o one week would not want to make a return visit 7 days later, they had a mini-orientation geared for the parents on the first day of pre-o.

In terms of my school back in the days of the dinosaur: I don't recall a true orientation. My parents dropped me off and went on their merry way. I don't remember orientation meetings at all. There was some kind of pre-o thing but I did not opt to partake. I was trying to work as many hours as I could that rising college freshman summer (and every subsequent collegiate summer).