Months of anticipation, excitement, fear, worry and conjecture have finally ended. You arrive on campus confused, loaded down with all of your worldly possessions, half conscious of the nervous patter of your parents, insecure to the very core. Don't panic! These are the feelings you're supposed to have as a freshman. This is where we take over.

You've Found a Second Home

Southampton has been in the business of greeting new students for over thirty years. For the past fifteen, we've pretty much perfected our method. We want you to feel at home right away. We want to introduce you to all that we offer, all that we are. Our emissaries in this mission are the Freshman Resident Assistants (FRA's). These specially trained upperclassmen who live with you in the Residence Halls will usher you through your first nerve-wracking hours, introduce you to your fellow new students, help you settle into your residence hall, show you around, get you to dinner and to the evening's activities, and, 99% guaranteed, you'll wake up feeling like you just may have found yourself a second home.

And you have. The community that is Southampton will be one of the most important communities you'll ever be a part of. The program for new students serves as a roadmap, the faculty and staff as your guides through the maze of choices college will present to you. We begin with the formal orientation-- several days of socializing, discovering, laughing, sharing, learning. The difference here is that orientation doesn't end after these few days. It is an ongoing process that lasts all year. The FRA's don't disappear. They live with you, they bring you together in small groups, they plan social and community service activities, they answer your questions, offer advice, solace and friendship.

College 101-- Introduction to College Life

And although the FRA's are a crucial part of what happens here for new students, they are not the only essential component. To expand your circle of acquaintances and to better introduce you to our resources, we've developed a course called College 101, our Introduction to College course, in which you will be automatically enrolled. This one-credit, eleven week seminar is taught by faculty and staff from all areas of the campus. Students, chosen from our undergraduate and graduate program, frequently assist in the planning and teaching of the course. Class sessions will cover the essential skills for success in college, including areas as diverse as time management and substance abuse, how to use the Library and multiculturalism.

Your Advisor as a Mentor

College 101 gives you an informal setting in which to get to know an entirely different group of freshmen and introduces you to an instructor who could be a faculty member from any one of our academic disciplines or a staff member from any of the student services areas. The course is offered on a pass/fail basis only, and its goal is to familiarize you with all of our many resources, to give you a casual, accepting atmosphere in which to explore your new surroundings, and to give you the academic and personal skills you will need to succeed in college. The instructor of the class will be your academic advisor throughout most of your freshman year. Sometime in mid-March you will formally select an advisor in your chosen major. If you haven't decided on a major, your College 101 instructor will remain your advisor. Even after the selection of an advisor in your academic area, the informal advising relationship established between you and your College 101 instructor will often last throughout the four years and will serve as just one more resource to you.

Get Involved!

Finally, to truly round out your first year experience, and to really feel at home here, the best advice you can take from us is to get involved! Find a club or an activity which interests you and you will find kindred souls. We offer everything from diving with the Submersibles club to writing for the Proteus, our literary magazine, and if you can't find what you're interested in, you are urged to start your own club or organization. We're small enough to make this manageable for even a first year student.

We are a place of people, a community that works, lives, and learns together. We encourage you to take a chance -- talk to someone new, ask a question, enter a room. We help you through these milestones and watch as you grow and change and become a vital part of our community. We look forward to getting to know you.

And From Our Students...

"The freshman program is an excellent way to help students get acclimated to a new school. I don't know what I would have done without it. It was a doorway to meeting the friends I have now. It made me feel comfortable with the school and its surroundings. It has made my transition to college much easier than first expected."

"Through my FRA and my College 101 instructor, I was introduced to all of the activities, both educational and social, that Southampton Graduate Campus has to offer. My FRA introduced me to advisors in my major. My College 101 course helped me to meet interesting peers and programs like Co-op and SEAmester. All this effected my transition to college by making me aware of everything that was going on and made me feel welcomed."

"Southampton Graduate Campus has the most unique freshman orientation I have ever heard of. It was this freshman program that helped make for a smooth transition from high school to college dorm life. College 101 aided in my making new acquaintances. I also received guidance and friendship from my advisor. My FRA was a friend I could always count on; her door was always open. The housing situation was helpful because I was able to go through a system of trial and error, problem-solving with other freshmen who were just as afraid and confused and homesick as I was."

"College 101 is a very well-developed support group. It helped me in getting to know myself and made it easy for me to meet and interact with my peers. The FRA's were the ones who made the transition into college the easiest. They were my main source of support and I believe the FRA's are important in the development of the freshmen."

"The freshman program made the transition into college easier. Having an FRA around made it easy to find answers to questions about various school programs and locations of classes, administrative offices, etc. The College 101 class was very informative, making it easy to get answers to questions on topics like the academic programs and financial aid, and it also gave us an opportunity to find a good advisor."