About 600 Freshman Connection students were surprised and confused to receive spring orientation booklets last month in what orientation officials are calling a processing error.
Freshman Connection students, who were admitted for the Spring 2010 semester but take special on-campus classes during the fall, already completed a required orientation this summer. The New Student Orientation Office intended to send the information about required placement tests and orientation dates only to spring-admitted and transfer students.
“Freshmen Connection students should not have received this booklet because they register through a parallel process and not through the Orientation Office like non-Freshmen Connection admitted students,” Dian Squire, Assistant Director of Orientation, said.
He declined to comment on the cost of the error.
The Office of Extended Studies, which houses the Freshman Connection program, received notification of the mistake when several confused students inquired about why they had to go to another orientation.
Freshman Connections student and letters and sciences major Anna Yuwen e-mailed the Office of Extended Studies when she read that she would have to take the Math Placement
Exam again, which all Freshman Connection students were required to complete before the fall semester.
“I e-mailed them because I already took it,” she said. “I was upset and overwhelmed.”
Upon discovering the error, the Office of Extended studies sent out an e-mail to all Freshman Connection students, explaining what had happened and that students did not need to attend. Officials also posted a note on the Orientation Office’s website to clarify the situation and sent out a letter of apology.
Because Freshman Connection students do not receive on-campus housing, many commute from home or live at nearby off-campus dwellings. For those who do not live at home, parents were befuddled to receive the information.
“It threw my mom for a loop,” freshman communications major Lauren Holstein said. Holstein, who lives at the University Towers, said she received a frantic call from her mom in New Jersey. “She was really confused. I was like, ‘Chill out mom, I already did it.'”
Many students were similarly upset because the accidental mailing added another hassle to already demanding college schedules.
“It was a big mistake and a waste,” freshman communication major Larissa Knoblett said. “It added unnecessary stress to a list of things already on my mind.”
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