New Student Reception Season!

Last night I had the privilege of attending one of our New Student Receptions – summer sendoff parties that we hold to welcome new students and their parents.  My first reception of the season was Greensboro, NC and it was a smashing good time.  There were a lot of excited new students and parents, and some terrific current students, some young alumni, and even a couple of alumni parents and current parents as well.

These receptions are fun and lighthearted ways to gather Wake Foresters together and begin building their network.  There is always good food and lots of conversation.  Our current students and young alumni had some excellent advice for the new students – so good it bears repeating here.  Among their suggestions:

– take classes beyond what your comfort zone is

– try new things; some of the students joined activities on a lark (rugby and archery were mentioned) and they ended up loving those activities

– take advantage of the fact that professors and administrators want to see you – go to their office hours and get to know them

– remember that everyone else is just as nervous and scared as you are about starting school (even if they put on their brave game face and don’t show it); you are all in the same boat

– get involved in campus activities like Wake N’ Shake, Hit the Bricks

– go to athletic events – Wake is one of the rare Division I schools where students can get tickets easily and cheaply

– be yourself! if you don’t want to do X or join Y group, don’t do it.  Be who you are.

Following our student panel, we opened it up for Q&A.  As you might imagine, our new students had some questions about the upcoming registration period.  One of our current students there was also a student adviser, and she reminded the group to take advantage of the student advisers.  They can be accessed in two ways: by joining a Google Chat session prior to registration (dates and times at the end of this website) or by emailing askanSA@wfu.edu.

If you are a new family and there is a reception in your area, we’d love to have you attend.  If you have a die-hard Deac upperclassman and he or she wants to come as a current student, we’d love to have your students too!   A full list of receptions is available here – please pre-register to attend the reception of your choice.

To all my new friends at the Greensboro reception (and some familiar faces as well), thanks for coming.  Up next for me is Pinecrest (Miami) – and if you are in the area, please register and attend the Pinecrest reception!