New office helps first-year students acclimate to University Park

New office helps first-year students acclimate to University Park

University Park, Pa. -- Each year, more than 11,000 students arrive at Penn State's University Park campus for the first time. Of that total, 7,500 or so are freshmen and around 3,600 are change-of-campus or transfer students.
 
No matter what their status, these students are all trying to find their way. New Student Programs, a part of the Division of Student Affairs, helps guide them through that uncertain process.
 
“We are coordinating and developing programming for new students at University Park," said New Student Programs Assistant Director Cyndy Biek. “We help in orienting and welcoming them. The more you get to know students and students get to know us, the better they integrate both academically and socially."
 
For the freshmen who are new to University Park, New Student Programs works with the Division of Undergraduate Studies to develop programs for Penn State’s First-Year Testing, Consulting and Advising Program (FTCAP).
 
It also coordinates a number of Welcome Week events and works closely with the University Health Services to inform new students about time management issues and making healthy decisions.
 
Biek said one of the tools used during FTCAP is a “24 hours in a day” exercise to help students understand and manage their free time. In high school, she said, students typically spend around an hour in each class, each day for 180 school days as well as some homework time to achieve success in a particular class.
 
At Penn State, students will spend about three hours in each course each week, for 15 weeks -- a total of 45 hours per course. To be successful, Biek points out, students also will need to devote at least two to three hours on course work outside class for every hour in class.
 
So, if a student spends three hours a day in class and six hours on class-related study, that leaves 15 hours in a day. Students will spend about eight of those hours sleeping and a couple hours eating healthy and taking care of themselves.
 
As the FTCAP exercise illustrates, that leaves four hours of free time for students to fill each day. 
 
This is where New Student Programs can be of guidance. Beginning with Welcome Week, held during the first week of each semester, students are encouraged to explore the many opportunities provided to them to enhance their Penn State experience.
 
“The network and services they need to be successful are in place whether students want to find a part-time job, join a student organization, study or play Frisbee football,” Biek said. “Penn State is spending a lot of time and effort to make sure students are successful."