At a lot of campuses, orientation happens in the summer. Students travel in for a couple of days, then head home until fall. Alyssa, who works on orientation at the University of the Pacific, thinks that model can make yield and retention harder.

Pacific does it differently. Students arrive on move-in day, go straight into a two-day orientation, and roll right into Week of Welcome. In Campus Notes Episode 4, Alyssa explains why, and what Pacific has seen since.

What belonging sounds like at Pacific

Alyssa points to the first six weeks of the semester as the stretch when first-year students start to form a sense of belonging. Pacific listens for it in how students talk. When they say they're going back home for the weekend, they aren't talking about where they grew up. They mean campus.

"When we start hearing students say that Pacific is their home, that's when we really feel like they belong," she says. Other signs: students bringing friends to campus, and inviting their parents back for family weekend.

It isn't one event. It's a process.

What is first-to-second-year retention?

First-to-second-year retention is the share of first-year students who come back for their second year. It's one of the most closely watched numbers in student affairs, because the first year is when students are most likely to leave. Orientation and welcome programming sit at the very start of that year, which is why teams look closely at them when retention moves. See also what new student orientation covers.

One arrival. One class.

Before COVID, and before Alyssa joined, Pacific ran the summer model. Afterward, the team shifted. Alyssa's view is that students now need to be ingrained on campus a little longer, so bringing everyone in at once was partly a deliberate choice.

Summer isn't silent, either. Pacific's admissions team runs summer send-offs, events hosted in the places where admitted students are clustered. It's a way to take Pacific into their communities while students wait for fall.

Then everyone arrives together. Campus partners run programming, and returning students come back early, so new students start meeting the people they'll see in class.

The retention number, and how to read it

Alyssa says first-to-second-year retention has been in the 92% range for the past couple of years. In earlier years, it sat closer to the 85 to 89% range. The goal is 98%. "Ninety two is pretty good," she says.

She credits a big part of that to the move-in model. That's her read as the person running the program, not a controlled study, and plenty can change on a campus in a few years. It's still a pattern worth testing: one place, one time, one incoming class.

Cut what isn't working

Pacific assesses orientation from three directions: the students going through it, their parents and families, and the campus partners running sessions. Last year's three-day orientation drew a clear message. It felt too long.

So the team asked what had to stay and what could move into Week of Welcome. Orientation is now two days of new student checklist and onboarding pieces. Week of Welcome carries the fun, with a theme for each day:

• Wellness day. A Take Care Fair and a trip where Pacific takes over Target so students can shop.
• Involvement day. Club fairs on campus.

The point isn't to fill every hour. Alyssa wants students to get the information they need, have fun, and still have time to rest before classes start.

By students, for students

About fifty student leaders serve as orientation leaders through orientation and Week of Welcome. The programs they lead are the ones Alyssa sees doing the most for belonging. Leaders talk about their own experience at Pacific, and new students start to see themselves in it.

From pen and paper to check-in

Tracking attendance has been the hard part. In Alyssa's first year, orientation leaders checked in with students and logged attendance on paper spreadsheets. Last year, students swiped into programs with their ID cards.

When this episode was recorded, Pacific was preparing to use Guidebook session check-in and a gamified guide. The plan:

• Points for connecting with other students in the app and personalizing their account
• A leaderboard, with the top three called out at breakfast, lunch, and dinner across the two orientation days, each winning a goody bag
• A selfie challenge on Stockton's Miracle Mile, where local shops and restaurants partner with the university on student discounts, with points for every stop

Alyssa is honest that earlier attempts at gamification didn't stick. What she's hoping for is a shift in mindset, from "I have to go to orientation" to "I get to go to orientation." If you're weighing the same move, here's how Purdue uses gamification at orientation.

What to take back to your campus

• Question the summer default. If students scatter for months after orientation, ask whether arrival is a better moment to start.
• Listen for "home." The words students use are a belonging signal you can hear before any survey comes back.
• Ask three groups. Students, families, and campus partners will each tell you something different.
• Trim on purpose. Keep onboarding in orientation and move the fun into welcome week.
• Read retention carefully. A better number after a program change is a strong signal, not a controlled result.

Planning your own arrival model? See how orientation teams run new student programs with Guidebook, read about welcome week beyond orientation, or see how to track orientation attendance digitally.

Watch Alyssa's full conversation in Campus Notes Episode 4.

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