Cell Phones, Standards, Study Tips and SOLs All Part of UC s New Student Orientation

UC’s newest students are about to register for classes, learn about the requirements of their academic programs and find out about services that help them succeed in college. Their parents will discover how to stay involved and supportive through their child’s college experience. The University of Cincinnati's two-day Bearcat Bound Orientation begins June 22 and runs through Aug. 3. Orientation check-in begins at 7:30 a.m. on the third floor of University Pavilion.

Caroline Miller, associate vice president of Enrollment Management, expects approximately 5,000 students to attend summer orientation, comparable to UC’s record class for first-time freshmen last fall. That includes an eight-percent increase in students transferring from other colleges.

The students and their parents will be guided through Orientation by 30 Student Orientation Leaders (SOLs) – UC upperclassmen trained for the Orientation program who also give students and parents a personal perspective of student life at UC.

The entering class is the first to complete new minimum admissions standards for baccalaureate programs aimed at increasing student success that included completing a short essay on their college application. First-year students entering UC in fall 2006 need to meet one of the following criteria:

• Top 10 percent class rank, or
• ACT=22 or higher (1010 SAT, critical reading + math), or
• Top 75 percent class rank and high school GPA of 2.5 or higher, and ACT 20 or higher

Miller reports 39 National Merit Scholars are in the entering freshman class, more than double the 19 entering UC in fall 2005 – a goal of the UC|21 Strategic Plan to attract the nation’s best and brightest students. UC also expects 1,223 Cincinnatus scholars, an increase of about 100 over last year.

UC’s new student orientation also launches the university’s ambitions to lead the nation in becoming a comprehensive wireless university community, as new students are encouraged to purchase a UC Mobile plan in partnership with UCit and Cincinnati Bell and receive a free Bearcat cell phone with features that inform students about changes in their courses, locations of shuttle buses, campus navigation features and a mobile help feature. Students interested in the plan can immediately pick up their phones at Orientation. The UC-related applications become available at the start of fall quarter.

This year’s new students will also be the first to be under a new student ID system different than that for students in years past, as UC moves away from using the social security number as the student’s primary identifier.

Meanwhile, UC’s newest students continue to reflect national trends in preferring to apply to college via the Internet. Seventy percent of this year’s entering students completed their applications over the Web. Last year was the first time that UC’s E-applications surpassed paper applications at 60 percent after first becoming available in 1995.

UC Orientation Hotline: 513-556-2486

UC Orientation Web site