Princeton University

Since you received your acceptance letter, you’ve probably ripped open and read top to bottom each of the thousand mailings you received from Princeton. In one of those mailings, you found info on Princeton’s pre-orientation programs, Outdoor Action and Community Action, and if you’re like more than half of the incoming freshman class, you signed up, hoping to make new friends (or at least show up on campus knowing someone).

The brochures didn't lie: the Outdoor and Community Action programs really are a great way to meet people and learn about Princeton while doing something fun and/or useful. But what will they be like?

After making your way to Dillon Gym using your shiny new campus map, you'll be accosted by overly enthusiastic OA leaders and eventually find your assigned group among the 500+ herd of your new classmates. You’ll play corny icebreaker games and learn camp songs like "Jump, Shake Your Booty," and you’ll start to wonder whether you’re starting your freshman year of college or the first grade. Just as you are starting to feel comfortable with the other fresh-faced freshmen in your group, you will be dropped in the wilderness with a week's worth of food and few personal hygiene products (and we mean a few).

Yet something magical happens during the next six days. Somewhere in between the Jell-O No-Bake disasters, "troweling" (you'll have to find out what that is for yourself), bear-bagging and many blisters, you'll find that you've magically bonded with these strangers and now feel prepared to face college life. These will be the first people you really get to know on campus, and you'll likely keep in touch with at least a few of them all the way through.

Some call CA "the outdoor-challenged alternative" to OA. Yes, it offers certain luxuries, such as showers and toilets, but the lazy need not apply. The program will place you in the middle of ongoing Student Volunteers Council projects and will introduce you to the multitude of volunteer opportunities available on campus. On your volunteering adventures, you may find yourself in the serving line in a Philadelphia soup kitchen or tutoring children in nearby Trenton. What's special about this program, according to one participant, is that it offers "bonding around a central activity that involves helping someone else." Good stuff.

If you're coming to Princeton from another country, there's a special pre-orientation program just for you, sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. The four-day program is designed to introduce international students to American college life, and it consists of information sessions, social activities and assistance with pesky practical matters, like opening bank accounts and dorm room shopping. Previously, incoming international students had to choose between participating in International Pre-Orientation or participating in OA/CA, but the schedule now allows for both.

Princetonese
"OA" and "CA" -- Outdoor Action and Community Action are usually referred to by their initials.