Orientation and Registration

First-year students taking placement exams, 1943

Photograph by J. Quinn.

A day after arriving on campus and becoming acquainted with new students and unfamiliar surroundings, first-year students were required to take five days of placement exams, which covered math, the physical and biological sciences, languages, and physical education. The exams allowed students to "place out" of courses in which they had shown sufficient aptitude and helped in matching students with the proper level of instruction.

Arriving with the family, 1962


With shoeboxes and suitcase in hand, this first-year student, accompanied by her parents and siblings, takes her initial contemplative and skeptical glance at her new home. After checking in, the Orientation Board held a parents' meeting to acquaint them with the University.