<p>Our D did the hiking pre-orientation and I think it did help that she knew a few people at the beginning. Actually, I am not sure it made any difference since I have not heard anything about those folks since. What was nice about doing pre-orientation is she got to do central checkin a day early and we had extra time to shop for stuff she didn’t bring with her. She and I flew out the day before preorientation. We got her room key the next morning and had time to move her stuff in and make her bed. I took off to visit an old friend for 2 days and she went hiking. We meet up the day after she got back and did way too much shopping for either of our taste. It made the whole thing a little less hectic.
Ellen</p>