Grad students adjust to life at U.

More than 2,000 graduate and professional students experienced their share of orientation events last week, but with a slightly different focus than this weekend's freshman orientation. Instead of filling Irvine Auditorium to hear University President Judith Rodin extol their virtues, most incoming graduate students attended smaller gatherings sponsored by their individual schools. The specific-school introductions are often the most important parts of the entire process, said Laurie Reed, assistant director of Academic Support Programs, who coordinated orientation for all new students. Reed said the individual schools need those opportunities because they have "so much information" to pass on to their new students. She added that many graduate or professional students are more interested in their own programs of study and want to meet the people with whom they will be working closely. "Each school plans its own events that are oriented towards students," said Wharton Graduate Division Director of Student Affairs Judi Rogers. She explained that Wharton's new graduate students attended many social events and local tours of companies and Philadelphia sites. Other pre-term activities oriented the new students toward the academic side of Wharton. Pam Robinson, registrar for the Annenberg School for Communication, explained that in addition to typical activities, the school encourages new students to "network" outside of the smaller and "self-contained" Annenberg School. Reed noted that graduate student participation in the University-wide activities that have occurred has "not [been] as great as we would like it to be." Less than 300 students attended a welcoming ceremony for new graduate and professional students, held Wednesday evening at the Annenberg School auditorium. In a ceremony similar to freshman convocation, both Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow welcomed those new students that did attend the event to the University. First-year Chemistry graduate students Daniel Macks said this was the first orientation event he attended outside of his own department. And although first-year Historic Preservation student Simone Monteleone said she thought her school's orientation was "helpful," she found that she felt generally "isolated" from graduate students in other programs and from the rest of the University.