‘Very worthy trade-off’: Seniors reflect on switch from old orientation model to ExO, impact on social culture

Last week, Duke accepted the first members of its next first-year class. When they step onto campus as new students in the fall, they will be the fourth cohort to take part in the University’s Experiential Orientation program.

Piloted in 2022, the program was heralded by administrators at the time as the most significant change to new student programming in nearly 30 years. Under Experiential Orientation (ExO), all incoming first-years are divided into roughly 18 thematically-based projects, where they participate in an intensive schedule of events during the week before classes begin in an effort to strengthen students’ sense of belonging.

The projects are meant to emulate pre-orientation programs from years past.

Previously, students could opt in to join one of six pre-orientation programs that lasted over a week, which administrators noted “​​were excellent at fostering places of inclusion and belonging for their participants.” As part of the new QuadEx residential model, which launched in the fall of 2022 and similarly aims to foster a sense of community, the programs were shortened and expanded to all incoming students, becoming ExO.

Before ExO was implemented, all new students participated in Orientation Week activities organized by advisory counselors during the week before classes, regardless of whether they also attended a more immersive pre-orientation program beforehand. However, the old Orientation Week schedule featured fewer activities and was not based on themed programming for smaller cohorts.

Current seniors constitute the last crop of students to come to Duke without ExO as their gateway experience. The Chronicle spoke to members of the Class of 2025 to hear their reflections on the previous orientation model and insights into how ExO is reshaping the way students acclimate to the campus social scene.

The old orientation experience

In his first week of college, now-senior Ian Connolly found it challenging to make friends. He recalled that his orientation week consisted of a mix of large social gatherings on the East Campus Quad and smaller group activities with other first-years from the same dorm. Outside of scheduled programming, he said that “Orientation Week was basically just like one massive week-long party.” 

“It felt like if you weren't going out to talk and socialize with people, you had zero chance in making friends. And I’m not very good at that whole extrovert thing, so it was really, really difficult,” Connolly said.

Senior Jaron Shoemaker shared Connolly’s frustrations, feeling that the previous structure of orientation did not facilitate first-years’ adjustment to student and campus life. He found it difficult to “have those natural bonds forming” due to the “very structured interaction” during group activities. 

“It was very disjointed,” Shoemaker said. “It meant that you only saw the people in your [Freshman Advisory Council] group at those activities of the day, and the rest of the day you really weren't engaged with that group.”

As an A. James Clark Scholar, Shoemaker moved in early, giving him the opportunity to get to know other first-years in the cohort. Under the guidance of upperclassmen scholars, he was able to tour the campus and visit many of his classrooms. He believed that having a better understanding of campus at the beginning of the school year “indirectly” made it easier for him to make friends.

“I think that can be a huge challenge to making friends because you're stressing so much about your schedule and your work and all of that, that you don't have the remaining mental energy to approach your social life,” Shoemaker said.

Unlike Connolly and Shoemaker, senior Ethan Horowitz began his first year by participating in the pre-orientation group Project Edge, where he found a “tight-knit” circle of friends who shared the same interests.

Horowitz said that the relationships he built during pre-orientation carried over into his four years of college, as one of his best friends to this day is someone he met during Project Edge. He added that he stays in touch with many other members of his pre-orientation cohort by organizing lunches and other group activities. Horowitz also noted that the group “ended up sticking together more” after many returned as orientation leaders for the first year of ExO.

“My freshman year, coming in having done pre-orientation was definitely a significant advantage,” he said. “You get there, [and] you are immediately put into a group and are kind of forced to acclimate with your crew and everyone else around you.”

In addition to the barriers to meeting new people, seniors pointed out that the pandemic and social distancing measures uniquely disrupted the formation of social circles during their first year.

Shoemaker recalled the suspension of indoor dining in Marketplace and the plexiglass barriers that muffled sound during conversations, which he said “disrupted” the “social dynamics around eating together.” He also stressed that the virtual and hybrid learning environment prevented students from spending time with their classmates.

Connolly reported struggling during the transition from high school to college after a year of strict pandemic protocols left him with few opportunities of social interactions before arriving on campus.

“It was like [the] middle of junior year, and then no social interaction until college. That was really, really strange. You know, all of us went in really kind of having forgotten how to talk to people,” Connolly said. “It was sort of a combination of relearning all of our old social skills and being in this new environment, and then having to make new friends … that made it really hard to adapt.”

For Connolly, the start of classes offered a more comfortable social atmosphere. He settled into the social scene after taking the initiative to explore new activities, joining the club sailing team and the swing dance club.

“It was me wanting to be involved in things. That was what helped me start to fit in at Duke,” Connolly said. 

Shoemaker described his friend group today as “a very mixed bag from all over the place.” Although he regards several peers from orientation as some of his closest friends, most of his friendships at Duke have come from his classes in the Pratt School of Engineering, his dorm and others he met along the way.

“It was through just running into people at certain events throughout orientation, running into them in dorm common rooms — the classic, you see someone at a lunch table, and you're like, ‘Hey, can I sit with you?’ ‘Would you like to be friends?’ — That's where a lot of them came from,” Shoemaker said.

Changes under ExO

Horowitz served as an orientation leader for Project Edge for two consecutive years as a sophomore and junior. He applied for the position despite the “long days, short nights, [and] walking in the 95-degree heat” it would entail because he wanted to meet new people and stay connected with friends from his pre-orientation group.

“We all as a group did it together as a way to say thank you to [P]Edge, I guess,” Horowitz said. “We want to keep this legacy going.”

Horowitz explained that since first-years had to apply to join pre-orientation programs before ExO was implemented and made mandatory for all new students, the voluntary self-selection process resulted in a small, close community in his Project Edge cohort. He observed that the larger project group size today under ExO, which accommodates more than 1,700 students every year, has made it harder to define a common culture and necessitated a larger staff.

Shoemaker, who was an orientation leader for two consecutive years with Project Lead before serving as project director this fall, shared that his involvement with ExO as an upperclassman has helped define his Duke experience, allowing him to relive orientation, especially since his own first-year orientation did not feel “super powerful or validating.”

“As an orientation leader, you get to do all of the activities — you also get to have the fun,” Shoemaker said.  “… Yes, you are leading it and essentially running that group of students, but more so you're just a part of the group.”

He also emphasized the value in helping new first-years build connections at the start of their Duke journey.

“It was also really nice to help people make those connections … and have people continue to see you as a mentor and a good friend throughout the year,” Shoemaker said. “I think that’s something that’s really powerful and important as a student.”

Sophomore Sharon Deng took part in Project Arts during ExO’s second year, which she likened to a “summer camp” that provided her with a relaxed environment to get to know the campus and the community better.

Coming into college, Deng said she felt pressure to fit in and make friends quickly, noting that there was a common sentiment that “this [first week] is the week that will determine the rest of your life.” However, she attested that immersing herself in a group of peers who shared her passion for the arts eased that stress.

“In Project Arts, I thought it was a lot more like I was meeting actual friends, and not just people from Instagram,” Deng said. “I didn't have the social pressure of presenting an image of myself — it was more like I could just be friends with them, just have fun with them.” 

Deng and her friends from Project Arts also formed their own band called “The Trench,” which emerged from a weekend jam where they joked about writing their own song.

“We all knew each other from PArts and that’s how we connected,” she said.

For Horowitz, the shift to ExO has been a “very worthy trade-off.”

“Having that structured bit, having people like upperclassmen … lead [new students] around campus, form groups, meet new people — it’s a good way to make contacts, and it’s a good way to learn your way around campus and overall a decent introduction to Duke,” he said. “Even if it feels a little bit less cohesive, a little bit more patched together … it comes together and it works out.”

Although the shift to ExO has been mostly positive in his view, Horowitz maintained that orientation programming in general plays a small role in determining social relationships on campus.

“It's a starting point, definitely not an ending point,” he said.


Lucas Lin | University News Editor

Lucas Lin is a Trinity sophomore and a university news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.

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