During my time at Itawamba Community College, all I could think about was my next step in life   — that step being to attend the best college in the world, Mississippi State University.  Little did I know all the information given to me at orientation day wouldn’t be helpful at all.
When I arrived for orientation day it started with hectic parking problems and many people wandering around the campus not knowing where to go.  We received a sheet with multiple opinions on how you should spend your first hours there. These options included: getting IDs made, scanning your hand at the YMCA building or visiting all the clubs booths in the union.  With all these choices in front of you, there was no time possible to get everything done. Often you found yourself running from event to event with no time. The programs students were made to attend were conducted by other students who seemed just as lost as I was.  They tried to help us with our questions, but they weren’t sure about summer school or how commuter passes worked during game days. My parents wanted to attend a program about the sporting events in the fall, and the people directing the session never bothered to show up.  
During the afternoon sessions, students divided up into groups determined by their different colleges. We were able to register for classes, which was the worst part of the entire day.  Students had a couple of hours to meet with our department heads and make our schedules for our first semesters at MSU.  It took me about four hours to register for only five classes because no one would help me. I had no idea how to work the banner system and, and it took the teachers 30 minutes or more to finally come over to me.  The system wouldn’t let me register for a lot of my core classes because it kept saying my transcript was not on file. I specifically remember sending MSU my transcript at the end of each semester of my sophomore year.  This was the most aggravating thing about the whole day — how MSU seemed to not have any of my files. I sent my files to MSU multiple times.  The orientation leaders really needed to do a better job of informing us on how to register for classes and giving advice on the teachers and times for each class.
Transferring from a community college was extremely difficult for me because when you get to MSU, it expects you to do everything on your own the first time you get there.  When we were getting ready to leave, the officers at community college told us the first day would be super easy for the new students and there would be orientation leaders all over campus directing us on where we needed to go. I left the campus feeling better about the first day.  Even though I was moving away from home for the first time and preparing to live on my own, I still didn’t worry about school because I knew experienced students would be there to help me.
Everything they told us about the first day of school was a complete and total lie. I didn’t see one orientation leader the whole time I was on campus the first day of school.  Parking in west parking lot was a complete nightmare — especially for someone who has never been to MSU before as a student. I wish MSU had helped freshmen and transfer students more on the first day.  In your orientation packet, you find a nice campus map, but no one has time to look at the map while you are driving around on campus. I got lost on campus for an hour and 45 minutes just trying to find the way to Highway 12.  
For me, transferring to MSU was horrible. It was one of the worst experiences of my life so far. I warn any transfer student to not count on the orientation leaders and find out everything you can about MSU before you arrive.