Orientation at the University of Southern Maine unfolds in stages. It begins when you submit your enrollment deposit and continues into your first semester. By the time you walk into your first class, you’ll have already met with an advisor, built your schedule, sat in on a session or two, and met people who know your name.
Because USM admits students on a rolling basis, your orientation timeline may look different from another student’s — but no matter when you enroll, you’ll have the same opportunities to get ready.
Whenever you begin, the milestones are the same. Here’s what to expect at each one.
You made your deposit. What comes next?
Within days of submitting your deposit, you’ll get a welcome email and access to the Husky Pack Preview, a set of short online modules that run 15 to 20 minutes total. They cover the practical things worth handling early: checking your bill, uploading immunization records, taking a math placement test if you need one, and getting comfortable with the systems you’ll use all year.
Completing these sets you up for your advising appointment.
Meet with your advisor and build your schedule
Maybe you’ve never taken a college class. Maybe you earned college credits years ago at USM or another institution and are ready to finish what you started. Or perhaps you’re transferring from another college to continue your education. Either way, this is a no-pressure opportunity to explore your options. Talk with Admissions about how to apply, learn how Credit for Prior Learning can turn your work and life experience into progress toward a degree, and meet the people who will be in your corner from day one.
Attend online orientation
Every incoming student attends a 90-minute Zoom orientation toward the end of August. You’ll have a couple opportunities to sign up and choose the one that fits your schedule.
The first half hour covers the offices and policies worth knowing early, including Title IX, Student Engagement and Belonging, and the Learning Commons and Community Standards. Then you’ll move through breakout rooms, covering topics like health and counseling, the Career Hub, Residential Life, transportation, MaineStreet, and dining.
The session closes with optional Husky Huddles — small groups based on your USM experience, whether you’re living on campus, commuting, starting college for the first time, transferring, returning to college, or studying online.
From here, your orientation experience depends on where you’ll be living and learning.
Commuting to USM? Here’s what to expect
Commuter students are invited to the Portland campus for a half-day program the week before classes start.
The morning opens with a welcome and Q&A with the dean of students, followed by a Keys to Commuter Success session. You can take a campus tour or head to the resource fair to handle things like your student ID, parking, and financial aid questions. If you want to see the Gorham campus, orientation leaders can ride the METRO there with you.
Living on campus? Here’s what to expect
Move-In and Orientation Weekend runs Friday through Sunday on the Gorham campus, just before classes start.
Move-in day begins early, with offices open across campus and students reporting to their halls at assigned times. While students settle in, families can hear from a panel with representatives from Residential Life, advising, financial services, health and counseling, public safety, and more. Once families head out, the orientation kickoff begins. Floor meetings follow, and the evening ends with an open house at Brooks Student Center, where you can make friendship bracelets, decorate a keychain, and meet the people on your floor.
Orientation Day is the busiest. It starts with optional morning activities — gym tours, a nature walk, or Breakfast Buddies, where you’ll meet an orientation leader outside the dining hall and grab breakfast together as a group. From there, you’ll rotate through short sessions with your orientation group covering interpersonal violence prevention, campus apps, dining, wellness, and community standards — many built and delivered by orientation leaders themselves. You’ll pick up your swag in the afternoon, and the day closes with an evening event on campus.
Campus and Community Exploration Day is built around choice. Orientation leaders staff an “Ask an OL” drop-in tent, host Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Buddies in the dining hall, run classroom tours on both campuses, ride the METRO into Gorham Village, and host a field day outside Upton. Want to do it all? Go for it. Prefer to stay in and get your first week organized instead? That’s a good use of the day too.
The weekend is designed to give you low-stakes ways to start a conversation, so that walking up to a table of people you have never met feels a little more possible by Monday.
Orientation doesn’t end after the first weekend
Once classes start, new students are paired with a mentor through the Husky Mentor Program, staffed by returning orientation leaders. Mentors check in through fall and spring and raise the things you might not think to ask about, like what a withdrawal actually means or what happens during Add/Drop week.
Advice from a USM orientation leader
Every orientation leader on campus was also a new USM student not too long ago. Michaela LaCrosse ‘27, a current orientation leader, remembers what it felt like. Here’s what she wants new Huskies to know.
1.
Come prepared for your advising appointment
“Come prepared with what classes you were thinking about and why,” said LaCrosse. “If you come prepared and do your research ahead of time, the ACS can double-check everything for you, and it makes the process much smoother.”
2.
Find your people, even if you commute
“Come to any events on campus if you can and connect with people within your major,” she said. “It helps you gain a sense of community and belonging here at USM, and you meet a lot of kind people.”
3.
It’s OK to feel nervous
“Trust the process, and everything will be okay,” said LaCrosse. “I am typically not a go-with-the-flow person, but I stuck through the orientation my freshman year, and I am so grateful that I did. I met my people, who are amazing and have my back.”
