Orientation week wrapped up with the traditional courtyard picnic, closing five days that introduced this year’s new students to MU’s buildings, clubs, timetables and — according to the survey the council ran on the final day — at least one activity too many per afternoon.
The clear winner in the survey was the mentor system, which paired every new student with a senior for the week. Mentors ran the building tours, sat with their groups at lunch, and remain contactable through the term. Over 90 percent of respondents rated the system useful or very useful.
My mentor told me which staircase everyone avoids and why the second-floor water fountain is the good one. No official tour tells you that.
First-year survey response
What ran late
The survey’s most common criticism was the schedule itself: afternoon blocks planned back-to-back with no travel time, which meant each event started slightly later than the last. The clubs fair, scheduled for ninety minutes, effectively ran for two and a half hours — which club representatives, to be fair, did not mind at all.
By the numbers
- 87 percent of new students attended all five days
- 41 clubs presented at the fair — six more than last year
- 312 new students signed up for at least one club during the week
- The scavenger hunt’s winning team finished in 47 minutes, a record
The council’s events group said next year’s schedule will add travel buffers and move the clubs fair to its own afternoon. The full survey summary is published in the council minutes.
The mentor system’s next act
The mentor programme’s success has consequences beyond the survey: its two coordinators confirmed they are drafting a proposal to extend mentorship across the whole first year rather than a single week, an idea that gathered momentum as mentors reported their mentees still contacting them weeks later. The council will hear the proposal this term. Meanwhile, the events group has already booked next year’s mentor training — for a larger cohort.
One tradition earned its place unchanged for another year: the final-day picnic’s “questions box,” where new students drop anonymous questions too small or too embarrassing for the official sessions, answered aloud by seniors with total candour. This year’s box produced forty-one questions, of which the runaway theme — asked six separate ways — was whether everyone else also feels lost in week one. The seniors’ unanimous answer was recorded for posterity: yes.
