Freshmen Orientation
Freshmen Orientation will be conducted the week prior to school starting in the fall. Freshmen Orientation is designed to help transition our new midshipmen to life at the University of Florida as a midshipmen and college student. Incoming midshipmen should be physically fit and prepared to be challenged. Past activities include tours of Navy ships at Mayport, swim qualifications, obstacle courses, leadership reaction courses, and the opportunity to speak with serving Navy officers. Freshmen Orientation is NOT boot camp, but it will be physically challenging and strenuous. At the end of the week all participants will feel accomplished and ready to begin their careers as midshipmen at the University of Florida.
Please view our physical fitness standards to have an understanding of these expectations:
Navy ROTC Physical Fitness Standards
Preparation
You will be contacted by the Recruiting Officer early in the summer to begin collecting required paperwork and forms to ensure you are ready to begin life as a midshipmen in the fall. Please read all emails thoroughly and carefully. You will be asked to return the required forms in a timely manner, so please do your best to meet the deadlines.
The NROTC staff cannot over emphasize the importance of physical fitness and ensuring you arrive at the first day of Freshmen Orientation with in Navy or Marine Corps physical fitness standards. If you are not within the Navy or Marine Corps’ physical fitness standards you are at risk of not having your scholarship activated to cover your tuition, fees, living stipend, and book stipend. Arriving in shape and ready to go will ensure you don’t have this problem!
Tips for Success at UFNROTC
The midshipmen of the Class of 2019 offer the following advice to new midshipmen joining the unit:
- Stay in shape over the summer! The importance of physical fitness cannot not be over emphasized.
- Live in the Tolbert Hall Living and Learning Community! Tolbert Hall is directly across the street from Van Fleet Hall and you will live with your peers from NROTC. On the days when you have to wake up early for physical training or other activities, you are a lot closer to the ROTC building so you are less likely to be late. The staff doesn’t bother you in Tolbert Hall and it is exactly like living in any other dorm. There are no room inspections or bed checks! Midshipmen that lived far away from Van Fleet were more likely to be late to events.
- Don’t rush a fraternity or sorority until the spring semester! NROTC and college classes are quite a challenge together, don’t set yourself up for failure by over burdening yourself your first semester. Remember, your GPA follows you throughout your college career and plays a significant part in your determining your career assignments for the Navy and Marine Corps.
- If you don’t know how to use a planner or organizer, learn to use one! You will need to keep track of many different assignments, events, tasks, and other items in college. If you stay organized and manage your time well, you will sleep more, be less stressed, and have more fun in college!
- Attitude and Effort are everything! If you have a good attitude and work hard, you will succeed.
- Email will become your new means of communication. Ensure you check your email often and read your messages thoroughly. This will be an important tool at school and when you commission into the Navy or Marine Corps.
- Buy a cheap battery powered travel alarm clock. Cell phones have a tendency to reset themselves, shut off, or suffer from a dead battery. Being late to an event because your alarm didn’t go off is not an acceptable excuse.
Parents
Your student is making a large transition to life as a college student and midshipman within the University of Florida’s Navy and Marine ROTC unit. We understand the transition your student is going through and the challenges he or she will face. As your student begins this transition during the summer prior to his or her freshman year of college, the NROTC staff will primarily communicate with your student. As a future leader of Sailors and Marines, we must develop a sense of responsibility and accountability in your student. This begins during the summer as we work with your future midshipman to collect initial paperwork and records for the Navy and Marine Corps.
If you have questions, please do not be afraid to contact our staff to ask those questions. We understand all parents will have questions that their students may not be able to answer or will have specific “parent” questions, and we are happy to answer all of those. As a rule, our staff will only reach out to parents in unusual circumstances since our focus is on the growth and leadership education of your student. Again, please contact us with your questions if you have them.
A few important pieces of “parent” information:
New Student Orientation (NSO)
- New Student Orientation will run the week before the first week of school during the fall semester from Monday to Saturday.
- The first day of NSO will incorporate a parent welcome session with a question and answer session with our staff. Students will be given time in the afternoon to move into their dorms if they are living on campus.
- The last day of NSO will incorporate a swearing in ceremony that parents and family are invited to attend. At this time, our new midshipmen will take the oath of office and sworn in as a Midshipman, US Navy Reserve. The ceremony includes a small reception following and typical ends in the very early afternoon.
- During NSO, your student will be VERY busy and on the move. Student’s will not always be near their cell phones or other devices, so don’t expect immediate responses from your student.
- Download Parent Handbook (1.19mb PDF)