Welcome to UNSW Mid-Year O-Week 2009!

Starting at a new university is a huge step, and it's time to make the most of it. We've brought together academic introductions, campus clubs, fantastic events and games, campus tours and skill-building workshops to give you the best start possible to your life here at UNSW. So turn it up at Mid-Year O-Week, and make July 15-17 the best week of your year.

We're the Yellow Shirts, volunteers who help new students during Orientation Week. Our goal is to make you feel as happy and comfortable as possible in your transition to UNSW. We're happy to show you around, answer questions and help in any way we can. We also hang out on the O-Week Forums, so you should head there if you have any questions before the week gets started.

What is Mid-Year O-Week?

Mid-Year Orientation Week (O-Week for short) runs the week before the start of classes in Semester 2. This year, it runs from Wednesday the 15th of July to Friday the 17th of July. During this week, new students have an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the university and start getting involved in the life of the university. Whether you're at Kensington campus or COFA, there is lots to do at O-Week.

Faculty Welcomes

The university is divided into Faculties such as Law and Science, and further subdivided into schools, such as the School of Chemistry within Science. There are 7 faculties on the Kensington campus, and yours probably runs a welcome or introduction during Mid-Year O-Week. The faculty welcomes usually consist of an introduction and speeches by academic staff and a lunch to mix with other people from your faculty.

There will also be a larger all-students welcome on the Wednesday, around the time of the campus tours.

Tours

On Wednesday, Yellow Shirts will be giving campus tours to new students. A tour will take you through many locations on campus, highlighting the most important services, retail outlets, lecture theatres and other features.

The first set of tours will run immediately after the Undergraduate Welcome. The second will leave from the Roundhouse an hour before the Postgraduate Welcome. Tours run for about an hour.

Clubs and Societies

Many clubs will appear in the Roundhouse area during Mid-Year O-Week. Each club represents an interest, from Soccer to Star Trek, Hip Hop to Hong Kong, you're guaranteed to find a society that you like. UNSW's clubs and societies are a fantastic way to meet people and have a lot of fun at the same time.

Day Events

From 10am to 6pm on the Wednesday of Mid-Year O-Week, you can expect to see free fairy floss, giant games and club demonstrations. Check out our events listing to see more.

Workshops

O-Week is not just fun and games. There are many myStart workshops to help you adjust to university and teach you new and interesting skills. These workshops cover topics like "coping with stress" and "postgraduate success skills", through to "ways to save money" and "writing a resume". The full list is available at the myStart website.

Further Reading

• The UNSW handbook has a list of all courses and subjects offered by the university

• MyUNSW is the main student access point for administration (fees, enrolling, timetables and so on)

• UNSW Student Central is the main administrative access point for UNSW students. Their website has a useful list of what areas they provide assistance in, including enrolment and fee issues.

This website is constantly being updated, so be sure to check back here often to see what's new, and if you think something's missing, broken, or otherwise in need of attention, feel free to jump on to the forums or contact us. We look forward to seeing you in O-Week!

- The Yellow Shirts