You Have Been Accepted… What Happens Next?

I remember the anticipation leading up to receiving my admissions letter from Furman. Every day following the submission of my application I wondered what my results would be and then the day came where I got the letter, my letter of acceptance. I was in, but what happened next? With Furman being my dream school I knew immediately that I wanted to commit to attend Furman for my future academic years.

Once I had officially committed the fun began. I was now allowed to start thinking about my new, exciting future that awaited me. Thoughts began to run through my head about my future roommate, dorm room, classes, major, meal plan, college wardrobe, extra curriculars, school supplies, etc. I remember one of my first tasks was to set up my Furman email. My high school used Google Chrome so the Microsoft world was very new to me. With the extensive instructions from Furman and the help of several Furman IT workers I was able to make and log into my new email. This would become the port for all tasks and announcements to come through. From there I made my Moodle, Workday, and MyFurman accounts. Tasks and forms continued to roll into my inbox and there sat my roommate survey, the most exciting of them all. Freshman year at Furman University you are required to have a randomly paired roommate. Considering this, Furman sends out a survey that once you fill out will in return help admin while they are setting up roommate pairings. The survey consisted of questions like what time do you normally go to sleep? Are you messy or neat? Are you a night owl or early bird? Would you like your room to be a social setting or a quiet setting? Etc. Knowing several older students at Furman I was given the advice to be as honest as possible on the survey and now being a student at Furman I would recommend the same. I filled out my survey and nervously turned it in.

Then came Summer O! Summer O is a day long orientation that will prepare you for what is to come in the fall. You register yourself (and any family members attending) for your preferred date, complete the preparation tasks, and then you are ready to go. The day begins with a large assembly where students and families are welcomed to campus and given the “game plan” for the day. Afterwards students split into their smaller “O-Groups” and parents attend meetings, lunch, and are gathered to hear more from our Dean and Head of school. Within your O-Group you explore campus, hear from academic advisors, have lunch in the dining hall, and meet with your personal advisor to set up your fall schedule. The day is filled with fun and you are kept busy.

 

You leave feeling more comfortable with not only the campus but with your future classmates who you have now become friends with. It just so happened that the day of my Summer-O was the day roommate assignments come out! Once word got out I quickly logged into the housing portal and there is saw this:

I then reached out to my future roomie and from there we got to make all our dorm room dreams become a reality! Being paired up randomly with your roommate definitely will bring compromises and in my case my roommate was from across the country so we never got to meet in person before moving in day. Nevertheless we texted almost everyday getting to know each other and quickly started to shop for our dorm room texting pictures like these back and forth…

Quickly we came up with our “room plan” and before we knew it it was moved in day! The summer before your freshman year is filled with a lot of lasts but also a lot of firsts. Enjoy every second and make the start of your college adventure fun. I have now been at Furman for 7 weeks and am so thankful I took the time to get to know my roommate, make sure my dorm room would feel like home, and stayed on top of my summer tasks and forms. You have a lot of exciting times coming up! Never feel like you cannot reach out, I am open to any and all questions.

I look forward to sharing more with you all over the coming weeks!

-Olivia Pearson, 2025