New Student Orientation

Welcome to the Sam M. Walton College of Business, class of 2028!

Our faculty and staff look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to campus during your New Student Orientation. Please view the short video below and review the information that follows to prepare for the Walton College portion of your orientation session.




Step 1: Register for New Student Orientation

Already registered for an orientation session and know your dates? Great! Be sure to check your UARK email regularly and proceed to step 2. Haven’t registered yet? Go to New Student Orientation for instructions and dates.

We also encourage you to spend time in the online orientation modules learning more about campus resources, majors, specialty programs, and more before your orientation date. A link to access these modules was emailed to you by the New Student Orientation team.

Step 2: The College Meeting

During your orientation session, you will attend a College Meeting specifically tailored for business majors and their guests. Our Undergraduate Programs Office staff will welcome you and provide information about the business curriculum, Walton resources, important policies, and tips for success. You will also have a chance to meet other staff on the Walton Student Success team to learn more about the resources and opportunities that they offer.

Following the College Meeting, we will provide lunch and give everyone a chance to ask additional questions before moving into individual advising sessions.

To wrap up the day, students will meet individually with Walton College academic advisors. This is your opportunity to review your fall schedule, provide us with additional information, and ask any questions that you may have. Students who need to make schedule adjustments will do so in our registration room after their advising meeting.

A note for parents and supporters: The student/advisor relationship is critical to academic success during college. It is also a time for students to begin taking ownership of and responsibility for their own learning and to begin advocating for themselves. For these reasons, parents and guests are not able to attend advising meetings with their students. We understand and value family support during your student’s academic journey and encourage them to share with you what they learned after their advising session. Should you have follow-up questions after advising, please do not hesitate to let us know before you leave campus.

Important Note: You may notice that you have been pre-registered for 10-16 hours prior to your orientation session. Most of these courses make up your Freshman Business Connections cohort. Cohorts are specifically designed for incoming business majors and will help you get to know other new students, learn more about Walton and campus resources, and begin to explore the business landscape. We will share more information about the importance of these courses and how they fit into the business curriculum during your orientation session.

Step 3: Academic Advising

To be sure you are ready for your academic advising meeting, we suggest that you take time to review the following and collect any materials that may be helpful to you during orientation.

  1. Send in transcripts and test scores.

    The University of Arkansas needs official records of test scores and college-level credit for accurate course placement and to be sure that earned credit is correctly awarded.

    • If you have taken concurrent/dual credit courses while in high school, be sure to send an official transcript from the college or university that awarded your credit to the University of Arkansas Registrar’s Office. For information on how courses transfer, please see our Transfer Course Equivalency Guides.
    • If you have AP credit to report, send your official scores from the College Board to the University of Arkansas. You may wait until your final results are in and send your test scores in July.
    • If you have IB credit, request your official test scores through IBO and have them sent to the University of Arkansas.
    • To see how AP and IB test scores translate into course credit, please see our Test Credit website.


    All test and transfer credit transcripts should be sent to the UA Registrar's Office.

    Registrar’s Office Contact Information

    Main Office: 1083 East Sain St., 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701

    Email: registra@uark.edu Fax: 479-575-4651 Phone: 479-575-5451

  2. Review the State Minimum Core Requirements

    The State Minimum Core is comprised of 35 hours of courses from seven disciplines: English, mathematics, natural science, social science, fine arts, humanities, and American history/government. They are designed to develop the tools for critical thinking and effective communication, an understanding of our richly diverse human heritage, the flexibility to adapt successfully to a rapidly changing world, a capacity for lifelong learning, and an enthusiasm for creativity.

    Most incoming freshmen will enroll in at least one state minimum core course during their first semester. Please review the list of approved courses for business majors and make a note of those that sounds interesting to discuss with your advisor.

  3. Understand Your Math Placement

    At the Walton College, math is important. How quickly a student moves into and through our required math sequence is directly related to how quickly they will move through their degree. For this reason, all incoming business majors are advised to take a math class during their first semester. While Finite Math is the first required math course in the business sequence, our first priority is for students to start in the math class that is right for them—that means the class that meets you at your current level of understanding. For some students that will be Finite Math and for some that will be College Algebra.

    We will discuss math placement and course sequencing in depth during orientation. To get a jumpstart on the discussion, please watch this short video.

  4. What to bring

    Orientation can be an overwhelming day or two. You are going to learn a lot! To make sure that we are best able to serve you and to reduce your stress, please review the following list of things you may want to bring with you.

    • Copies of (or electronic access to) unofficial transcripts showing concurrent/dual credit coursework and/or ACT, SAT, AP, IB, or CLEP test scores
    • A copy of your immunization records if you have not already submitted them to the Pat Walker Health Center
    • A list of scholarships that you have been awarded with the renewal criteria (number of required hours, required GPA, etc.)
    • A list of the extracurricular activities you plan to be involved in (e.g. band, ROTC, University athletics, etc.)
    • A list of questions to ask your academic advisor or other campus representatives. Parents and supporters may be able to assist you with this list.

Resources

UA Connect and Registration How-to's

UAConnect is the University of Arkansas student information system. You will use UAConnect during your advising session and Advance Registration periods each semester.

It is important that you look around and become familiar with the different tiles and pages in UAConnect prior to your orientation session.

Notifications Tile — shows holds or to do list items that are required before registration. Most of these will be taken care of during your advising session at orientation.

Manage Classes Tile — enrollment and class search

The UAConnect Student Knowledge Center acts as a roadmap as you navigate the various features of UAConnect.

Helpful Links

Walton Honors

Students who have been accepted to Walton Honors will meet the honors advising team and learn more about opportunities, requirements, and program expectations during their orientation session.

Important Links
Important Documents