They're almost here.
Each September, thousands of students return to Halifax and Truro, bringing a brand new energy to their respective communities. Among them will be more than 2,000 students new-to-Dal from high school this fall: excited, a little nervous, ready to start the next chapter in their lives.
Some of those students are already here: international student orientation started on Thursday, giving students coming to Canada from around the world a chance to explore their new home. The majority of new students arrive on Sunday as O-Week 2013 launches with events at the Halifax campuses as well as the Agricultural Campus. Over the subsequent days, other students will return to their residences and their apartments before classes for the fall term start on Thursday.
Here's a quick overview of what Dal's newest students can expect.
Meet the Dal student community
- 18,220 students, at last year's count
- 55% female, 45% male
- 12% international students, from more than 110 countries
- Average entering grade: 85%
- First-year students with average of 75% or better: 92%
- Percentage of first-year students awarded entrance scholarships: 58%
- More than 200 clubs and societies
Completing the checklist
There's a lot that first-year students have to do before and after they arrive on campus: pick up textbooks, get their DalCard, perhaps purchase a new computer. The Student Life team has compiled that makes it easy to be 100 per cent ready for the start of term. (And if you're in Truro, .)
All about O-Week
Whether it's competing against other houses in the Dalympics, getting to know the community in HFXplore, trekking through a corn maze or joining a giant field party — O-Week is going to be a lot of fun.
Finding Dal on social media
Sure, you might follow the university's main , , and accounts already...but what if you're looking for more ways to connect with Â鶹´«Ã½? Check out .
Class flashback
The majority (though, obviously, not all) of Dal's incoming Class of 2017 was born in 1995. Here's a list of things that happened in 1995:
- On October 30, the Quebec referendum on sovereignty was defeated by a narrow margin, 50.58% to 49.42%.
- Oklahoma City's federal building was bombed on April 19, claiming 168 lives and injuring nearly 700 others.
- OJ Simpson was found not guilty on two counts of murder.
- Nobel Peace Prize winner and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4.
- Labour disputes in both Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League came to an end. The Atlanta Braves won the World Series, with the New Jersey Devils taking home the Stanley Cup.
- Microsoft unveiled Windows 95, the DVD format was announced and (just a couple weeks before January) Netscape Navigator, the first popular web browser, was released.
- Toy Story, the first film made entirely with computer animation, was released. Other big films that year: Batman Forever, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Goldeneye.
- The year's top-selling album? Hootie and the Blowfish's Cracked Rear View.
Facts about undergrads across Canada
- There are 1.2 million undergraduate students in Canada.
- Half of today's students take part in at least one co-op experience, practicum, internship or field placement as an undergraduate.
- Grads with a bachelor's degree have a 3.7% unemployment rate (2010-11) compared to 6.9% for all others in the age group. Between 2008 and 2013, new jobs for university graduates increased by 810,000, while available jobs for those with no post-secondary education decreased by 540,000.
- More women are pursuing STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) than ever before: 39% of STEM grads ages 25-34 are women.
- How much do international students add to the Canadian economy? Try 81,000 jobs and $8-billion in spending. (And that doesn't even count their immense cultural impact.)
- All stats courtesy the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
They're so excited
When new students want to share their excitement about coming to Dal, many of them take to social media. Here's a selection of recent updates: