During our Orientation Webinar on July 18th at 5:30PM, multiple questions were answered that pertained to Orientation. We’ve documented some of the frequently asked questions that were given to our Orientation Executive Staff team.
Any additional questions can be sent to orientation@mtu.edu.
If you are having issues with signing up for or downloading the Guidebook application, please email orientation@mtu.edu as soon as possible, and we’ll be able to help assist you with solving your Guidebook problems.
We do it a bit differently at MTU! Students will be sent an email in late July / early August from the Registrar’s office with a pre-made schedule that reflects their transfer credits / AP scores / placement exams, and will be able to make changes during Orientation Week.
There will be Open Advisor Hours during Orientation Week where you can meet with your advisor and discuss changing your first-semester schedule.
In future semesters, you will be able to choose your own schedule.
Students who will be arriving on campus late should complete two parts to ensure that they are able to get the resources they need.
Housing - Students should fill out the form on the housing website that pertains to arriving late. Once they arrive on campus (after they fill out the form), they should go to their residence hall’s front desk to pick up their room key and HuskyCard that they would’ve picked up during check-in. Please notify housing if you will be late or early.
Orientation - Please send an email to orientation@mtu.edu, and we can put you in contact with your Orientation Team Leader so you can receive the necessary materials and instructions that you may have missed!
Saturday, August 17th, 2024 from 6:00PM to 7:00PM
Switching your major is completely okay (and normal for students to do) – They happen all of the time. Students who want to switch their major should reach out to registrar@mtu.edu and explain which major they would like to switch to (from their Michigan Tech email)
Yes! Students who have a check-in on Friday are allowed to stay in their residence halls that evening as there may be mingling and “getting to know” each other for the members of the hall that are currently unpacked. Students may also stay with their Parents / Support Packs if they are staying elsewhere for the weekend.
DHH is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible and does not have an elevator inside of it. However, if there is an issue with accessibility, especially as Parents / Support Packs helping a student move-in. Students with concerns can reach out to housing@mtu.edu to arrange accommodations for move-in weekend.
No! Washing and drying in the residence halls are completely free!
It’s important to note that various locations around campus may have more availability / demand than others, but students are allowed and encouraged to take their laundry to common laundry spaces located in each residence hall to have access to a machine.
While the usage of the machines are free, it is the residence hall’s responsibility to ensure that all users of the machine are being responsible and following the proper instructions.
No, laundry detergent and dryer sheets are the responsibility of the student to provide and utilize. While there is a Walmart and other local department stores in Houghton, it will be packed full of people that first week. We highly recommend bringing your own materials from home to use.
Our team recommends the usage of the laundry detergent pods versus the liquid detergent, as it’s a lot easier to put in and utilize. There are multiple brands of these detergent pods, and can be found at many grocery stores / department stores.
During Orientation Week, all events hosted by the Orientation team are completely free and accessible to all new students. While the events will be featured on our digital Guidebook, students do not need to RSVP to these events, and can instead just show up.
There will be optional events hosted by the Outdoor Adventure Program at the end of Orientation Week, but these are paid events that must be purchased through the ticket office
- Sunset Paddle on Wednesday, August 21st
- Porkies Day Hike on Saturday, August 24th
During winter, we get a lot of snow at Michigan Tech. All of the residence hall councils will host a bike storage collection / pickup, where students with a registered bike (for free) can drop off their bike for the winter and pick it up when it is safe for bike racks to be placed outside in the Spring. Students should be aware that dropping off a bike for storage means that they will not be able to get it throughout the winter.
Students may find that it’s helpful to bring their bikes home if they are traveling back home for Thanksgiving Break. Otherwise, there are few outdoor storage locations in the winter, and students may have to store a bike in their personal locations, such as their cars or residence hall rooms.
Regardless, please register your bike through Public Safety as soon as possible to receive a sticker for your bike.
Students looking to store their bikes outdoors regardless of the season should invest in a reliable bike-lock that is strong and accessible to the student. Bike locks can be found online and at many department stores.
The Health Center Open House is just happening on Saturday, August 17th from 10:00AM - 12:00PM, so you should have plenty of time to move in and make it to the Open House. The Open House will consist of questionnaires that can be filled out in advance for students along with scanning of health cards so they can be on record in case of an emergency. Michigan Tech does not have an internal health service, and partners with UP Health up at the Student Development Complex to offer support and assistance for a variety of different medical situations.
If you do not have time, the Health Center will also have a table at the check-in in the Van Pelt and Opie Library where many of the same resources will be available.
The only thing offered at the Health Center Open House that will not be at the table at check-in will be the scanning of health-records to save a copy for students in case of an emergency.
Parking registration information will come out soon from our Transportation Services department! There are multiple types of permits that you can register for depending on where you will be living on campus. Please contact parking@mtu.edu if you have any questions.
Logging into the parking portal will require you to enter in your MTU ISO account (the username and password that you use to log into Google, Banweb, etc. through Michigan Tech). Please do not include “@mtu.edu”
Waitlists for the Residential and Guaranteed Commuter Permits will open on Wednesday, July 24th. Please sign up on the waitlist ASAP.
- Residential / Student Permits are for students living in the residence halls. You will be able to select the top options for which permit you would like, but permits are awarded on a per-credit basis. We recommend that you use the interactive campus map to see where each lot is located.
- Commuter Permits are for students who are not living in the residence halls, but would still like to park on campus. Students with commuter permits will not receive guaranteed parking in a lot, and may not be able to park in a given lot if it is full.
- Guaranteed Commuter Permits are to guarantee a student a spot in a certain lot, but have a higher price associated with the permit. Students who frequently travel to the campus by vehicle may consider this pass.
Yes! On that Friday and Saturday of move-in weekend (8/16 and 8/17), dining is free for all patrons, including students and their Parents / Support Packs. All are encouraged to take part in experiencing the dining services at Michigan Tech. Dining plans and swipes begin on Sunday, August 18th.
Students who bring snowboards and skis up to campus are expected to find / provide storage for their equipment, as there is no free storage location other than their residence hall room. There are limited locker spaces available in the Student Development Complex, but they must be paid for and rented by the student.
A general rule of thumb is that a student is expected to store all items that they bring to Michigan Tech (with the exception of bike storage, as mentioned above) on their own.
Yes! There are a few activities that Parents / Support Packs can partake in hosted by the university, and there are tons of other activities around the Keweenaw that are worth exploring.
- University Welcome on Saturday, August 17th at 6:00PM
- Stand Up Comedy Night on Saturday, August 17th at 9:00PM
- Support Pack Orientation on Sunday, August 18th at 9:00AM with the Dean of Students!
In addition, there are tons of local events happening throughout Houghton, Hancock, and the Keweenaw Peninsula that are worth exploring! Parents / Support Packs are also welcome to explore the campus.
You can reach out to Amy Monte for questions about the Prep For Tech program if you are a student who is signed up. Their email address is efadvise@mtu.edu.
Each floor in the residence hall has a kitchenette that can be accessed by residents of the hall. For information about the kitchenettes, please see the Living Guide from Residence Education and Housing Services.
Kitchenettes do have common cooking appliances, such as an oven, stove, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and sink. There are also areas to eat, study, and watch the television mounted within the common space.
Generally, kitchenettes do not have stocked pots, pans, utensils, or dining equipment. If students would like, they may bring their own equipment to use in the kitchenettes and store in their own room. Depending on the availability, the front desk of each residence hall may have equipment that can be “checked-out” under a student’s ID. The student would then be responsible for returning the item in a timely manner in the state that they got it in.
Hours for each of the dining halls are published on dineoncampus.com/MTU and may vary depending on holidays / special events during the week. During Orientation Week, there will be altered hours that are available on the Guidebook.
Yes. Typically, anything that you bring up to Michigan Tech will have to be stored in your room, as there is no additional storage around campus that is accessible to students. Students should be mindful of equipment that may collect a smell overtime, and may be encouraged to leave the equipment in their vehicles or come up with a solution with their roommate in the room.
It’s always important to contact your roommate to talk about spacing / item constraints.
Students are advised to wait until one of the breaks (if they are returning home) to bring up seasonal equipment, especially if it takes up a lot of room. Snow boots, snow gear, and other winter-related equipment will not be needed until around Thanksgiving break.
Yes! The registrar's office has been collecting records of these credits to build your schedule in order to place you in the correct class best fit to your skills. When you receive your schedule, it should reflect the credits that you have already earned / transferred to Michigan Tech.
If you do not have earned/transferred credits, but believe that you should be placed in a higher math / modern language class, you can take the ALEKS Placement Exam or Modern Language Placement Test to determine what your current skill level is.
Any questions about how your AP credits affect your class schedule should be directed to registrar@mtu.edu.
Since there is a limited number of spaces in the residence halls, at this point in time before the semester, it is very unlikely that a room change request will be able to be fulfilled. Students should be encouraged to reach out to their roommates to plan out the residence hall room as they arrive on campus.
During the school year, students are encouraged to use available campus resources to solve any disputes or issues that they may have in residence halls, but there are circumstances where a room change may be necessary. Students can reach out to housing@mtu.edu during the school year after they have spoken to their Resident Assistant (RA) about the situation.
Bottomline, the key thing to focus on is communication with your roommate(s), as the common space within your room is something that should be shared and agreed upon by all residents. Many people have succeeded in bringing a couch into their room, and other solutions have been engineered to make it take up as little space as possible.
Students are encouraged to map out their rooms or take measurements with the virtual environments provided online: Virtual Wadsworth Tour, Virtual McNair Tour, Virtual DHH Tour.
While there are several local businesses in Houghton and Hancock that can help with car issues, there are services on-campus for smaller car issues that students can utilize.
For battery jumps, especially during the winter months when more batteries die, Transportation Services can be called during business hours Monday-Friday, and the non-emergency Public Safety number (906-487-2216) can be called. These two services will jump your battery for free wherever your vehicle is located on campus. Transportation Services is also available to assist motorists with an empty tank of gas or deflated tire.
In a designed triple room (where there are three lofted beds), the intentional capacity for the room is 3 residents. However, depending on living circumstances and demand, the bed may be empty for a given amount of time. The rule of thumb is that students living in one of these rooms should expect notice that another student will be moving in soon to accommodate for living situations, and that the room should be in a state where another resident can move-in at any time. This advance notice depends on the circumstances of the additional resident.
Currently, we are releasing information on Guidebook in two pieces – the first piece has already been released, and it is all of the need-to-know information before students get on campus in August. The second piece is gradually going to be released during the next few weeks, including resources that assist a student in getting familiar with the university, their department, and the Orientation program. A notice will be sent out when major updates are made to the Guidebook that the student needs to read.
Students should be encouraged to read through much of the content currently on the Guidebook, as it’s very important to understand what to expect of Orientation Week and what’s to come for this upcoming semester.
The Guidebook can be downloaded on iOS or Android devices.
You do not have to take the ALEKS or Modern Language Placement Tests if you’ve transferred credits in from another university or from the AP or IB programs. These credits are then used to place you into the proper classes of the subject.
Students who are not satisfied with their placement and believe that they should be placed higher may take the placement exams regardless of the credits that they have transferred.
Questions about reserving space for musical instruments can be directed to the Visual and Performing Arts Department.
Intramural Sports are year-round at Michigan Tech, and various sports have different starting times. With a student’s Experience Tech benefits, they can participate in Intramural Sports for free (with a deposit for hockey**).
Details on the full list of Intramural Sports available to students are available on the university’s IMLeagues website. Intramural Sports for Fall 2024/Spring 2025 will be posted shortly on the website, but interested students can review the old activities available along with some Frequently Asked Questions.
Participating in K-Day (or Keweenaw Day) at the beginning of the Fall 2024 semester is a great way to get to know the various clubs, activities, and intramural sports on campus. K-Day is hosted in Chassell on September 6th in the afternoon.
Yes! There are multiple types of gyms available to students on campus.
For students looking for an open gymnasium with a track and various sporting equipment, the Multipurpose Room in the Student Development Complex can be accessed by students with their HuskyCard. Details on the open-hours of the Multipurpose Room and the specific equipment that can be found is on the athletics website.
For students looking for a workout gym with weight-related equipment, there are several gyms that can be accessed around the campus area. The Student Development Complex has a gym with tons of equipment for students to achieve their workout goals with, and is open early and late to accommodate students of all schedules. The SDC’s gym requires tapping in with your HuskyCard.
For students looking for more of a chill workout environment within their residence hall, the Quad Core Fitness Membership allows access to all Quad Core centers within the three residence halls, open 24/7. The fitness centers are equipped with a variety of equipment, and is usually a good way to get a more private workout experience without having to travel up a hill or across campus. Students must purchase a membership to make use of the Quad Core centers, and must tap in and out with their HuskyCard.
That’s alright! Students who want to retake a class that they already have transfer credit for can email registar@mtu.edu and explain the situation and what class they’d like waived from their record so they can retake it.
Michigan Tech students have access to all sporting events for free* from their Experience Tech benefits (which is automatically added to each student’s tuition). Students can get into any Michigan Tech Huskies home game for free with their HuskyCard. For hockey games, up to 750 seats are reserved for Experience Tech students, after which, students can purchase tickets for $5 until the capacity of the arena is filled to the maximum.
Students have no limit on the number of sporting events they can watch, so all students are encouraged to make the fullest use of their Experience Tech benefits.
For questions about Experience Tech, please visit this Frequently Asked Questions page.
While many people in a residence may make use of the same communal restrooms, they aren’t as crowded as one might think. The usage of these restrooms depends on the floor’s composition of people, along with each individual’s schedule. Unlike high school, students do not have a set schedule that everyone must follow.
The restrooms have plenty of stalls and shower space for students to use, and there are hardly any issues of too many people trying to use the restroom.
Privacy in the restrooms is not an issue as well. The showers are in their own separate area and many do have lockable doors. Each of the stalls are spacious and private. Students may also make use of the private restrooms on each floor, though there are a limited number of them available.
We highly recommend bringing shower shoes to wear in the showers, as it protects both yourself and your residence hall members from any hygiene issues.
Students are given a key to access their residence hall key, and they are responsible for not losing the key or letting anyone else have access to it. Keys cannot be copied, and a lost key will incur a fee that students will have to pay. Keys need to be returned at the end of the living period in the state that they were in when received.
A student’s HuskyCard is used to tap into your residence hall at the external access. While there are time restrictions on entering in other residence halls, you have 24/7 tap access to your assigned residence hall. Your HuskyCard is also used to tap into other buildings on campus, especially after-hours. Students are highly encouraged to keep their HuskyCard on them at all times, as there are many tapping points on campus that may need to be used to get access to an area.
Every student is different, especially with their class schedules, extracurricular activities, and other commitments around the local area. Some students may be ready for a job on-campus, but many students may not be. We advise students to wait a couple of weeks if they are unsure to see how their class schedules are being handled before looking for on-campus jobs.
For students who are interested in a job, there are multiple options to getting involved around campus. Students who are eligible for Work Study may apply for jobs using that status, but there are multiple opportunities for students who are not eligible for Work Study.
Career Services will be hosting an on-campus job expo on Tuesday, August 27th from 11:00AM - 2:00PM in the Alumni Lounge, and all students are encouraged to attend.
There are multiple benefits to working while studying, including the ability to make money while paying for college. Many on-campus jobs are also very accommodating, knowing that their employees are currently full-time students.
Students will first check-in at the Van Pelt & Opie Library at their assigned check-in time in their HuskyHouse portal and receive their residence hall materials along with a move-in map. They should then follow the directions to their residence hall parking, where there will be a team of volunteers ready to unload luggage and materials out of a car. Afterwards, these volunteers will help you move your belongings up to your residence hall room.
The process is meant to be quick, and students are asked to not begin organizing their room before their car is removed from the parking area.
In the residence halls, the handicapped private restrooms have seats that can be used in the showers. Otherwise, many of the other showers have plenty of space.Students are possibly encouraged to purchase a shower pouch that they can hang when taking a shower in their residence hall.
Students with a parking permit should park in their assigned parking lots, and any student not in the proper lot may be ticked. Between the dates of November 1st and April 30th, there is a nighttime parking ban throughout Houghton and Hancock that is enforced due to snow removal. Any cars on the street or in temporary parking lots will be ticketed by the city and/or towed to make room for snow removal vehicles. Students parked in residential parking lots (that they were assigned to with their parking permits) are allowed to park in those lots overnight.
There are several water fill stations (for the bottles) around many of the residence halls and campus buildings for students with water bottles. These are free to use and regularly maintained for their quality and safety.
While there aren’t ice filling stations in the residence halls, some halls may have ice trays in the freezers of the kitchenette. Students are possibly encouraged to invest in their own ice tray if they are looking to want ice in their residence hall.
Yes! Housing has published a “what to / what not to bring” list on the Admissions website, which has a ton of useful items that can help students in various scenarios. Please make sure to follow the information on what not to bring, as it ensures the safety for all students in your residence hall. If you have any questions about an item and whether or not you should bring it, please contact orientation@mtu.edu or housing@mtu.edu.
When bringing things up to campus, please remember that you will be living in this space for a long while, and should bring smaller items that add personality / comfort to your personal living space. Communicate with your roommates if you are planning on bringing a larger / potentially disruptive item.
Residence hall rooms come with a couple of pieces of furniture. While these pieces of furniture can be rearranged and partially adjusted, they must be returned to their original state upon checking out of the residence hall at the end of the living period. Please be mindful of the changes that you make to your space.
You will automatically get a bed that’s lofted by default, a desk, a dresser / wardrobe (depending on your residence hall), and a small trash can. You will have to bring your own bedding materials, such as sheets, linen, and pillows. The mattress size is a Twin XL mattress.
There are a couple of quality of life items that our current students have brought up to Tech, but it’s all up to preference and what resources are currently available.
Some students have purchased bed-side pockets / hangers that allow for placing of items / chargers while sleeping. Others have brought entertainment items that aren’t screen-related. A box fan is also useful to bring, and will be difficult to purchase on campus, as many other students are also trying to purchase box fans at once. One item that Huskies frequently recommend is purchasing / bringing a pool noodle to attach to your furniture so you don’t hit your head on any of them.
Finally, there will be a HuskyExchange sale where donated items will be available for free / a large discount for new students on the Friday (2-7), Saturday (10-5:30), and Sunday (9-11) of move-in weekend in Wadsworth G41.
A rubber mallet would potentially be useful to help bunk the beds, but there may be some that can be checked out at the front desk. Generally, some tools can be brought up with families, and then taken back down once the room has been set up.
Boots and shoes are stored inside of the residence hall rooms. No items can be stored in the residence hall hallways, as that could clutter the area and make it unsafe to travel around. We recommend purchasing a shoe tray and/or a rug to avoid dragging in salt/sand that is used on the roads in the winter season.
Students can also check-out a vacuum from the front desk in case their room gets dirty from any dirt, salt, or sand tracked in from the outdoors. Students are expected to vacuum their room when leaving their room at the end of the living period.
There are tons of access points and opportunities to connect to the internet in the residence halls. For a full list of items to know about internet access, technology, and general IT information, please visit the “Resources for New Students” page on the Information Technology website.
Students can connect to the campus wireless using their MTU ISO username and password as defined in the article on connecting to eduroam. They can also set up various devices that require internet access, such as game consoles, development tools, or smart devices using the MichiganTechOpen network. Students are not allowed to bring and install their own wireless router in the residence halls.
For wired access, exactly one ethernet port is available for all roommates in a room. Thus, we recommend that one roommate purchases an unmanaged ethernet switch and additional ethernet cables to allow all residents to connect.
Michigan Tech IT will be assisting with the move-in process by having student staff members assist new students in connecting to the network in the residence halls. Ask any student with a green identification badge for assistance, and they would be happy to help. You can also visit the IT Help Desk in the Van Pelt & Opie Library from Monday-Friday 8:00AM - 4:00PM with any questions.
Yes! All of the residence hall rooms are carpeted, and some have very comfy carpeting. Students are encouraged to bring up additional carpet mats if they want to have a different environment in their room.
Yes! Students who feel comfortable with bringing their own TV into their residence hall room can do so. They will be able to connect it to the MichiganTechOpen wireless network to be able to use smart capabilities. Many students do bring their own TVs into their residence hall rooms, but many are not that large as to make space for other items.
Yes! Either a wardrobe or dresser will be provided in the residence hall room, but students should be encouraged to purchase additional organizers if they feel that is best for them.
Students should be advised that they do not need to bring up their entire wardrobe of clothes from home – you will end up using a lot fewer clothes than expected.
You may also find a shoe rack useful to share with your roommate(s) in case you bring several pairs. Please do not bring up all pairs of your shoes if you have a ton.
Students are encouraged to bring a surge protector to plug in and extend power from the wall outlets to the top of their beds (for charging phones, laptops, personal devices, etc.). All of the plugs on the walls are located at the bottom, and students will have to be creative in how they get power to the top of their bed. Consider purchasing organizing materials / zip ties if you are looking at having cables go up to the top of your bed.
You will want to listen to advice from housing and your Resident Assistant (RA) on how to hang up items on walls, as damage to the paint / wall itself will incur charges on your student account for repairs. Command strips should be reliable to use on the walls, but it depends on the item that you are trying to hang.
Please see the Living Guide for more information.