Freshman orientation used to be about language placement exams and finding the way to the dining hall. But as thousands of freshmen at private colleges and universities in New York City begin orientation today, they are embarking on what may seem to outsiders like an extravagant eight-day vacation.

First-year students arriving at Barnard, Columbia, and New York University have many activities to choose from this week, including: yoga classes, exclusive tours of the new Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, chartered Circle Line cruises to the Statue of Liberty, mini-manicures and aromatherapy at on-campus spas, Coney Island beach parties, scavenger hunts in Times Square, walking tours of the East Village and Park Slope, shopping expeditions to SoHo, outings to popular local eateries such as Magnolia Bakery, and a chance to compete for free tickets and reservations to the city’s hottest shows and hard-to-get-into restaurants.

The emphasis at orientations in New York City is as much on introducing students to their new urban surroundings as it is on preparing them for class. School officials are billing the multimillion-dollar “welcome weeks” as one of the high points of the college experience.

“We talk a lot about our orientation in why to choose a place like Barnard,” the dean of admissions at Barnard College, Jennifer Fondiller, said. “Moving to New York City as an adult is hard enough. We talk it up as one of the important aspects to the college experience. There aren’t as many open hangout spaces here, so we have to push them together in some ways.”

New York University, where 4,395 students moved in yesterday, offers more than 250 programs, including discussions on finding an affordable apartment in New York City, how to use social networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace responsibly, tips on how to avoid gaining the infamous “freshman fifteen,” and even a course designed specifically for incoming males, who make up 40% of the student body: “Being Male at NYU: what’s it like to be a part of the male minority?”

The schools also incorporate community service outreach programs into their orientation weeks, such as visiting homeless shelters, painting public schools, and participating in blood drives, as well as forums to discuss issues such as diversity on campus. The traditional placement exams, department open houses, and directions to the dining hall are also included into the mix.

“It’ll be easy to meet people,” an incoming freshman from Los Angeles, Leatt Gilboa, said of welcome week as she moved her belongings into a dorm at New York University. “It introduces you to your surroundings so you aren’t discombobulated.”

“The biggest change has been a bigger emphasis on parents orientation,” the vice president of student affairs at New York University, Marc Wais, said. “It can be a very emotional time. Sometimes it’s a challenge to politely ask them to go home.”

Parents once dropped off their children and left. Now, at many schools, they are invited to participate in their own orientation courses on how to live with an empty nest.

Spurned sophomores at New York University who arrive for their second year of college with little fanfare have even convinced university officials to offer returning students a “Welcome Back Week.”

“This is our second child we’ve lost to New York City,” a parent, Larry Lefferts, said while strolling with his family on West Fourth Street, which was festooned with royal purple balloons and tents for move-in day. He said the orientation week made him feel more secure leaving his son behind.

Not every private college has an elaborate welcome week. At the New School, first-year students are given a four-day crash course in city living before starting their academic career in New York. With smaller budgets and more local students already acquainted with New York City, public colleges in Manhattan are using orientation week to extend the academic year, rather than have fun in Manhattan.

“There’s not a whole week to play in New York City,” a spokeswoman for Baruch College, Carol Abrams, said. After a formal convocation ceremony last week, students at Baruch College in Midtown Manhattan participated in small group seminars where they discussed assigned summer reading, and met with career and financial advisors.

“It’s one of the differences between private and public schools,” a spokeswoman for the City College of New York, Mary Lou Edmondson, said. About 51% of the student body at the City College of New York are the first in their families to attend college, Ms. Abrams said. Parents and students alike are more curious about the academic side of the college experience.

The City College of New York hosted a barbecue for incoming students before launching into an orientation about using the library, budgeting time, and using online academic tools.

This year, all incoming freshman at the Baruch College were expected to read “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” by Tracy Kidder, about the doctor who helped reform the public health system in Haiti. “It’s an inspirational book we chose that shows that not everyone has to go to work on Wall Street,” Ms. Abrams said.

Incoming freshmen at Columbia College each received a free copy of “The Iliad” as a gift from the alumni association, but it was not required reading, a spokesman for the college said.

Students at New York University could choose one of five books to read over the summer: “The Namesake,” by Jhumpa Lahiri; “Einstein’s Dreams,” by Alan Lightman, “Anil’s Ghost,” by Michael Ondaatje, Sophocles I, and “How Are We To Live,” by Peter Singer.

While college freshmen enjoy all the culture, food, and sightseeing Manhattan has to offer this week, not all residents are entirely pleased with their arrival.

“My first thought this morning was ‘oh my god, they’re back,” a Greenwich Village resident of 31 years, Michelle Calise, said. “It keeps the neighborhood youthful and contemporary, but they don’t know how to walk, they take up five abreast on the sidewalk, it’s nerve-racking. They should have a class on how to live in the city.”