Undergraduate nursing students rate residential aged care an unattractive career option. Some likely causes are beyond the control of the sector, others within or partly within its control. Addressing the problem - the aim of the modelling connections project - is important and urgent. This paper, derived from that project, profiles the characteristics of 12 residential aged care facilities across four Australian states, 66 of their staff and 53 student nurses undertaking clinical placements. Staff and student responses to a 30-item orientation experience survey are compared. Two-thirds of the items - including manual handling, fire and emergency drills, teaching resources, communications and workplace arrangements - reveal a statistically significant inter-group divergence of opinion, with staff consistently more confident of the orientation's effectiveness. More than half the students were unsure on arrival as to whether the staff were expecting them. Two-thirds said they had not been told, or were unsure if they had been told, what to do if upset or anxious. Staff satisfaction with the orientation's quality was greater than student data warranted. Substantial institutional, procedural and behavioural changes seem necessary if student expectations of their clinical placements are to be met and a positive, attractive image of the sector conveyed.