My first session there are 5 characters laid out on the table (or virtually as it has been of late) and I stick to the OG classic D&D Party, not because I do not like the new classes and races that you have in all the different books, but because it is easy for students to access and if they are stuck for understanding their character I simply show them they fellowship of the ring and they have an understanding of who their character might be, how they might role play and their possible role in the party. They get to choose the name and gender and are told that they can change characters between session one and session 2, but in the dozen or more groups I have run in this way not one has wanted to change character and they grow to love the pre-generated character they were given.