BA Independent Scholar

First-year seminars are thematic courses that approach an area of intellectual inquiry from a perspective that attempts to make connections among a number of the traditional disciplines. Normally, a first-year seminar has an enrollment of no more than 15 students for each faculty member in the seminar. The first-year seminars have an intensive writing component. All entering students register for one first-year seminar. The instructor of this seminar is the first-year faculty adviser for all the students enrolled in the course. Normally, first-year seminars do not satisfy departmental major requirements. They may, however, satisfy distribution requirements. Exceptions to this pattern are published in the catalog of first-year seminars. After successfully completing a first-year seminar, every student must complete by the end of the fourth semester or as determined by the student's major department or program, at least one course designated as a College writing course (CW).