First-Year Seminars

When you start looking at the list of around 40 seminars that are offered, you will want to look for seminars that spark your own curiosity on a topic that you will be reading, writing, and thinking about for the semester. It does not need to be a topic that relates to your future major! Because the seminar is mainly about developing and practicing academic skills, the FYS is a great course to explore a topic you don’t know much about or one that you just find interesting.

Starting May 1, students will be asked to select six seminars from the list of options. Students are guaranteed to get one of those selections, and the large majority of students are placed in one of their top three choices. However, because each seminar is limited to a small size, you may not get your first choice—which is okay!

It is helpful to remember that all First-Year Seminars are about developing general academic skills of reading and writing, and all seminars have the same learning goals. The most important factor will be identifying topics that you would be interested to explore and investigate over the span of your first semester, and it doesn’t need to be related to your prospective major. In fact, the FYS can be a great way to explore something completely different.

Successfully completing the First-Year Seminar is a requirement for graduation, and because the seminar is unique among the classes you will take (being mainly about developing the foundational academic skills for college success), the FYS does not count toward any other graduation or major requirement.

While the seminar topics vary widely across many different fields, each seminar works toward the same set of learning goals. Students who successfully complete the FYS will be able to:

• critically analyze information and ideas
• examine issues from multiple perspectives
• discuss, debate and defend ideas, including your own views, with clarity and reason
• develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information
• create clear academic writing

Dickinson’s approach to advising is teaching, and your advisor will help you make meaning of all the opportunities ahead and help you thrive in college experience. Your advisor will be connected to your FYS.

You will connect with a member of the advising team over the summer to discuss your emerging intellectual interests and how to begin to map those to Dickinson’s rich liberal-arts course offerings, and then work directly with your advisor until you declare your major. Your advisor will partner with many others, including our Center for Career Development, to help support you in reaching your goals and exploring with focus.