College is different from high school. First-year seminars
at Wellesley help bridge the transition.
Join other first-years in courses designed to "show you the ropes" of real academic inquiry. A seminar offers active learning in a more intimate environment. In Wellesley's first-year seminars, you can tackle more advanced topics than in a typical first-year course, and develop the critical and creative thinking skills essential to flourishing in college.
Where to start? Consider a First-Year Seminar— and other helpful advice
Once you know how to read the course descriptions in the Wellesley catalog, you still have to think about which courses will be right for you. It’s helpful to keep in mind some principles for choosing courses that will be appropriate starting points for your college academic experiences. The following are three general principles to get you started.
Helpful hint: Look at ideas for negotiating requirements and for getting started in math and science, writing, and language):
1. Consider a First-Year Seminar.
First-year seminars are designed especially for first-year students.
Introductory lecture courses are not the only starting points for Wellesley first-year students. The First-Year Seminar Program is intended to ease your transition from high school to college by offering you the option of taking a small class (capped at 15) in which you will work closely with a faculty member and other first-year students.
The classes are called “seminars” because they are designed to foster active and collaborative learning—the emphasis is on discussions, group projects, field trips, simulations, and other experiences rather than lectures and exams. Wellesley students who have taken first-year seminars report that they provide a good way to get to know their fellow students and their professors.
Whatever the topic (see the courses as listed in the Course Catalog), there's an emphasis on active, collaborative, and creative learning. These courses can be great ways to experiment with an area of study that is new to you, or to pursue an interest you already have. Learn more about our First-Year Seminars. Check out a series of short videos about some of the course offerings for the past year.
What makes FYS courses so special?
College, as compared to high school, requires you to go beyond rote learning to become a critical and creative thinker. Because first-year seminars are small and for first-year students only, they offer a comfortable environment in which to develop college-level skills. Some seminars are on introductory topics, but in a format quite different from the traditional lecture-oriented introductory class. Others give you a chance to explore more advanced topics early in your college career, subjects you might pursue further in upper-division courses. Some students choose seminars on subjects in which they are planning to major, but many take seminars in topics totally unconnected with their major interest, just to explore something new and fun.
Are you required to take a FYS?
First-year seminars are entirely optional, but we do pre-register students for the fall seminars so it is important to consider them in June. Take a look at the roster of courses and see if there’s something you might enjoy. Keep in mind that seminars often count towards Wellesley’s distribution requirements and can also count toward majors.
2. Choose courses, not majors
As you applied to college, most (but not all!) of you had an idea about a possible major in mind. Some students consider focusing on a particular major as a structure for thinking about their course selections for their first year. But remember, you are not choosing a major until your sophomore year, and we want you to experiment with the curriculum while at Wellesley.
If you are not certain about a major yet, that’s fine. Use this first year to explore two or three areas of interest, and trust that your longer-term interests (and that major that goes with those interests) will emerge over time, with good work in the classroom and reflection on your goals and strengths. Choose courses out of your own interests, rather than from a sense that you “should” take this course or that you “need” a course in order to meet a pre-conceived idea of what college should include.
Students do best when they are excited and engaged with the course’s material, so pursuing your interests is the best strategy for earning strong grades and building a good foundation for success in later years.
3. Build on existing strengths while experimenting to find new ones
While we want you to explore the curriculum and find out about the interests you don’t even know you have yet, you should also build on the academic successes you already have. Most students come to a college like Wellesley with a sense of academic areas they enjoy, and it only makes sense to do some further work in these areas right away. For many of you, these will be the areas you end up majoring in, and you will want to find out what college-level work in these areas is all about. So if you have enjoyed math in the past, by all means move on to the appropriate course here at Wellesley this fall. If you have a love for art or music, do that. Take something you already love, and make the most of it; you may be surprised what new pleasures are in store for you!