Enriching your university experience through a lesser-known course code
The University of Guelph offers an enormous amount of services to their students to help make the transition to university life easier. First-year seminars prominently provide students with the opportunities to break out of their shells.
Hosted by a variety of instructors from all disciplines, these seminars are counted as an actual credit by the University – mainly because of the program’s proven track record among students. Exploring a large number of topics ranging from “The Social Life of Information,” to “The Culture of Stupidity,” these seminars provide a unique and crucial experience to first-year students who are just getting used to the university lifestyle.
These classes give students the freedom to take a course on a topic they are interested in, within an academic setting, and at an intellectual level. Offering smaller class sizes, the seminars themselves are less intimidating than a 300- person lecture, and allow for greater room for students to meaningfully participate.
While the first-year seminars function as an academic course, there are multiple underlying social aspects of the classes that students become exposed to. Encouraging participation and group projects, students learn the importance of communication and critical thinking.
There are many lessons to be learned as your university stay progresses – everything from how to pull all-nighters to proper e-mail etiquette, it is evident that you will inevitably learn lessons through your experience of university. First-year seminars offer one of the most important lessons you can learn in your first-year – becoming actively involved in your education. Taking steps toward becoming academically aware can really propel your university experience to the next level.
Furthermore, being in a first-year seminar is a great way to meet new people. You get to interact with students in all disciplines of study, as opposed to just limiting yourself to the people in your area of study. Branching out and making connections with a variety of people on campus is crucial to the university experience. Also, the courses give you an opportunity to become acquainted with the instructors in a unique and meaningful way. On top of all this, the credit you gain from passing the course can go towards an elective. If you are a Philosophy student who wants to avoid taking Math or Chemistry, or a Zoology major can’t stand English, this is the course for you.
As stated on the website for first-year seminars (available through the UoG website), the program, “[offers] students the opportunity to experience research in action and application, to engage more directly with the course material, and to develop skills of analysis, communication, and time-management…to help them and augment their learning throughout their time at Guelph, and beyond.”
Available through WebAdvisor under the course code UNIV, first-year seminars are open to all students in their first year. Regardless of age or discipline, students are guaranteed a spot. With more than 20 courses and topics to choose from, the benefits of this program are unique and long-lasting.