Step 4: First-Year Program Courses

First-Year Program Offerings

Your education at Gallatin will begin with the First-Year Program, which is designed to provide you with a foundation for interdisciplinary study while fostering a sense of community and connections between your academic and extracurricular interests.

First-year students take three courses that constitute the First-Year Program: the First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar, First-Year Writing Seminar and First-Year Research Seminar. Each seminar is organized around a particular theme with related readings that serve as springboards for discussion and models for students’ essays.

Below is a complete list of the First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar and First-Year Writing Seminar offerings. While you will register for a First-Year Writing Seminar on Albert as you will for all of your other courses, you will be placed in a First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar after speaking with your registration adviser.

Before your first conversation with your registration adviser, select your top five choices from among the First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar offerings, bearing in mind both your academic concentration and the rest of your fall schedule.

The First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar introduces students to the goals, methods and philosophy of university education and to the interdisciplinary, individualized approach of the Gallatin School. These small classes of about 18 students encourage discussion rather than lecturing and focus on a theme that incorporates significant world texts representing several disciplines.

First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminars

Click on a course to read the description, or select the instructor's name to view the faculty profile.

The First-Year Writing Seminar and First-Year Research Seminar comprise a two-semester sequence to help students develop their writing skills and to prepare them for the kinds of writing they will be doing in other courses. Each seminar is organized around a particular theme with related readings that serve as springboards for discussion and models for students’ essays. Plan to take a First-Year Research Seminar in the spring semester.

Fall 2012 First-Year Writing Seminars

Click on a course to read the description, or select the instructor's name to view the faculty profile.

After you have discussed your Gallatin First Year Program course preferences with your registration adviser and submitted your First Year Interdisciplinary Seminar course preferences using the online form, continue on to Step 5: Registering for Classes.