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Northwestern University

The College Seminar Requirement

NOTE: Students who started taking classes at Northwestern in Spring 2023 or earlier should refer to the First-Year Seminar page. The information below pertains to students who start at Northwestern after Spring 2023.

 

About the College seminar

Students take two different types of seminars in their first year. The College Seminar takes place in Fall quarter. College Seminars are small, discussion-oriented classes in which students explore a single topic or theme. Crucially, they also foreground the differences between high school and college and introduce students to skills such as time management and help-seeking that are necessary to thriving at Northwestern. College Seminar instructors also serve as their students’ first advisers in the College. 

College Seminars may not be counted toward Weinberg College’s foundational discipline requirements, and most departments and programs exclude them from counting toward major and minor requirements.

The second type of seminar completed is the First-Year Writing Seminar, which pays special attention to the process of writing and revision. Students take these in either Winter or Spring as part of the Written and Oral Expression Requirement.

Learning objectives

In College Seminars, students gain skills in:

Fulfilling the College Seminar requirement

NOTE: Students who started taking classes at Northwestern in Spring 2023 or earlier should refer to the First-Year Seminar page. The information above pertains to students who start at Northwestern after Spring 2023.

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