Weinberg College
of Arts & Sciences

First-Year Courses

Start exploring your options

Here’s the good news: most Weinberg students haven’t settled on a major when they start their first year and aren’t expected to declare one until the end of their sophomore year. Most students spend their first two years exploring the wealth of options available in the College.

One great way to begin exploring your options is to choose a department, any department, and use the information in the "First-Year Focus" section of their websites to get a sense of what majoring in that department would mean, whether or not you could apply any AP or IB credit you have earned toward the major, the best classes for you to take first, and even what kinds of careers students with that major tend to follow. You will also find the name and email address of someone to whom you can write with questions about courses in that department or program. Quick links to departmental First-Year Focus pages.

Fall quarter classes

Picking classes can seem daunting, but most students’ fall-quarter schedules look something like this:

• A language class: Most students will take a class in one of the nineteen languages taught in Weinberg. Some explore new languages and start with introductory classes.  Others continue study of a language they took in high school and are placed on the basis of departmental exams or their AP scores. International students and students who speak a language not taught at Northwestern may be able to fulfill the language requirement in other ways.
• First-year seminar: With a very few exceptions, all beginning Weinberg students must take two first-year seminars: a College Seminar in the fall and a Writing Seminar in either the winter or spring. (Students in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences do not take fall-quarter seminars and should consult with their program adviser as to their requirements and options.)  Get started choosing your first-year seminar.
• Two additional classes: A good strategy would be to take one distro in an area you may want to major in, and a second that satisfies a different area. Or, you could take one distro and an elective course that looks interesting. Since you should plan to take four classes a quarter, this leaves two classes for you to choose. Because Weinberg students have to complete a set of distribution requirements in order to graduate, most choose to begin working on those requirements in their first quarter. Note that for students who start at Northwestern after Spring 2023, the equivalent of these distribution requirements are the foundational discipline requirements.

Typical class schedule for pre-health students

Students who are considering a pre-health path have a little less flexibility when filling their two additional classes, as they generally take both Calculus and Chemistry starting in their first quarter. Learn more about the first year of a pre-health curriculum.

Whichever path you are planning to pursue, you will have plenty of time to discuss your options with an adviser before registering.