Course Selection for First-Year Students
Summer Registration. During the summer advising and registration period, students were asked to submit
ten choices for their Scribner Seminar. The students were assigned to one of their
choices and then allowed to enter Banner to register for the rest of their classes.
Some basic points to consider during your Orientation meetings with advisees:
- Why did the student choose these particular courses? Ask your advisee to give you his or her rationale for making the choices s/he did. Discuss the assumptions made by students who are already set on a major and/or who come to Skidmore with a specific career goal in mind; allay the concerns of students who are “undecided.”
- Diagnostic testing may be incomplete, so the student might be provisionally enrolled in a QR2 course, for example. If a student does not fulfill the QR1 requirement during Orientation, s/he will have to drop any QR2 course for which s/he is registered and replace it with another course.
Building a Schedule
A few principles for first-year students to keep in mind when reviewing and finalizing the fall schedule:
- Course load: the average course load is 15–16 credits, or four academic classes. An overload
(above 18 credits) is not permitted for first-term students. You will want to discuss
the appropriateness of an 18-credit course schedule with any advisee so enrolled.
Full-time students must be enrolled in at least 12 credits; 14 credits is required
for Dean’s List Honors.
- Breadth: students should register for a range of courses in the different academic areas, keeping all-college requirements in mind. Unless expressly recommended for a specific major, two courses should probably not be taken in the same subject area.
- Exploration: taking a variety of classes across the disciplines will help the student begin to think about and lay the foundation for a major. The all-college requirements are designed to help in this process. Students may avoid taking classes in academic areas they disliked in high school, did poorly in, or were not exposed to (e.g., art history, philosophy, sociology). The faculty advisor can guide the student by discussing these issues and urging him or her to be flexible. Also, encourage your advisee to choose a course he or she expresses an interest in regardless of its “practical value” in terms of all-college requirements.
- Balance: students should try to strike a balance among courses that are heavy in reading
or writing, classes that are lecture or discussion-based, courses with a laboratory
component, or that are studio-based. Consider the distribution of course meeting times
across the day and week. If a student is an athlete, there may be special considerations
to take into account when constructing the schedule. Student-athletes should check
with their coaches and the Athletic Department. According to NCAA regulations, students
are not permitted to miss class to attend practice.
- The All-college Curriculum:
- Scribner Seminars: Required of all first-year students, Scribner Seminars invite participants to work closely with faculty and peers; help students identify and fulfill their academic aspirations; introduce them to new ways of thinking; and provide opportunities to work both collaboratively and independently. The Seminars serve not as survey courses within programs, but as an introduction to the liberal arts. Seminars will invite first-year students to take intellectual risks, and challenge their notions about inquiry and knowledge as they make connections across disciplines. The faculty come from virtually every department and discipline, and offer a rich array of seminars designed to emphasize critical thinking and oral and written communication skills. Students in Scribner Seminars attend four hours of instruction and other activities each week. London first-year students will also enroll in Scribner Seminars during their first semester.
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- Expository Writing Requirement: Students are required to complete one designated expository writing course by the end of the sophomore year. Students placed in EN 103 Writing Seminar I must complete this prerequisite course by the end of the first year. Students must also complete a writing requirement in the major.
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- QR 1 Requirement: enrolling in MA 100 is required during the sophomore year if your advisee does not pass the QR exam in the first year. The QR exam cannot be taken in the sophomore year (except in the case of transfer students and students who were in London their first semester).
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- Foreign Language: if your advisee plans to study abroad, it is a good idea to complete this requirement early. Skidmore’s requirement calls for the completion of one foreign language course at an appropriate level, but many study abroad programs require more advanced competency in the foreign language for admission (through the 206 or 208 level).
- Prerequisites: Is the first-year student registered for a 200 or 300-level class? In the case of a 300-level course, this is in nearly every instance an inappropriate enrollment (barring special permission from the instructor), and the student should drop the course. In the case of a 200-level course, please be certain that prerequisites have been met.
Things to Question or to Discourage
- Shopping for courses during the add-drop period as opposed to planning well ahead.
- Taking too heavy a course load unless it is clearly appropriate based on the student’s abilities and academic needs.
- Planning a course schedule that is too compressed (for example, all morning classes or all afternoon classes; all classes scheduled on two or three days in the week). Wherever possible, breathing room is often beneficial.
Special Academic Resources
Keep in mind that numerous resources are in place for students who need them. For a complete description of academic resources on campus, see the section titled “Academic Advising and Support Services”:
- Scribner Seminar Peer Mentors
- Math and Computer Science Lab (Harder Hall)
- Foreign Language Lab (fourth floor Palamountain Hall)
- Writing Center (Scribner Library, Room 440)
- Peer Tutors and Study Groups: Student Academic Services
- Disability and Accessibility Services: available through Student Academic Services