The Carroll educational experience is built around four pillars that reflect the mission of the college: Integrated Knowledge, Lifelong Skills, Enduring Values and Gateway Experiences. Carroll’s First Year Program consists of two courses: First Year Seminar (in the fall) and Writing Seminar (in either semester). The First Year Seminar (FYS) is representative of the Gateway Experience pillar, helping students transition to Carroll, to college life and college-level academics. The FYS program is founded on the following set of goals.

• Offering intellectually rigorous topics to engage students in critical reading and thinking.
• Aiming to strengthen a definitive range of skills students need for academic achievement, including written and oral expression, collaborative work and information literacy.
• Serving to welcome students as members of the college community and initiate them into the challenges and opportunities of the college experience.
• Providing students with ongoing developmental advising.

Goals of the FYS include developing the ability to read and write effectively, communicate orally in class and work with others in groups to solve problems. Students will be introduced to information literacy that will provide experience with research skills using both library resources and computer technology. In the liberal arts tradition, FYS gives students the opportunity to read closely, evaluate arguments, examine ethical issues and communicate ideas in writing.

Students are encouraged to select a seminar topic with a subject that interests them, regardless of their intended major. Seminar topics cover a broad range of ideas and issues, and vary from year to year. Honors students should enroll in the designated honors section of FYS.

All FYS classes have a required summer reading. Your instructor will contact you in June and tell you about the book and about his/her expectations for you and the class. During Welcome Week, the FYS has one class meeting before the semester officially begins when you meet your instructor and other students in your section to get acquainted and discuss the summer reading.