Future Trojans: Here’s Why You Should Take a Freshman Seminar

By: Antonia Le ‘22

I’m going to keep it real with you: I had no idea what a freshman seminar (not to be confused with a mandatory GESM) was until a flyer was handed to me during orientation before my first semester at USC. I had planned out my four years at USC before I had even made my first tuition deposit, and nowhere in my four-year-plan did I leave a spot for a freshman seminar.

That is, until a piece of paper landed in front of me telling me that there existed a 2-unit class at USC called “Writing to be Read.”

Though I’m currently an Applied and Computational Mathematics major, I was admitted into USC as a Narrative Studies major. When I decided to make the switch from Narrative Studies (a major where the primary focus was learning how stories are told) to Applied Math (where, as far as I know, no stories are being told), I knew that I wouldn’t be able to take as many creative classes as I would have liked to, and I accepted it.

However, when I found out that there was a 2-unit, credit/no-credit class on a topic that I absolutely loved, I jumped at the chance to take it. I ended up shaping my entire fall semester schedule around the class. In doing this, I couldn’t take Linear Algebra with the professor I wanted, but I have zero regrets.

Every student’s tuition pays for 18 units. After filling up your first 16 units with classes you actually need to take, I would highly recommend that every future USC freshman spend two units taking a 2-unit freshman seminar like I did.

You may be wondering, “What even is a freshman seminar?” According to the USC Dornsife website, a freshman seminar is a class where “students learn the excitement of intellectual inquiry by participating once a week for 10 or 11 weeks in a 2-hour seminar on a topic of personal interest both to the seminar leader who has chosen to offer the topic and to the students who have elected to enroll.” In plain terms, it’s a class that is meant to be both educational and fun. We’ve all been in classes where the teacher seems to hate being there more than the students do, but that’s not the case with USC freshman seminars. Freshman seminars feel more like two-hour discussions of something you’re passionate about rather than your standard boring lecture.

One great thing about freshman seminars is that there’s no pressure. Since they’re all graded credit-no credit, I never felt any need to stress out about my grade in the class.

The low-stakes nature of my freshman seminar was really beneficial to me as a student and as a writer. I love writing, but I’m often insecure about sharing my work; I rarely believe that my writing is good enough to be read. However, the ungraded nature of my freshman seminar meant that my writing didn’t have to be great for me to do well in the class, it just had to exist. During my fall semester, whenever I wanted to procrastinate on my real work, I wrote for my freshman seminar and ended up producing more creative work in a few weeks than I’ve done in my entire life. By providing me with a stress-free environment that forced me to write, my freshman seminar enabled me to grow in my abilities and increased my confidence as a writer.

My freshman seminar didn’t just help me grow as a writer, it helped me transition into college.

In terms of class structure, freshman seminars remind me more of high school classes than college ones. For one thing, freshman seminars are limited to just freshmen. Most of my other classes had healthy mixes of people from all grades. As a freshman still trying to find her niche on campus, it was a bit intimidating to be in a class and sitting near a senior who seemed to have everything already figured out. In contrast, I found it nice to walk into my freshman seminar every Thursday afternoon and find myself surrounded by people who were all on my level. It was like being back in high school, where everyone in my class was my age and just as clueless as I was about everything. The fact that everyone was a freshman comforted me; it helped remind me of who I was and show me that college didn’t have to be scary.

Additionally, freshman seminar classes are small, each one capped at 18 people. In transitioning from high school to college, I went from having good rapports with all of my teachers to sitting in a classroom where my nobody knew my name. Having a freshman seminar class gave me an environment where my professor knew who I was, and I didn’t feel like just another face in the crowd. In my freshman seminar class, I felt like I mattered.

Furthermore, freshman seminar classes are easy. As 2-unit courses, they don’t assign as much work as 4-unit classes do. In terms of workload, freshman seminar classes are more like second semester senior year classes than college courses: there’s technically work to do, but it’s not really work at all. Though taking a freshman seminar meant that my workload was technically heavier than it would have been had I not taken the class, my workload actually felt a lot lighter.

That sounds absurd, but it’s true. I’m the kind of person that always struggles to start her work when I have a mountain of assignments staring me in the face, but once I start my work, then I can easily sit there and power through it.

My freshman seminar assignments made starting my homework easy. Regardless of due dates, I always did my freshman seminar assignments first. They were low-pressure, and I didn’t have to muster up a lot of energy to force myself to do them. Once I finished an assignment for that class, I’d find myself on a roll, and I’d be more capable of tackling the assignments I had for classes that actually mattered.

In contrast, mustering up the energy to start a difficult assignment is almost as hard as actually doing the assignment. If I didn’t have something easy to do that helped me get the ball rolling on a certain day, I would find myself making excuses not to start my work, and eventually I’d find myself scrambling to get everything done in a short time frame.

After a senior year of slacking off, enrolling myself in 18 units for my first semester of college sounded like a terrible idea at first; after all, I’d have to learn what studying is again. However, being in a freshman seminar helped give me the illusion that I wasn’t throwing myself into the deep end. As a result, I was more productive when doing work and I was able to gain confidence in my abilities as a student.

All freshman seminar classes are different, but the basic idea behind them is the same: freshman seminars are classes meant to help new college students learn cool things in a fun, low-pressure environment. Even if my “Writing to Be Read” class isn’t for you, there’s sure to be one that is. Though the list for Fall 2019 seminars isn’t up yet, past classes have included “Launching a Start-up” (looking at you, Marshall kids), “The Space Shuttle and Our Place in the Universe” (for all the future astronauts), and “The Future Healthcare of 2050” (perfect for pre-med students!). With so many options, there’s a class for everyone.

If I had to express one regret about taking a freshman seminar, it would be that I wasn’t able to take a freshman seminar during my second semester at USC. However, I am eternally grateful for the one freshman seminar that I was able to take.

USC’s freshman seminar program provided me with such a valuable experience, and I have no doubt that it will do the same for other USC freshmen. If you’re reading this and you’re going to be a future USC freshman someday, I insist that you consider taking an easy, fun, 2-unit designed with people like you in mind during your freshman year.

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