First-Year Seminar Program

The First-Year Seminar Program (FYSP)  invites incoming students to begin their Oberlin educational experience in a small seminar setting. The topics and academic approaches of seminars are diverse, but all are designed to help students hone their critical thinking, discussion, and writing skills. First-year seminars provide a venue for intellectual exchange between students and faculty as well as an introduction to liberal arts learning. Each seminar is limited to 16 students. First-year seminars are offered primarily in the fall semester, and are closely aligned with Peer Academic Leaders, or PALs, who provide an extra layer of support as first-year students learn about the many resources of the college.

Most seminars satisfy part of the Writing or the Quantitative and Formal Reasoning degree requirements for the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science degrees, as well as part of certain other graduation requirements as indicated in particular course listings. Individual departments and programs may count certain FYSP courses in their curricula.