First Year Seminars

At Furman you quickly learn that it's not going to be the same old approach to academics. Our First Year Seminars will take your mind to places it has never explored.

These seminars teach you how to engage with important issues—not from a narrow disciplinary focus, but from multiple angles, in small classes that allow your voice to be heard. Rather than professors giving you the answers—answers that sometimes they do not have—the seminars have you probing, questioning, challenging, and revealing new perspectives on fascinating issues. You discover the answers on your own through discussion and writing. And these explorations lead to new knowledge. It is a communal journey with the 11 to 14 fellow students in your seminar.

You will come to understand how you can get excited about a topic intellectually, and then how you can study the topic. You assume responsibility for your own education. Typically these experiences are reserved only for seniors, but at Furman we believe freshmen can do more—from the day they first walk on campus. Every First Year Seminar is designed by a Furman professor with a special interest in the topic area. All freshmen complete two First Year Seminars, one of which is writing-intensive.

See for yourself


Immersion therapy Find out how First Year Seminars offer an intense approach to learning. Read more		Road to Andalusia Discover how a First Year Writing Seminar impacted one student. Read more		Explore an issue Explore South Carolina's natural beauty, or learn the history of chocolate. Read more