Selecting Courses for the first year - First-year - Sewanee

Work through this page carefully and be patient. It will take some time to explore the links, understand your options, and get all the information you need before making your decisions. It may take more than one sitting. Do not rush.

You will work with your Academic Advisor during Orientation to choose all four of your academic courses before you register for them in Banner. You will receive your Banner ID and password from the Registrar's Office late in the summer, but Registration will not take place until the Monday and Tuesday of Orientation.

Students at Sewanee start with courses that provide a broad foundation of knowledge and that enhance students' abilities to write, read, and think critically. This part of the curriculum is called the General Education Program.

First–year students at Sewanee tend to focus on fulfilling their general education requirements. While AP courses transfer to Sewanee as credits, they do not substitute for these requirements. Find our policy on AP credit at the very bottom of the page linked here.

Click here to find answers to frequently asked questions about courses for first-years.

The Requirements Important Notes

English 101 History 100 Religion or Philosphy, one course Art, Art History, Music, or Theatre, one course	Humanities (4 semesters over two years) also fills all four of these course requirements and one writing intensive requirement
One 300-level course in a second language	If starting at the beginning, you will have three semesters of study before reaching the 300 level
One course in mathematics
Two courses in natural science	At least one must have a lab
One course in anthropology, economics, or political science
Two writing intensive courses	These do not have to be separate from the other courses listed here
Two physical education couses	Required, but do not count for credit

First, consider a foreign language.

You are not required to register for foreign language as one of your two courses, but you must take a language placement exam before attempting to register for any courses.

Second, if you are pre-med, intending to do a 3-2 engineering program, or to major in the sciences, see the advice here:

Pre-med - Biology 133 or Chem 101
3-2 Engineering
     Chemistry Chem101 or 111 Advice about Chemistry
     Biochemistry
     Biology - Biology 133
     Physics - Physics 101

Third, decide whether you want to be part of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program.

This four-semester sequence examines Western Civilization and fulfills distribution requirements in English, History, Religion/Philosophy, Art, and Writing. If you want to be part of the Humanities program, enroll in Humanities 101.

Fourth, if you are not majoring in science or in pre-med, and if you do not participate in the Humanities sequence, you must choose four courses from the following disciplines. Any course that interests you and that meets a distribution requirement is a viable choice. In no particular priority, you might choose something that interests you in:

Mathematics or certain Computer Science courses.

Many incoming students enroll in Math 101 or, if they have already done well in high school calculus, in Math 102 during their first semester. During the summer, members of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science will determine which students should be advised to enroll in Math 102. Math 100 (Topics in Mathematics) and Computer Science 101 or 157 also fulfill this core requirement. You should not plan to select Math 100 if you believe that you may be a science major or a premed student.

Natural science.

The requirement is that each student complete one science course which has a laboratory component and another which may or may not have a laboratory component. Although all biology, chemistry, geology, and physics courses may be used to fulfill one aspect of this requirement, only certain ones in psychology and forestry do (see College Catalog). No computer science course does. Please be aware that the scheduling sequence of Chemistry 101–102 and Physics 101–102 does not allow mid–year entry in these areas, although Biology 130 or 133 may be taken with either course first.

History 100.

These courses cover a variety of topics reflecting the expertise of the faculty member, but you may not enroll in more than one of these sections.

English 101.

These courses have a common focus on Shakespeare and are writing intensive.

Social Science.

The concepts and methods of studying human behavior, culture and society are what you learn in anthropology, economics or political science.

Religion or philosophy.

These courses examine religious or philosophical texts and raise questions about meaning, ethics, and logic.

Arts

Studio arts, art history, music history and performance, and theatre comprise this requirement cluster.

Physical Education.

Go ahead and select a PE course. It will not count as one of your two course choices, and freshman are required to complete one PE during the freshman year.