Required classes for incoming freshman?

AVA55
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:35:52 +0000

Hazel is an absolute font of knowledge and a real dear for continuing to post helpful information on this site. All should carefully review her posts for great insights into UVa.

Couple other key sources of information – after you review the requirements for your currently-intended major – including the CLAS competency requirements – a good next place to look is “Lou’s List:” [UVa Class Schedule for Fall 2012 (Unofficial. Lou’s List)](http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/mySIS/CS2/index.php).

This is complied and maintained by a very helpful and generous physics professor and is vastly easier to use than the class search feature on SIS. The classes being offered Fall 2012 are up now. Be sure and take a look at what are known as COLA classes. You can find the offerings for Fall 2012 by searching “COLA” under the Class Search Page tab at the top of Lou’s list. These are 1 credit seminars within the College of Arts and Sciences reserved for first years or second year transfer students. They are structured as 2/3’s content teaching and 1/3 group advising. The idea is sign up for a COLA class taught by a professor within the department that offers your preferred major. That professor then becomes your advisor at least until you declare a major. The one challenge with the COLA classes is they are not well publicized and there are not enough of them for all incoming First Years in the College of Arts and Sciences. Currently, they are only offered first semester.

In the next several days, Fourth Years will start registering, so you will start seeing classes fill up. Don’t despair! There are seats reserved in common first-year classes which are opened up as Summer Orientations/First year registrations progress. There will likely be more chatter on this topic as first years get closer to registration, but a good piece of advice is to have a list of many different classes in mind, since classes will fill and most first years in the college will not be able to take every class they want to first semester or even first year.