Enriching Your Freshman Year

Hey Future Hokies,

Orientation is still a few weeks away, but we're nearly ready for you to be here. With that being said, I thought I'd let you know about a few programs that VT offers to incoming freshmen, as well as all students, that can help you adjust to college life and have a successful semester.

Center for Academic Enrichment and Excellence
All of the following programs can be found on the Center for Academic Enrichment and Excellence's website. Check it out in order to sign up for these.

The first of these is Hokies 101, a four week no-credit program that focuses on adjusting time management and study skills to meet the demands of college. It meets the first several weeks of classes.

Another option is UNIV 1004, a 3-credit course about college success skills. If you're in the WING program, you'll be in a class very similar to this one (UNIV 1704). While it won't count towards graduation requirements, it will again cover the all-important time management and study skills, as well as university resources and exploring majors if you're currently undecided or considering changing your major.

Say it's a little later in the semester, end of September, early October, and you're seeing that your grades haven't been so hot. Don't sweat it, CAEE provides another four-week program, Get on Track, that covers everything that Hokies 101 did, as well as the issues of keeping motivated and avoiding procrastination.

In addition to these programs, CAEE offers free tutoring for a lot of lower level courses. In the past, tutors have been offered for nearly all 1000-level math classes, common sciences like Chemistry and Geology, and popular Core Curriculum classes such as Economics.

Theme Housing is Still Open
Have you applied to live in theme housing? As of right now, nearly all of the theme housing options have extended their deadlines: both Engineering theme housings, MOSAIC (multi-cultural awareness), the WING (first-year experience), BLSC (life science), the WORLD (mostly international students, but anyone is welcome), and Honors (by invitation only). The WELL, which is a healthy lifestyle theme housing, is accepting applications as well, but now on a wait-list basis. I lived in the WING and will personally pimp it out to whoever asks.

Earth Sustainability
Finally, and you've probably received an e-mail about this, the Earth Sustainability program is
still open. This is an interdisciplinary four-semester program that will fulfill all Core Curriculum requirements while focusing on sustainable development of the Earth's natural resources. If you're into "going green" or think you might want to go into a career related to the environment, this is definitely a program worth considering.

You should e-mail your intended major's advisor before you sign up for it though. Some major requirements for the Core Curriculum may prohibit you from going into Earth Sustainability. Also, if you're thinking of doing a pre-health track (med, pharmacy, vet, etc), you should probably skip it. You've got too many other requirements to fill. I'm not sure about pre-law...so if you're interested in that, contact one of Tech's pre-law advisors as well as your major advisor before signing up.

Well, that's all I've got for you now. Later this month I'll post about Orientation and eating in the area, in case you'll have time while you're down here to sample one of the many restaurants around Tech.