College Core Curriculum and First-Year Seminar Program
Overview
The Core Curriculum of the College of Arts and Science (726 Broadway, 7th Floor; 212-998-8119; cas.nyu.edu/core; core.cas@nyu.edu) provides a foundational academic experience of general education in the liberal arts for undergraduates at NYU. Through a challenging array of courses, the College Core Curriculum heightens cultural awareness, hones critical reading skills, and promotes creative and logical thinking. It also gives students extensive practice writing and speaking English and proficiency in at least one other language. Rather than specifying a fixed canon of knowledge, Core courses focus on modes and methods of humanistic and scientific inquiry. In each case, students are free to pursue particular interests by choosing among a number of courses. Students examine our contemporary culture—its origins and social structures, its modes of expression, and its inherent diversity and evolving patterns of thought. In other classes, they consider the place and importance of modern science—its quantitative and analytical foundations, its processes of reasoning, and its relationship to technology and to our views of the natural world. By helping them to broaden their perspectives, gain new pathways for intellectual inquiry, and develop the skills, background, and social awareness to thrive in dynamic circumstances, the Core Curriculum seeks to prepare students for their later studies and to equip them well for lives as thinking individuals and members of society.
Components
The College Core Curriculum has five components:
- The First-Year Seminar
- Study of a foreign language
- The Expository Writing Program
- Foundations of Contemporary Culture (FCC)
- Foundations of Scientific Inquiry (FSI)
Though structured and integrated, the Core Curriculum affords students flexibility in a number of ways. It permits the choice of different tracks in each component, the satisfaction of some courses by examination or Advanced Placement (or equivalent international) credit (foreign language, FSI), and the substitution of departmental courses (FSI, Societies and the Social Sciences in FCC).
Given this flexibility, students work individually with advisers to plan course schedules that take into account their past preparation, current interests, and longer-term goals. While there is no prescribed schedule of courses that will be appropriate for every student, the following broad guidelines should be kept in mind:
- Incoming first-year students should complete their Core courses by the end of sophomore year. This will leave them free in their junior and senior years to focus on their major and elective courses. Some science majors, engineering students, prehealth students, and students placed in the International Writing Workshop sequence may need to delay starting, and thus finishing, a component of the Core Curriculum for a semester or more. Students who study away may also need to delay completing their Core courses beyond the sophomore year.
- Students must complete EXPOS-UA 1 Writing The Essay: during their first year. Those placed into the Liberal Studies Writing or International Writing Workshop sequences must begin in their first semester and must register for their remaining writing course(s) in the semester(s) immediately following.
- In designing the College Core Curriculum, the faculty sought to ensure that all students would receive a broad exposure to the liberal arts early in their college careers. With this wide academic horizon, the Core Curriculum encourages students to discover new intellectual interests outside their intended areas of specialization and to pursue those interests with elective courses outside their majors in their later undergraduate years.
The First-Year Seminar
The College of Arts and Science’s First-Year Seminar program has long been the centerpiece of students’ academic experience in the College. In these small classes, students are exposed to college-level academic content and expectations that form the basis of a liberal arts education. By engaging with their peers and faculty in dynamic critical thinking, writing, and presentation activities, students gain core skills and research competencies that lay the foundation for success during their NYU experience and beyond. First-Year Seminars also connect students to the rich academic and cultural resources of NYU and New York City, from museums to the theatre to libraries and archives, and their small size fosters close work between students and instructors. The seminars encourage our students to develop—beginning with their very first semester in the College—as critical assessors of existing knowledge as well as of new ideas and approaches, and they equip CAS students with the skills and habits of mind they need to succeed at NYU and beyond.
First-Year Seminars are offered in both the fall and spring semesters; and students may complete this component of the Core either term. The selection of seminars varies from year to year, and the program aims to represent all three curricular divisions of Arts and Science (the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences). See the section on First-Year Seminars in this Bulletin.
Foreign Language
The study of foreign languages is an integral part of a liberal arts education. It nurtures an awareness of the diversity of human culture and serves the practical need for language skills in fields such as government, business, and research. New York University is a particularly exciting setting for language study because of its location in a great cosmopolitan city, its international student body, its many renowned language programs and centers, and its numerous opportunities for study away.
Increasingly, college graduates must be prepared to function in a global society. Apart from the inherent interest of learning about other cultures, many NYU students take the opportunity to study or travel abroad as preparation for their future careers. For more information about study away programs, visit the Office of Global Programs and also consult the study away section of this Bulletin.
Office of Global Programs
383 Lafayette Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10003
212-998-4433
nyu.edu/academics/studying-abroad
Requirement
To fulfill the foreign language component of the College Core Curriculum, students must demonstrate or attain proficiency in a foreign language through the full intermediate level. Ordinarily, this is accomplished by the successful completion of two years of language study in the College, through the second semester of a regular intermediate-level language sequence. Some languages are also taught as intensive courses, allowing students to complete the equivalent of two years of study in a single year. After two years of college language study or the equivalent demonstrated proficiency, students should have gained a broad competence in a language, but true fluency of written or oral expression will not usually have been developed at this point. For this reason, all students are encouraged to continue their language study beyond the intermediate level. In particular, students studying modern languages will find it most beneficial to immerse themselves in the living culture of a language by studying, traveling, or working abroad. Likewise, students of all languages, whether ancient or modern, are encouraged to continue their studies with elective courses in literature at the advanced level.
Exemptions
Students may fulfill the foreign language component of the College Core Curriculum by presenting outstanding scores on the SAT Subject Test (discontinued as of January 2021 in the United States and as of July 2021 internationally), or Advanced Placement Test (or equivalent international examination) in certain foreign languages, or by passing a CAS or departmental proficiency examination. For further information on language placement and exemption, see “placement examinations” in the academic policies section of this Bulletin. For Advanced Placement and international examination equivalencies, consult the charts in the admission section, also in this Bulletin. Students whose entire secondary schooling was in a language other than English, or who complete the EXPOS-UA 4 International Writing Workshop I/EXPOS-UA 9 International Writing Workshop II sequence, are exempt from the foreign language requirement. Also exempt are students in the dual-degree engineering program.
Courses
Listed below are courses covering the second semester of the intermediate level of language study. Intensive courses, which allow students to complete the equivalent of two years of study in a single year, are also listed where available. Completion of any of the following courses will fulfill the foreign language requirement. Please consult the individual departmental listings for information on prerequisite courses.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MEIS-UA 104 | ||
| SCA-UA 334/EAST-UA 413 | ||
| EAST-UA 204 | Intermediate Chinese II | 4 |
| EAST-UA 232 | Intermediate Chinese for Advanced Beginners | 4 |
| SCA-UA 324 | ||
| FREN-UA 12 | Intermediate French II | 4 |
| FREN-UA 20 | Intens Intermed French | 6 |
| GERM-UA 4 | Intermediate German II | 4 |
| GERM-UA 20 | Intensive Intermediate German | 6 |
| CLASS-UA 10 | Intermediate Greek: Homer | 4 |
| HEL-UA 106 | ||
| HBRJD-UA 4 | Intermediate Hebrew II | 4 |
| MEIS-UA 408 | ||
| IRISH-UA 103 | Modern Irish Language Intermediate II | 4 |
| ITAL-UA 12 | Intermediate Italian II | 4 |
| ITAL-UA 20 | Intensive Intermediate Italian | 6 |
| EAST-UA 250 | Intermediate Japanese II | 4 |
| EAST-UA 268 | Readings in Japanese for Proficiency | 4 |
| EAST-UA 257 | Intermediate Korean II | 4 |
| EAST-UA 282 | Intermediate Korean for Advanced Speakers | 4 |
| CLASS-UA 6 | Intermediate Latin: Virgil | 4 |
| MEIS-UA 404 | ||
| PORT-UA 4 | Intermed Portuguese II | 4 |
| PORT-UA 21 | ||
| SPAN-UA 84 | ||
| RUSSN-UA 4 | Intermediate Russian II | 4 |
| RUSSN-UA 6 | Russian Grammar & Composition II | 4 |
| SPAN-UA 4 | Intermediate Spanish II | 4 |
| SPAN-UA 11 | Intermediate Spanish for Spanish Speakers | 4 |
| SPAN-UA 20 | Intens Intermed Spanish | 6 |
| SCA-UA 124 | Intermed Swahili II | 4 |
| MEIS-UA 504 | ||
| MEIS-UA 304 |
Each department offering language instruction in the College has designated a member of its faculty to coordinate its courses and policies. For more information on specific language classes, placement, or exemption, please contact the language coordinator, director of language programs, or director of undergraduate studies named in the individual departmental sections in this Bulletin.
Thanks to an exchange arrangement with Columbia University, students may also enroll in the following languages, often (but not always) offered through the intermediate level and given at Columbia: Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Burmese, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Khmer, Ottoman Turkish, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian, Sanskrit, Sinhala, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Modern Tibetan, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Wolof, Yoruba, and Zulu. For information about these courses, visit the Office of Academic Affairs:
Office of Academic Affairs
726 Broadway, 7th floor
212-998-8110
Not every language is offered at Columbia every semester.
Expository Writing
The practice of including writing in the Core Curriculum reflects NYU’s longstanding commitment to the centrality of written inquiry to undergraduate education. Expository writing courses at NYU teach students to move from answering teachers’ questions to identifying and responding to questions and problems that they themselves identify. To this end, students learn to use writing as a flexible tool for exploring ideas, taking intellectual and creative risks, analyzing data (sources, text, visual material, and empirical data), making and rethinking observations, and investigating questions and curiosities. Students also learn to think of writing as a process of consciously crafting a text that purposefully communicates an idea, finding, result, insight, or interpretation to a specific imagined audience.
Most students fulfill the expository writing component of the Core through completion of EXPOS-UA 1 Writing The Essay:. Subject to proficiency recommendations, some international students may be placed in the two-semester sequence, EXPOS-UA 4 International Writing Workshop I and EXPOS-UA 9 International Writing Workshop II. A number of advanced elective courses are also available.
More Information
Expository writing courses at New York University teach students to move from answering teachers' questions to responding to questions and problems that they themselves identify. To this end, students learn to use writing as a flexible tool for: exploring ideas; taking intellectual and creative risks; analyzing data (sources, text, visual material, or empirical data); making and rethinking observations; and investigating questions and curiosities. Students also learn to think of writing as a process of consciously crafting a text that purposefully communicates an idea, finding, result, insight, or interpretation to a specific imagined audience.
In addition to required writing courses for students in the College of Arts and Science, Rory Meyers College of Nursing, Silver School of Social Work, Tisch School of the Arts, Tandon School of Engineering, and Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Expository Writing Program (EWP) offers elective courses for students seeking to continue their exploration of the essay genre or to develop their understanding of how to communicate ideas effectively to a broad and diverse audience.
All College of Arts and Science students must satisfy the expository writing requirement by taking:
- Writing the Essay (EXPOS-UA 1); or
- International Writing Workshop I and II (EXPOS-UA 4 and EXPOS-UA 9), for qualifying English as a second language (ESL) students; or
- Writing I and II (WRI-UF 1001 and WRI-UF 2002 in the Liberal Studies Program), for HEOP/C-STEP students.
Special sections of EXPOS-UA 1 are offered and vary by semester. One cohort for pre-professional health and science majors is focused on the theme of science, health, and technology. Two other streamed sections are available as part of the Residential College at Goddard and special floors at Rubin. These sections are linked to topical "streams" (e.g., "Writing New York") and are available by application only for students in those residence streams.
The Writing Tutorial (EXPOS-UA 13) provides additional work in writing for undergraduates, and is required for transfer students who do not successfully complete the University's writing proficiency exam requirement.
There are no exemptions from the College’s expository writing requirement. Students entering as external transfers must present a course equivalent to Writing the Essay (EXPOS-UA 1) or International Writing Workshop I (EXPOS-UA 4) to satisfy this requirement. Alternatively, they may petition the Expository Writing Program for a waiver from the requirement; please consult https://cas.nyu.edu/ewp/faq/waiving-the-ewp-writing-requirement.html for details.
International and English as a Second Language Students
In CAS, for most students, Writing the Essay (EXPOS-UA 1) fulfills the College Core Curriculum expository writing requirement. Writing the Essay requires frequent analytical and reflective writing, which is common in other courses throughout NYU. The writing and reading assignments are challenging even for native speakers of English, and require them to develop conceptual frameworks for their arguments and ideas by working with a wide range of sophisticated and complex sources at a pace comfortable for most native speakers.
NYU recognizes that international students come with varying levels of language competency and fluency and require more time to complete challenging reading and writing assignments. For international students, there are alternate pathways to satisfying the Core writing requirement.
1) International students who attended English-language high schools for four years may be uncertain about the default placement into Writing the Essay (EXPOS-UA 1). For those students, an option is placement within the International Writing sequence, beginning with International Writing Workshop I (EXPOS-UA 4), followed by International Writing Workshop II (EXPOS-UA 9). The expectations for International Writing Workshop I and II are the same as for Writing the Essay, but the classes are smaller and there is more time (two semesters) to complete the curriculum. For help determining whether Writing the Essay or International Writing Workshop I is the better choice for international students who attended English-language high schools, please visit the Expository Writing Program webpage: ewp.cas.nyu.edu.
2) International students who did not attend English-language high schools for four years are asked to take a survey designed to determine appropriate placement. Based on their survey responses, these students may be placed into International Writing Workshop Introduction (EXPOS-UA 3), which is followed by International Writing Workshop I (EXPOS-UA 4) and then by International Writing Workshop II (EXPOS-UA 9). The preliminary course, International Writing Workshop: Introduction, is taught in an environment in which gaining fluency in reading, writing, and speaking in English is an expected part of the coursework, and which offers international students more time and support for reading, writing, and speaking. It is possible for students in International Writing Workshop: Introduction to be reevaluated at the end of the course for a possible waiver of International Writing Workshop I (EXPOS-UA 4) and direct placement into International Writing Workshop II (EXPOS-UA 9). For questions about survey results, please consult with your adviser and the survey team: ewp-writingsurvey@nyu.edu.
For more information about international student placement, please consult https://cas.nyu.edu/ewp/faq/international-writing-workshops.html.
Foundations of Contemporary Culture
The Foundations of Contemporary Culture (FCC) sequence of the College Core Curriculum is a series of four coordinated courses in the humanities and social sciences. Within each of the four offerings, students are free to pursue their particular interests through their choice of individual classes. Overall, the structure of the FCC ensures that every student in the College gains a common core of skills and experiences in the liberal arts.
Texts and Ideas
Texts and Ideas introduces students to the ideals of liberal education and the central role of humanistic study in the liberal arts and fosters appreciation of the importance of humanistic learning for society at large. Students become acquainted with some of the literary and philosophical works that have been most influential in shaping the contemporary world and with significant instances in which the ideas in these works have been debated, developed, appropriated, or rejected. Texts and Ideas is not a survey but, rather, an examination of how texts influence subsequent thinking, create traditions, and reflect societal ideals. Texts and Ideas thus aims to provide a richer understanding of how cultures are constructed, modified, and represented.
Cultures and Contexts
Cultures and Contexts prepares students for life in a globalized world by introducing them to the ways in which humans come to understand themselves as members of social, religious, national, and regional collectives and by fostering their appreciation of the dynamics of cultural interaction and influence. Individual sections focus on specific social or cultural groups different from the dominant traditions of contemporary North America. They share a common concern to examine the ways cultures have interacted, for example, through trade, colonization, immigration, religious dispersion, and media representation; how such groups define themselves against internal and external difference; and how the dominant perspective of Western modernity affects comprehension of the ways in which people outside that position understand, experience, and imagine their lives.
Offerings include emergent traditions, diaspora formations, and societies understood as nationally, geographically, or culturally distinct from the dominant traditions of contemporary North America. Courses focusing on ancient civilizations are also included, as are courses that address contemporary challenges to traditional European conceptions of national identity.
Societies and the Social Sciences
Over the past several centuries, enormous social transformations have taken place around the world. To understand the complexity of these phenomena, new methods have been developed to study societal structures and human behavior. Each of the courses under Societies and the Social Sciences begins from a particular disciplinary approach, social concern, or topic, in order to orient students to the characteristic methods of these social sciences. Students learn how issues are objectified for study, how data are collected and analyzed, and how new understanding is thereby achieved. Whether through an interdisciplinary approach, consideration of their historical development, or reflection on critical and positivistic debates, the courses help students both to appreciate the unique insights afforded by these methods and to recognize the limits of such inquiry. In this way, students move beyond the particular focus of the class to a broader understanding of methods and problems in the social sciences generally.
Expressive Culture
In Expressive Culture, students explore the complexities of artistic expression in various media: sounds, images, words, performance, or film. Each course introduces requisite historical, formal, and critical vocabularies; examines fundamental issues associated with interpretation of the arts making use of these media; and investigates the complex relations between artistic activity and other facets of social organization. The courses also make use, whenever possible, of the rich cultural resources of New York City.
More Information
The Foundations of Contemporary Culture (FCC) sequence of the College Core Curriculum seeks to provide students with perspective and intellectual methods to comprehend the development of our human cultures. The four FCC courses introduce students to the modes of inquiry by which societies may be studied, social issues analyzed, and artistic activity explored. Together, they give undergraduates a broad methodological background on which to draw when later engaged in the more focused work of their major courses of study. As a result, students receive a richer education than any single major could provide.
Through this core experience in humanistic and social-scientific inquiry the FCC framework allows students to enter into dialogue with one another despite differences in their course schedules, and in this way also encourages lifelong habits of intellectual curiosity and engagement.
As they learn the sound employment of the academic approaches at the center of their FCC classes, students develop their abilities to read critically, think rigorously, and write effectively. By building these skills and an appreciation of the diversity of human experience, the FCC seeks to prepare students for their continued learning in and beyond college, for active participation in their communities, and for lives in a rapidly changing world.
All FCC courses are taught by regular faculty, including some of the University’s most distinguished professors. In addition to two lectures a week, every FCC course includes weekly recitation sections, allowing for small-group discussion of the readings, close attention to students’ written work, and personal concern for students’ progress.
Prerequisites and Sequencing
During their first year, students normally complete a class from Texts and Ideas (CORE-UA 4XX) and one from Cultures and Contexts (CORE-UA 5XX), in either order. In the sophomore year, students choose an approved departmental offering for Societies and the Social Sciences and take Expressive Culture (CORE-UA 7XX), again in either order.
Students should complete the first-year FCC classes and the expository writing requirement before proceeding to the sophomore-level classes. Students in the International Writing Workshop sequence should not start their course work in the FCC until they have completed International Writing Workshop I (EXPOS-UA 4).
Exemptions and Substitutions
Because of the importance the faculty places on assuring every student a core experience in the Foundations of Contemporary Culture, there are no exemptions or substitutions for Texts and Ideas or Cultures and Contexts.
Students who complete a designated major or minor program in the social sciences are exempt from Societies and the Social Sciences. Those who complete a designated major or minor program in the humanities are exempt from Expressive Culture. Students who complete majors in each area, who complete a joint major designated in both areas, or who complete a major in one area and a minor in the other, may satisfy both components. A list of the area designations of major and minor programs in the College of Arts and Science (CAS) may be found on the Core Curriculum website.
CAS students can also satisfy Societies and the Social Sciences by completing an approved departmental course. For a current list of approved courses, consult the Core Curriculum website.
Foundations of Scientific Inquiry
The Foundations of Scientific Inquiry (FSI) component of the College Core Curriculum is a series of three coordinated courses in quantitative reasoning and the natural sciences. Together, these courses ensure that every student in the College gains a fundamental understanding of how mathematics and laboratory experimentation advance scientific investigation. While some students acquire this background through course work offered in the science majors and the prehealth track, FSI courses are especially designed to meet the needs of nonscience students. Within each of the three offerings, students are free to pursue their particular interests through their choice of individual classes. In addition to the information on the FSI provided in this Bulletin, detailed descriptions of each year’s course offerings may be found on the Core Curriculum website.
Quantitative Reasoning
Students in Quantitative Reasoning courses engage mathematical concepts in a variety of contexts in the natural or social sciences. All courses include a substantial amount of problem solving that requires both conceptual and computational work.
Physical Science
Scientific knowledge has its basis in our natural curiosity about the world around us and our place in it. These courses approach the physical sciences with the intent of asking and trying to answer interesting questions, dealing with topics ranging from the origin of our universe and planet to how human activity affects our environment. Students consider the important roles played by laws of physics and chemistry in biology, earth and environmental sciences, astrophysics, and cosmology; they also develop an understanding of how the physical sciences inform the natural sciences generally. Mathematics is introduced in each course with frequent applications to the subject matter. Predictions that can be made only with the use of mathematics are clearly delineated, showing the powerful role it plays in our understanding of the universe. Wherever possible, the courses relate science to societal problems and develop a historical perspective.
Life Science
The complexity of the biological realm continues to fascinate and challenge modern scientists, who are currently engaged in such diverse pursuits as exploring the organization and function of the brain, reconstructing the origin of the human species, linking the multiplicity of interactions in ecosystems, and deciphering the influence of heredity on complex traits. The courses in Life Science take a nontraditional approach to the life sciences, with an emphasis on approaching science as a dynamic process of investigation and discovery. Each course selects a broad theme that is at the forefront of contemporary research, then uses specific questions and examples to introduce students to the methodology of scientific inquiry, the critical evaluation of results, and the mathematical tools used to quantify scientific information.
More Information
Science and technology play such a central role in the modern world that even individuals not directly engaged in scientific or technical pursuits must have solid skills in quantitative and analytical reasoning and a clear understanding of scientific investigation. Citizens of the 21st century need competence and confidence in dealing with the approaches and findings of science if they are to make informed decisions on vital political, economic, and social issues. Rather than striving for encyclopedic coverage of facts, Foundations of Scientific Inquiry (FSI) courses in the College Core Curriculum stress the process of scientific reasoning and seek to illustrate the role of science and mathematics in our understanding of the natural world. They give students who will not be science majors a positive experience in scientific inquiry and encourage learning about how science is done. The quantitative component of these courses emphasizes the critical role of mathematics in the analysis of natural phenomena.
The courses within FSI are organized into three groups: Quantitative Reasoning, Physical Science, and Life Science. All lectures are taught by regular faculty, including some of the University’s most distinguished professors, and each course includes a weekly workshop or laboratory section.
Exemptions and Substitutions
Students who complete a major in the natural sciences, the prehealth curriculum, or the combined dual-degree program in engineering are exempt from the Foundations of Scientific Inquiry. In addition, Quantitative Reasoning, Physical Science, and Life Science can each be satisfied by appropriate Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate, or A-Level credit, or by substituting specific courses, as listed below. For AP and other examination equivalencies, consult the admission section of this Bulletin. CAS does not offer exemption or placement examinations for Quantitative Reasoning, Physical Science, or Life Science.
Quantitative Reasoning
In addition to courses offered under this title (CORE-UA 1XX), students can satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning component with any of the following options.
- AP or equivalent credit in calculus (Calculus AB or BC, 4 or 8 points)
- AP or equivalent credit in statistics (4 points)
- Biostatistics (BIOL-UA 42)
- Data Science for Everyone (DS-UA 111)
- Statistics (ECON-UA 18)
- Analytical Statistics (ECON-UA 20)
- Environmental Quantitative Methods (ENVST-UA 310)
- Patterns in Language (LING-UA 6)
- Calculus I (MATH-UA 121)
- Mathematics for Economics I (MATH-UA 131); formerly (MATH-UA 211)
- Introduction to Research Methods for Politics (POL-UA 850)
- Statistics for The Behavioral Sciences (PSYCH-UA 10)
- Statistics and Data Analysis for Research in Psychology (PSYCH-UA 11)
- Statistics for Social Research (SOC-UA 302)
- Biostatistics for Public Health (UGPH-GU 20)
Physical Science and Life Science
In addition to courses offered under these titles (CORE-UA 2XX and 3XX respectively), students can satisfy both these components with any of the following options.
- AP or equivalent credit for any of the following: Biology (8 points), Chemistry (8 points), both Physics 1 and 2 (8 points), or both Physics C-Mechanics (3 points) and Physics C-Electricity and Magnetism (3 points)
- Completion of one of the following sequences:
- General Chemistry I & Laboratory (CHEM-UA 125) and General Chemistry II & Laboratory (CHEM-UA 126)
- Advanced General Chemistry I and Laboratory (CHEM-UA 127) and Advanced General Chemistry II and Laboratory (CHEM-UA 128), when offered
- General Physics I and II (PHYS-UA 11, PHYS-UA 12)
Physical Science
In addition to courses offered under this title (CORE-UA 2XX), students can satisfy this component through any of the following options.
- AP or equivalent credit for Physics C-Mechanics (3 points) or Physics C-Electricity and Magnetism (3 points), or for either Physics 1 or Physics 2 (4 points each)
- AP credit for Environmental Science (4 points)
- Completion of one of the following:
- General Chemistry I & Laboratory (CHEM-UA 125)
- Advanced General Chemistry I and Laboratory (CHEM-UA 127), when offered
- Accelerated General Chemistry (CHEM-UA 129)
- General Physics I (PHYS-UA 11)
- Physics I (PHYS-UA 91) and Introductory Experimental Physics I (PHYS-UA 71)
Life Science
In addition to courses offered under this title (CORE-UA 3XX), students can satisfy this component through any of the following options.
- Human Evolution (ANTH-UA 2)
- Principles of Biology II (BIOL-UA 12) and Principles of Biology Laboratory (BIOL-UA 123)
- Where the City Meets the Sea (BIOL-UA 140/ENVST-UA 275)
College of Arts & Science First-Year Seminar Program
The College of Arts and Science’s First-Year Seminar program (726 Broadway, 7th Floor; 212-998-8110; cas.nyu.edu/academic-programs/first-year-seminars.html), a graduation requirement, has long been the centerpiece of students’ first-year academic experience in the College. Within a small classroom setting, students are exposed to college-level academic content and expectations that form the basis of a liberal arts education. By engaging with their peers and faculty in dynamic critical thinking, writing, and presentation activities, students gain core skills and research competencies that lay the foundation for success during their NYU experience and beyond. First-Year Seminars also connect students to the rich academic and cultural resources of NYU and New York City, from museums to the theatre to libraries and archives, and their small size fosters close work between students and instructors. The seminars encourage our students to develop—beginning with their very first semester in the College—as critical assessors of existing knowledge as well as of new ideas and approaches, and they equip CAS students with the skills and habits of mind they need to succeed at NYU and beyond.
General Information
The First-Year Seminar is required of all entering College of Arts and Science first-year students (and is open only to them). The seminars typically range in size from 16 to 18 students.
First-Year Seminars are offered in both the fall and spring terms. Students may take the requirement in either term. The students from two thematically linked seminars are grouped together into an advising cohort of approximately 32 to 36 students, who meet as a group with their CAS academic adviser several times during both the fall and spring terms of the first year.
The selection of seminars varies from year to year, and the program aims to represent all three curricular divisions of Arts and Science (the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences). Students may always find the most up-to-date offerings and descriptions at cas.nyu. edu/academic-programs/first-year-seminars.
Policies
Students are no longer required to petition the Committee on Undergraduate Academic Standards (or any other committee) to withdraw from (take a grade of W in) any FYSEM-UA offering. They may proceed as they would for any other course.
Students may request a grade of Incomplete (I) in a First-Year Seminar if illness, a family emergency, or other crisis prevents them from submitting (for example) a final paper on time. Incompletes are not given automatically; students must specifically request this grade from the seminar instructor and work out a schedule and due date for turning in missing work by the end of the next semester. Students with a consistently poor attendance record in a seminar cannot request an Incomplete to avoid failing; excessive absences cannot be made up, and instructors in such cases are to give the grade of F.
Any CAS student who does not creditably complete this graduation requirement in the first year is still responsible for it, and must make up the requirement by taking a small, reading- and writing- intensive course in any CAS department (it cannot be a course in the College Core Curriculum or in one’s major or minor). Students should discuss a substitute course with their CAS advisers, who will process the substitution if approved.
Courses
This is a sampling of recent seminars in the program. Except when noted, First-Year Seminars never assume any specific course or background on the student’s part.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| FRSEM-UA 210 | 4 | |
| FYSEM-UA 218 | The Supreme Court and The Religion Clauses | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 306 | Latin America at Start of The 21St Century | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 384 | Journalism of War, Revolution, Genocide, and Human Rights | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 432 | Science & Policy of Climate Change | 4 |
| FRSEM-UA 474 | 4 | |
| FYSEM-UA 484 | Globalization and its Discontents | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 500 | New Worlds of Work and Care | 4 |
| FRSEM-UA 503 | 4 | |
| FYSEM-UA 506 | Game Theory and the Humanities | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 514 | Xenophon of Athens | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 598 | After the End: Post-Apocalypse Novels in the 20th Century | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 634 | BlackLanguageMatters | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 701 | Adventures in Interviewing: Oral History Theory and Practice | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 714 | Crystallization in Life: Stories about Shells, Bones, and Kidney Stones | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 732 | Nature vs. Nurture: The Neurobiology of Individuality | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 753 | Heroic Journeys: Homer, Vergil, Dante | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 758 | Seeing the Universe | 4 |
| FYSEM-UA 781 | Happiness in Film | 4 |