First-Year Experience at CC

Colorado College’s First-Year Experience program initiates, challenges, and supports incoming first-year students, providing a fast-paced, intensive introduction to the liberal arts and the Block Plan. Immediately engaging in the scholarly study of a discipline or topic, we develop students’ research and writing skills and demand the rigorous analysis and creative expression needed for academic success.

All new first-year students enroll in a two-block FYE course. We design FYE courses to stimulate students’ curiosity, develop their intellectual skills, and enhance their mastery of college-level work. The program fosters close intellectual relationships among students and faculty in residential college setting.  Courses are generally limited to 16 students; team-taught courses enroll 25.

We pay special attention to the needs of incoming students, incorporating the step-by-step development of skills and knowledge needed to master rigorous critical thinking.  Substantial, yet manageable writing assignments in the first block prepare the way for students to undertake larger research projects or critical analysis papers in the second block.

All courses require active learning – whether in the form of students’ articulating relevant questions, explaining arguments or studies, or engaging instructors and classmates in thoughtful reflections.

Effective advising is central to the program. FYE instructors typically serve as academic advisors for most students.  Student mentors, chosen by the faculty, model academic success, good interpersonal skills, and effective community involvement, while building links among first-year and returning students.

Together, FYE instructors, academic advisors, and student mentors help students in the second block choose a well-rounded curriculum for the remainder of the first year.

The program works closely with relevant student support offices to help students succeed, particularly in their transition to college life. As appropriate to the course, we introduce students to the Writing Center, the Quantitative Reasoning Center, information technology services, and the library’s research support staff.

We build bridges between incoming students and key offices, including the Honor Council, Student Life, and, where relevant, Disabilities Services. 

The program includes:

• a set of courses taken in the first two blocks by all first-year students,
• student mentors working with each course, and
• support for the intellectual and social transition to college life.