I. The Freshman Level: 22 credit hours
The Freshman Program aims to offer students a coherent, integrated introduction to one of the defining features of AUC: liberal arts education. In addition, the Program equips students with communication skills in English and enables them to transfer these skills to content courses so they are prepared to cope with assignments in their majors, and enhances critical thinking skills and their application in a variety of disciplines. Finally, Freshman Program courses aim to help students think with clarity and insight about themselves, their goals and the decisions they face, and to foster their civic responsibility, personal and academic integrity, and appreciation of diversity.
For students entering AUC in the 2013-14 academic year and later, the Freshman Program consists of the following requirements: In their first semester, students begin as members of a “learning community:” small groups of students taking two closely linked classes together, a Rhetoric class (RHET 1010 ) and a multidisciplinary seminar (CORE 1010 ), that work in tandem to develop and enhance the reading, writing, critical thinking and general academic skills needed for success throughout study at AUC. The program also includes six other courses, to be taken over the first three semesters (four semesters for engineering students): a second RHET course in research skills and writing, Scientific Thinking, Philosophical Thinking, Information Literacy, and two “Pathways of Learning” courses.
Timely Completion of Required Freshman Program Classes in Core Curriculum
- All AUC students should complete their RHET classes in their first two semesters, and all their other Freshman Program classes, including their Information Literacy class, by the end of their first three or (in the case of engineering students) four semesters.
- Timely completion of Freshman Program courses is of vital importance, insofar as these courses aim at accomplishing basic learning outcomes, in an integrated and sequenced manner, as a foundation for subsequent study in the Core and in the majors.
Policies:
- All students should complete their RHET courses before proceeding to Sophomore-level status.
- If students fail to register for their second RHET course, RHET 1020 , in the semester immediately following successful completion of RHET 1010 (or immediately after receiving equivalent credit for or exemption from the course), a hold will be placed on their subsequent registration until the issue is satisfactorily resolved.
- Students other than those in the School of Science and Engineering must enroll in Scientific Thinking, and the Pathways One (Scientific Encounters) and Pathways Two (Cultural Explorations) required Core courses, within their first four semesters. (All SSE students are deemed to fulfill their Pathways One requirement within the major, so they need to complete six rather than seven courses in their Freshman Program; SSE students majoring or intending to major in engineering, will take slightly longer to complete Freshman Program requirements, in line with the Five Year Plans of their majors.). For students wishing to declare engineering, the requirement that Scientific Thinking be completed prior to declaration does not apply.
- If students fail to register for all of the following: a Pathways One class + the 1 cr. hr. lab (non-science students only), a Pathways Two class, Scientific Thinking*, Philosophical Thinking, and LALT 1020 , Information Literacy, by the end of their third semester (end of the fourth semester for engineering students), a hold will be placed on their subsequent registration until the issue is satisfactorily resolved.
- For undeclared students, only those who have completed the RHET 1010 / CORE 1010 tandem classes, RHET 1020 , LALT 1020 , and Scientific Thinking, will be eligible to declare a major at AUC. During the semester in which they wish to declare, these students must also have completed or be currently enrolled in either ALL or ALL BUT ONE of their required Pathways course(s) and Philosophical Thinking.
Only those students who have completed all Freshman Level courses can proceed to the Junior Level of their major, according to the four- or five-year plan of that major.
Any student who wishes to declare or proceed in his or her major without having completed the Freshman Program requirements according to the terms set out above, will require explicit written approval from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. Such approval will be granted only upon acceptance of a signed statement from the student indicating precisely how and when he or she will complete all outstanding Freshman Program requirements. Students who fail to fulfill their stated plans, without sufficient, documented justification, will be placed on probation, leading to dismissal.
These rules shall apply to students who begin the Freshman Program at AUC in fall 2014 and thereafter. Provisions concerning holds on registration will apply to all students, at whatever level, beginning in fall 2014.
After the release of registration holds, students will not be allowed to drop the Freshman Program courses concerned, following the timelines mentioned above, without the consent of the Core Curriculum program.
*For students wishing to declare engineering, the requirement that Scientific Thinking be completed prior to declaration does not apply.
Specific rules applied to RHET 1010 /CORE 1010 or RHET 1020 courses taken in the freshman level of the core curriculum:
Students may attempt RHET 1010 , CORE 1010 and RHET 1020 up to three times in three consecutive semesters. If the second retake is unsuccessful, students will recieve a warning, and continued study at AUC will be contingent on successful completion of the course, on a third retake, in the following semester.
- All students, except for those with transfer credits or advanced standing, take the RHET 1010 /CORE 1010 tandem classes (6 cr hrs total) in their first semester as freshmen. Students cannot drop one without dropping the other, and dropping both can only happen with permission.
- All students must take RHET 1020 concurrently with LALT 1020 , information literacy. Students registering in RHET 1020 will automatically be registered as well in a section of LALT 1020
- Dropping one of the two courses RHET 1010 or CORE 1010 (Freshman Writing or Freshman Seminar) will result in the other course being dropped as well, automatically. In the same way dropping one of the two courses RHET 1020 and LALT 1020 will result in the other being dropped as well, automatically.
- Students retaking the tandem courses CORE 1010 /RHET 1010 must enroll in a different theme.
- Students may pass or fail one or both of the tandem courses RHET 1010 and CORE 1010 , depending on their performance in each course. The same applies to RHET 1020 and LALT 1020
