Sophomore Seminar Program Will Help Students Choose a Major

By Alix Schwartz

March 11, 2002

Most freshmen enter the College of Letters & Science as undeclared students. L&S is a liberal arts college, and we expect students to explore some of the college's many intellectual riches before deciding on a major. By the end of the sophomore year, however, they are expected to declare a major, so that they can benefit fully from the academic focus and the sense of intellectual community that membership in a department can bring.

This spring the College of Letters & Science is piloting a new Sophomore Seminar Program, designed to ease the transition into the major. Sophomore Seminars are small, interactive courses that meet for only one hour a week. They give the students a chance to come to know a faculty member and fourteen other students in their intended major quite well, while exploring a topic of mutual interest.

Five outstanding faculty members, one from each Division in the College, were chosen to participate in the pilot. Each designed a course especially for intended majors. Each course treats a specific topic—such as confessional poetry or animal navigation— that is representative of the given field. But in addition each faculty member is making a special effort to talk more generally about such things as advances in the field and career options for its graduates.

We've already solicited early feedback from the students taking the pilot Sophomore Seminars, to help in the planning for the second year. Their responses are enthusiastic. The faculty members have also expressed enthusiasm for the seminars. Students who are drawn to Sophomore Seminars have a dedication to the course material that helps to ensure that class discussions will be productive and provocative.

For next year our goal is to offer twenty-five to thirty Sophomore Seminars. Easing the transition into the major and promoting student-faculty contact in the first two years have been important goals for the College, and this program was designed to address both issues.

Full details on the five pilot Sophomore Seminars can be found on the program's website: http://ssp.berkeley.edu. Questions about the program can be addressed to Alix Schwartz (642-8378, alix@uclink.berkeley.edu).