Academic First Year Experience courses help students to make positive academic transitions during their first semester of attendance at CSUN. Our success seminars for freshmen and transfer students provide important support and guidance as you acclimate to a new academic community. Our small classes provide interaction with other students and faculty that will help you to establish a sense of belonging at CSUN while helping you learn about the people, places, policies, and procedures that are important to your success.
What’s more, Academic First Year Experience courses are a known high-impact practice. This means that students who take a success seminar during their first semester show higher rates of retention and graduation, they maintain higher GPAs, and they complete units at a faster pace than students who do not take a success seminar.
Our Mission Statement
The mission of Academic First Year Experiences (AFYE) is to support incoming freshmen and transfer students and help them successfully transition to college life and the academic experience at CSU Northridge. AFYE classes provide both academic and social enrichment, as well as opportunities for students to:
- increase their sense of belonging at CSUN through engagement with the people and places that will be important to their success;
- gain knowledge and skills that will help them in their academic and intellectual development;
- participate in activities and learn strategies to better understand themselves and to nurture their holistic wellbeing;
- become self-reliant in identifying and using appropriate university resources that will help them to be academically, personally, and socially successful.
To improve retention and student learning outcomes, AFYE also offers learning communities and cohorted classes, as well as community engagement opportunities for freshmen, and equity-based and learning-centered pedagogy training for our faculty.
U100 will guide and support you as you join the CSUN community. Our small class sizes allow you to meet other freshmen and begin building a sense of belonging on campus. You'll visit and learn about the CSUN resources and services available to help you throughout your academic journey. Through course projects, activities, and discussions, you will discover and develop your personal strengths and interests while also gaining the knowledge and skills needed to help you in your academic and personal development.
U301 will guide you through your transition to CSUN, introducing you to university life, academic requirements and expectations, the structures and policies of the university, and support resources and services. You will meet and interact with other new transfer students in your major and college and explore extracurricular opportunities related to your area of study. CSUN faculty and staff will assist you as you complete a comprehensive Success Plan for your time at CSUN and beyond.
