High Impact Practices with an Equity Focused Lens
Experience Summer with P2E
Graduation Initiative 2025
Supporting Students in their Transition to CSUN
What To Know Before Your First Year
Programs and Services That Are Just For First Year Students
Freshman Advisement
Most first-year freshmen receive advising, support and enrollment assistance from the Matador Advising Hub
Matador Academic Challenge
CSUN encourages all first-time full-time freshmen to enroll in a full load each semester. If a first-time freshman tries the 15-unit load, but then decides they would like to reduce their class load (after the regular add/drop period), they may request to withdraw from one class for the current semester. Restrictions apply.
Academic First Year Experiences
Provides opportunities for faculty, staff, and first-year students (including freshman and new transfer students) to link curricular learning with co-curricular learning in ways that help new students make a successful transition to the University.
CSUN Mentorship Program
Peer mentoring program that promotes student success and aims to help students more easily navigate university life by exploring various campus resources and engagement/involvement opportunities.
New Student Convocation
An annual celebration of learning collaboratively planned by Student Affairs and Academic Affairs for the new students entering CSUN each fall. The event serves as a formal welcome extended to the entering class by the President, administration, and campus community.
Freshman Common Read
As a new freshman, you are invited to read and discuss a selected book as part of a campus-wide community of readers. Reading and talking about the book will remind you that shared intellectual engagement is at the very center of the academic community that you are a part of.
University 100
University 100, the Freshman Seminar, is CSUN’s student success course. Students completing the course earn a letter grade and three units of baccalaureate credit in General Education, Lifelong Learning. Approximately one-third of each year’s freshman class takes the course. Many sections are open to any interested freshmen; others are restricted to special populations including Honors, EOP, student athletes, students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and students with particular majors including those who are Exploratory. Many sections of the course are linked to an additional GE class as part of the Freshman Connection
Parent Day
The Office of Student Involvement and Development provides Parent Day to support the families of new CSUN students in understanding how to become a partner in their student’s success.