First-Year Experience

At Concordia, we know how important it is for you to get your college career off to a good start. That’s why we have designed the First-Year Experience, a collection of courses, programs and offerings to ensure you feel welcomed, challenged and ready for your first year away from home and your first academic year of college courses.

Summer Orientation
You’ll begin your First-Year Experience with Summer Orientation, specially-designed registration days on Concordia’s campus. You and your parents can attend informative sessions on academic and student life, and you’ll sign up for all of your fall courses with the assistance of faculty members. Tour campus, try the food at our new Anderson Dining Room and take a peek in some of our residence halls. And, of course, if there’s anything else you’re hoping to do – like meet with a coach or talk with current students – let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

Inquiry Seminars
Two of the courses you’ll register for include an Inquiry Seminar and a written or oral communication course. These first-year courses will help you develop valuable lifelong learning skills – and you’ll take both courses with the same group of students, making it easier to get to know some other friendly faces on campus.

Faculty Advising
During registration or your first week on campus, you’ll also be assigned a faculty advisor, typically within the academic field you are most interested in pursuing. You’re encouraged to meet with your advisor to discuss your career goals and plans, academic concerns or questions and of course, during regularly scheduled advising times, to register for future classes.

Orientation
Once August hits and you’re ready to move on campus, we have another exciting experience for you – Orientation! This four-day event features tons of fun activities all designed to help you meet other students, feel comfortable on campus and feel more prepared for your first courses. Your Orientation Club, a group of first-year students led by two older student leaders, will be your “family” of sorts for the week. These same students are the ones you’ll be taking your Inquiry Seminar and communication course with, and your Orientation Club faculty mentor will also be your Inquiry Seminar professor.

Summer Book Read
One of the many activities you’ll take part in during Orientation is group discussions of the Summer Book Read, a book we asked you to read prior to coming to campus. You may even have a chance to hear the author speak on campus, and chances are the book will come up in conversation in and out of the classroom for the rest of the year.

Getting Involved
But we don’t want your First-Year Experience to end here. There are so many co-curricular activities available to you, from athletics to theatre, music, service-learning, media and more. Attend the Cobber Expo each September for more ideas on how to get involved.

Information For:

current students
faculty and staff		 parents
alumni		 high school students
admitted students