First Year Experience
The First Year Experience at Alvernia was developed to help students make a successful transition to college life and learning. Through the First Year Seminar and academic advising, students learn the responsibilities – academic, social, and personal – that belong to them as members of the Alvernia community. This learning begins at Connection Day, where new students explore the Alvernia Core Curriculum and begin the discussion of liberal and ethical learning that will continue into the First Year Seminar.
Advising is the cornerstone of students’ first year experience, and together with the seminar, helps students establish a strong foundation in their first year at Alvernia. Students are advised by the faculty member who is their First Year Seminar instructor. This gives students the opportunity to develop a solid relationship with their advisor, a relationship that spans their entire first year and connects their experience in the classroom to their experience outside of it.