Hello, my name is Sarah Bessy and I am an academic advisor and instructor for the life
sciences first year program.
on behalf of our entire team, congratulations on your admission to NC State.
I hope this presentation can help paint the picture of what your first year at NCSU could
look like.
The life sciences first year, or LSFY program is a joint effort between the college of sciences
and the college of agriculture and life sciences.
The program was created to challenge students to more deeply engage and excel during their
first year at NC State.
The primary features of the program include academic advisors and faculty who are focused
on the first year experience, a common first year curriculum, multiple peer support programs,
and small class sizes and LSE 101 and 103.
So, how do you know if you are in LSFY when you start at NC State?
If you applied and were accepted to any of the following majors, you will begin your
journey in the LSFY program.
These majors include biochemistry, biological sciences, genetics, microbiology, nutrition
science, plant biology, and zoology.
As I mentioned earlier, the LSFY program was created to challenge students to more deeply
engage and excel in their first year at NC State.
This idea and need stemmed from a few different trends we were seeing.
First, we found many students chose majors purely based on the core subjects they were
familiar with.
For example, many high schools require biology and chemistry courses.
Additionally, students interested in health professions tended to gravitate towards the
familiar human biology concentration without considering other majors.
Second, students at NC State often didn't realize how many different major options were
available until their sophomore or junior years when they were taking elective courses.
Let's consider nutrition science.
This major tends to have 10 to 15 first year students each fall, which would be about 40
students total if you added freshmen through seniors, however, the program actually has
about 300 total students.
This means there is a significant number of students who discovered nutrition science
once they arrive at State.
Finally, the LSFY program incorporates more advising meetings between students and their
advisors to better address a student’s transition from high school to college.
As discussed previously, some of the main features and highlights of the LSFY program
are the academic advisors and faculty who are focused on the first year experience,
intentional exploration majors, a common first year curriculum, small class sizes, LSE 101
and 103, and finally multiple peer support programs.
I will now go a bit more in depth on each of these features.
When a student begins in the LSFY program, they will be assigned an academic advisor
based on the LSE 103 course they enroll in.
Their instructor for the course will be their advisor.
This structure enables students to see their advisor once per week in class.
This greater interaction allows for more beneficial and productive advising meetings which are
required throughout the school year.
Additionally, the LSFY advisors have a lower advising load of students which allows us
to have higher one on one contact with each of our advisees.
As I noted previously, LSFY students are required to meet with their advisor twice in their
first semester, and at least once during their second semester.
During these advising appointments, advisors try to get to know each student as we discuss
their academic, professional, and personal interests or activities to help provide personalized
support and recommendations.
Additionally, we will share important campus resources, review their academic performance,
and help students develop long term academic plans which might include time to graduation,
study abroad, research, and course sequencing.
An important component of these advising meeting and the LSE 103 course is to help students
thoughtfully explore their major options.
as you can see, even within the 7 majors that make up our program, there are even more options
with concentrations.
With over 100 majors at NC State, total, it is important for students to have an open
mind and reflect on what is the right fit for them.
To recall and example from earlier, many students interested in health professions gravitate
towards the human biology concentration and biological sciences but ignore majors like
nutrition science and genetics.
Think about it, how often does a doctor ask what your diet consists of or asks about the
health history of your family.
These majors in nutrition science or genetics could actually be more applicable to a student’s
interest in healthcare rather than a biological sciences major.
In LSFY we encourage students to reflect on what activities or interests give them purpose
when they think about their potential academic and career paths.
One common myth is that there are only certain majors’ students can choose in order to
follow their intended career path.
This type of thinking can encourage students to ignore the subjects they enjoy or that
intrigue them.
To build on the health professions example, let’s say a student is really interested
in plant biology but also wants to insure they meet all of the prerequisite courses
for medical school.
The plant biology major requires 120 credit hours, so 8 full time semesters.
There are about 35 to 38 credit hours of prerequisites for medical school.
These include general courses in biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and
calculus.
This list of prerequisite courses all fit within the plant biology major still leaving
a significant portion of courses left to take.
I hope this emphasizes that while professional interests are important, they may only be
a small portion of the coursework required for a student to graduate.
This is why it is important for students to select a major that they enjoy and find value
in.
As a student explores their major options they can have reassurance in knowing that
the LSFY majors all share a common first year curriculum which includes biology, chemistry,
calculus, and English.
This allows students to take classes with people they know and hopefully build a network
of support among their peers.
In addition, these courses will prepare them for their advanced courses in the life sciences,
whether they choose to pursue zoology, microbiology, or any other LSFY major.
For those who may have AP credit, IV credit, or transfer credits, an academic advisor will
review each students file during course registration over the summer to assist them with picking
the right classes based on their credits.
It is important to note that even with the common curriculum, this program is flexible
and allows for students to get support from a trained advising professional while making
decisions about which class would work best for them in their exploration, so if a student
wants to explore a course they have the flexibility to swap courses should they choose.
In addition to the course curriculum, LSFY students will take LSE 101 and LSE 103 in
their first year.
LSE 101 is a 2 credit hour course taught by faculty that guides students to think critically
and creatively about how different areas of the sciences approach scientific questions,
as well as to discover how they learn.
Students are challenged and engaged in every class meeting through case studies, small
group work to focus their interest and exploration of different scientific disciplines.
LSE 103 is a one credit hour course taught by LSFY advisors and upper-class students
or class assistants that assist first year students during their transition from high
school to college by identifying campus resources and policies.
Students will also research majors and minors on campus that meet their interests while
creating their individual plan for success at NC State.
Students also have the option to take LSE 170.
LSE 170 is a one credit hour seminar course that provides an opportunity for LSFY students
to work in a small group setting with the faculty member to explore a topic within the
faculty members area of expertise.
Topics have included Olympics, air pollution and health, life on a coral reef, meet your
microbes, and breathing life into T-rex.
Through the different courses students take in their first year and through academic advising,
students will have the support they need to explore different majors in the life sciences
and be accepted into a degree program at the end of their first year.
Our goal is to have students find a major that they are excited about that aligns with
their personal and professional goals.
So, if you decided to join us at NC State, what should you do next?
First, you should accept your offer of admission.
Next, you want to make sure you read the new student checklist and new student programs.
This should give you information about how to set up your NC State email account which
you should begin checking regularly.
This is the account we will use to communicate all important advising information to you
moving forward.
You should also complete the PACK ASSIST application to apply for the hundreds of scholarships
available to NC State students.
You will also need to take the NC State math and chemistry placement test.
Even if you anticipate receiving AP, IV, or transfer credit for these courses you should
take the placement test.
The AP, IV, and transfer credits can take time to process and this can prevent you from
enrolling in any chemistry or math course if you have not taken the placement test.
If you are interested in getting a jumpstart on campus, consider the summer start program
where you can take a range of courses in biology, calculus, or even an LSE 101 class.
Finally, make sure that you sign up for a new student orientation and attend a LSFY
session.
Again, congratulations on your acceptance to NC State and to the life sciences first
year program.
I hope this presentation answered many of the questions you may of had about your first
year at NC State, and I encourage you to review our website.
If you have any additional questions moving forward, you are welcome to email us at lifesciencesFY@ncsu.edu.