From Summer Through Your
First Semester — and Beyond
Every step is intentional. Here's how your first year unfolds, from your first advising appointment to the classroom discussions that will challenge and inspire you.
Step 1 — May: Congrats — You're Going to UVA
You made the decision to attend the College of Arts & Sciences. Welcome to the beginning of an exciting undergraduate journey.
Step 2 — June: Placement Testing & Pre-Enrollment Advising
Before you even step on Grounds, you'll complete placement testing and connect with an advisor for pre-enrollment guidance to ensure that you walk into your first class informed, prepared and ready to hit the ground running.
Step 3 — July: In-Person Orientation: Get Acclimated, Get Registered
Spend two days on Grounds over the summer learning about university life, meet with a pre-major advisor and get registered for your fall classes. Orientation is your first real taste of the community you're joining.
Step 4 — Late August: Convocation & Your First Lecture on the Lawn
Officially begin your UVA journey at Convocation, where you'll sign the University's honor scroll — a tradition that connects you to the generations of students who preceded you. Then gather on the historic Lawn with your fellow first years and incoming transfer students for the First Lecture, delivered by the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences before meeting again with your academic advisor to prepare for the first day of classes.
Step 5 — Day 1: The Engagements: Your Shared First-Year Seminar Sequence
From your very first class, you'll be in a small seminar alongside fellow first-years — exploring the big, enduring questions of human life and our times. Your first Engagements instructor is your academic advisor, and that familiarity will help you feel comfortable in the classroom and during office hours, to ask the questions that are sure to arise your first semester.
Step 6 — October: Majors Fair
Curious about what the College has to offer? The fall Majors Fair is your chance to browse every major, ask questions of faculty and department representatives, and begin to chart a potential academic path aligned with your emerging interests.
Step 7 — Year 1: Career Design Built Into Your Coursework
As you complete the year-long series of four Engagements seminars, your classwork will include career design activities that aim to help you envision your life after graduation. Internships, study abroad, research opportunities — we invite you to consider the possibilities and show you how to weave them meaningfully into your academic plan from the start. No waiting until third year.
The Engagements
Unlike first-year seminars at many other schools, the Engagements aren't about teaching you how to be a college student. We have dedicated support for that through our Life Skills office and our peer mentoring program, Hoo's Connected. But in the Engagements and their four distinct themes, we reserve class time for what it's intended: ideas.
Aesthetics
What is beauty? What is art? How do we judge and create meaning through form and expression?
Difference
How do identity, culture and perspective shape our understanding of the world and each other?
Empiricism
How do we know what we know? What does it mean to reason carefully from evidence?
Ethics
How should we live? What do we owe each other? What does it mean to act with integrity?
Advising That's Different by Design
We have embedded advising into the classroom, which means your advisor not only understands the general pressures of being a first-year student, they will know you on a more individual level that enables them to collaborate more effectively with you on your tailored academic path.
Your Advisor Is Your Professor
Your first Engagements instructor is also your academic advisor — and they'll advise you for up to two years or until you declare a major. That extra time together in the classroom breeds a comfort and familiarity with an advisor who knows you and every facet of the A&S curriculum.
Scholars, Not Administrators
Our advisors aren't on the margins of academic life. They're active scholars engaged in innovative research who understand the curriculum deeply. The guidance they offer is rooted in a genuine passion for teaching and mentoring.
Support Where You Need It
You'll meet with your advisor outside of class in one-on-one sessions that allow you to talk through any concerns and plan next semester's registration.
Career Design From Day One
We equip you to purposefully navigate internships, study abroad, and research opportunities from your very first semester — helping you build a plan that reflects who you are and where you want to go.