New College Curriculum |
Forums Curriculum |
Traditional Curriculum |
| Purpose | ||
| Explore how different scholars approach intellectual inquiry across the College, and take exclusive seminars with senior faculty that introduce critical habits of mind. | Small cohorts of students enroll in tailored groups of courses built around a prevalent question/topic of the 21st Century. | Explore how the College of Arts & Sciences is set up into larger intellectual domains, including Natural Science & Math, Social Science, and Humanities. |
| Defining Experience | ||
| The Engagements: A series of 4 courses in the first year taught by the College Fellows, some of UVA’s leading scholars | The Forum Seminar and Capstone: Two courses that focus entirely on the Forum topic while bridging multiple disciplines. | The traditional curriculum was not designed around a defining experience. |
| Number of Credits | ||
| 52-55 | 50 | 47-50 |
| First-Year Classes | ||
| Engagements First-Writing Requirement Electives & Major Pre-requisites (total 15-17 credits per semester) |
Introductory Forum Seminar First-Writing Requirement Electives & Major Pre-requisites (total 15-17 credits per semester) |
First-Writing Requirement Electives & Major Pre-requisites (total 15-17 credits per semester) |
| Curriculum Components | ||
| Engagements Literacies Disciplines |
Introductory Seminar & Capstone Competency Requirements |
Area Requirements Competency Requirements |
| Advisors | ||
| College Fellows (faculty who teach the Engagement Courses) | Forum Faculty | Faculty randomly assigned from across the College who advise first- and second-years |
| First Implemented | ||
| 2017-18 | 2016-17 | 1967-68 |
| Size of Classes | ||
| 5 seminar-sized classes guaranteed in first year | 2 seminar-sized classes guaranteed in first year | 1 seminar-sized class guaranteed in first year |
| Number of Seats | ||
| Space limited to 1200 | Space limited to 40 per forum (160 total) | Space not limited |
Common to all three curricula
- Students in all curricula can complete Arts & Sciences programs
- Students in all curricula can transfer to the University’s other schools with second or third-year start dates (Curry, McIntire, Batten)
- Students in all curricula can complete pre-professional programs (pre-health, pre-law)
- All students will complete a World Languages sequence through the intermediate level
- All students will enroll in a first-year writing requirement
- All students will enroll in a second writing course over their next three years
- Engagement courses are explicit to students in the New College Curriculum, and the Forums Seminar and Capstone are exclusive to students in the Forums. However, the rest of the College Catalogue of courses is open to students in all three curricula.