While this isn’t your typical list of study tips, it’s certainly something that can save you from frantically looking up Buzzfeed articles with study tactics the night before your final. UW offers First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs) for freshman, and you’d be silly not to at least consider them. You are bound to find something interesting, as they can range from “American Sex Cultures” to “Music, Movies and the Sixties” to “Who Makes Your Hamburgers?”
Essentially, FIGs are a grouping of classes that you take with other freshman, which revolve around a common theme. I enrolled in “Media and the Elections,” which consisted of an intro Political Science class, a Journalism class, and a debate class in Communication Arts. The FIG made the transition to college coursework quite smooth, and made it easy to make friends, form study groups, and have a shared academic experience across all three classes. If you are lucky, your Journalism professor might even take you out for dinner and an election watch party or host a movie night with All the President’s Men like ours did!
Ultimately, FIGS have allowed for lasting connections with peers and professors, great social events, and to see how seemingly disconnected classes can actually fit together perfectly. So, consider signing up for a FIG as you head to freshman orientation. And if your SOAR date already passed, don’t sweat it! Talk to an advisor and see if there is room in a FIG, because it is truly a wonderful experience!