Every day there seems to be yet another post asking about a FWS or the instructor for one. I wanted to clear a few things up, and hopefully, cut down on these posts.

FWSs are often taught by graduate students and the subjects largely change year to year. Some of the subjects/course titles remain the same but often change instructors from previous years. As a result, THERE IS typically LITTLE TO NO FEEDBACK to share. When you are signing up for Spring semester, you will have your fellow first-years who can provide feedback on the writing classes they took the previous semester.

My advice is to pick one that interests you most. The subject matter is what you will be reading about, discussing in class, and writing assignments pertaining to. If you are uninterested in the topic, it will be an unpleasant semester. If you do not see a topic that interests you, take one that has a general title about academic writing since it is likely to allow you to choose the subject matter for your writing.

If you think you’ll have a lot of reading in other courses, think about taking a FWS about comics/graphic novels, short stories, images, news, or a subject few books are written about (since you’ll be primarily reading studies as well as news or magazine articles). Some of the courses may be about film or television, which will likely decrease the amount of pages read.

My final piece of advice as an alumna is to actually doing the assigned readings for FWS (not doing it makes class and assignments much more difficult), meaningfully participate in class, and do not use AI to write papers. Why? Arguably, FWS will be one of the most important courses you take regardless of major. (They are mandatory for a reason. Not sure if it still applies but previously you could take one rather than two if you had AP credit.) FWS will teach you to think and analyze in an academic manner, setting the foundation for the rest of your Cornell education. I write a lot in my profession and have always been regarded as the best writer at every job I have had. I largely credit this to my FWSs. I have also recently had to kick several people off of one of my project teams at work solely based upon their writing, despite the work being research-based. Regardless of the (unfortunate) current widespread adoption of and reliance on AI, strong writing skills will always be a boon to your academic pursuits and professional life. Take the courses seriously and apply effort despite them being a requirement that may annoy you. Plus, you or your guardians are paying for every minute of instruction time, class participation, and graded assignment. Higher education is a privilege.

If you have any further questions or thoughts about first-year writing seminars, please post them below rather than creating yet another post. Having a centralized conversation and thread means your questions are more likely to be answered.

Does it sound right?

New cornell student here.. I am genuinely wondering why u guys dont use rate my professor. In my previous college there were hundreds of reviews for each professor and RARELY were you not able to find one... It was seen as due diligence in leaving a review for incoming students, especially in leaving positive reviews. Here most of them are not even registered, which is so weird to me. Is it because its such a big school? I feel like thats all the more reason to utilize it. Not really important im just more curious than anything

I come from a low-income family and I receive financial aid. In previous semesters, my parents were able to help me pay the remaining balance before each semester, but they are not able to contribute anymore. Has anyone been in a similar situation and know what the best options are for me to be able to pay my bursar bill before August? I've heard of federal loans being better than private loans, but not sure how/if I should go that path. I already emailed and tried to call the financial aid office but no response. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Went to download CourseGrab to try to get a spot in some classes that are full but it isn’t allowing me to download the app from any platform. I went to sign in directly on the site instead but it is not sending me notifications when classes have spots. Does anyone have any recommendations for other apps to use that can send notifications when class spots open???

side note- Coursicle has not yet inputted fall 2026 classes so was unable to use that app

Hey everyone, trying to figure out my schedule for the fall and could use some advice on whether I should drop my current First-Year Writing Seminar (FWS).

I got a 5 on AP Lang, so I know that excuses me from one of the two required FWS classes, meaning I only need to take one total during my time here.

My current schedule is:

• MATH 2210 (Linear Algebra)
• CS 1110 
• SPAN 1210
• AS 1102 
• WRIT 1968

The issue is that WRIT 1968 has a brutal 1.8-star rating on RateMyProf/course feedback, and since I only need one anyway, I'm heavily debating dropping it during pre-enrollment right now.

Should I just drop it and knock out my single required FWS in the spring with a better-rated professor, or is it risky to roll into the semester with no writing class at all? Would love to hear how upperclassmen handled this.

I'm an incoming freshman at Arts & Sciences and I'm looking to take one more distribution requirement class. Both of these seemed interesting to me, "The Uncanny" taught by Patricia Keller and "From new worlds to black holes" taught by Shami Chatterjee. Has anyone taken these classes under these professors? Looking for a fun class that isn't overly hard.

if Im interested in doing a part time internship during the semester that offers academic credit what is the best course of action? is it through independent study courses? or is there something else? im in the college of engineering

Hi, does anyone have any car insurance recommendations or trusted agents that they know of to call? I got a $220/month full coverage statement from State Farm for an economy car and I am wondering if this is reasonable? Thank you!

I’m doing a chemical engineering major as a transfer , but I am having a hard time deciding if i want to do the business major, does it really matter career wise? and if anyone is doing it or has done it was the workload too much?

Im assuming the business minor would satisfy the liberal studies requirements, since im having a hard time finding any minor that would be beneficial to my career that would also satisfy liberal studies. but if a business minor isn’t worth it i might rather take other liberal studies classes.

i’m already at 16 credit hours for just my core classes , 20 with PE and a liberal studies class as suggested by my academic counselor. I’m aware 20 credit hours is a lot and i’m a bit worried about balancing it all but i’m also aware it’s how it will be with chemE. any advice appreciated

Is anyone heading to the Philadelphia area between now and this weekend? I’m willing to pay for gas/food/your time. I have a couple of boxes to transport, can’t drive, and my original mode of transportation has fallen though

hi- I’m an incoming student in Spanish 2090 and wondering if anyone could PM me the syllabus from a past Spanish 2090 class? or if anyone has tips on what I can do to prepare for the class (I haven’t practiced in a while)

Why did Cornell move Frozen Apple to Noon?? This is such a downgrade

Got placed in a Lyon hall quad for this upcoming semester, I've looked all over the internet and there are no room tours or layout photos to be found and they were unable to tell me much on the phone. Could anyone that has seen one/lived in one give us some guidance on what the layout and available space look like? Thank you so much!

missed out :(

I'm an incoming freshman who's planning on doing CS through A&S. I'm currently registered for 2940 even though 1920 is a prerequisite. I've seen online that people that because you don't use any 1920 concepts in 2940, it should be fine, but I've also heard that Cornell is starting to enforce prereqs this year. Does anyone have any info on this? Will I somehow be barred from affiliating if they realize I skipped 1920?

As a CS major, I need to take either 1120 (which I have through Calc BC credit) or 1920 and one of 2940/2210/2310. I'm confused because the Bowers website says, "If only AP/CASE credit appears, then another critical math course must be taken at Cornell to affiliate." Does my taking 2940 satisfy this other critical math course?

I could take the CASE exam, but tbh I took calc 3 a while ago and am not confident I could pass. I also don't see the reason to take it if no one's going to enforce the prereq other than taking CS courses where 1920 is a prerequisite, but that's a later problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!