Freshmen Learning Communities (FLCs) are designed around clusters of freshmen-level courses tailored to a particular topic. If you select an FLC, you will take a group of core courses related to a common theme during your first semester at Georgia State. You will only have to register for the learning community of your choice to be assigned to each of the sections in the course cluster. During your second semester, you will take one course connected with the FLC, in addition to courses of your choice. If you enroll in an FLC, you will take all of the specified courses with students who have selected the same interest group, allowing you to get to know many fellow students who share your same interests. Each group has one or more faculty advisors and several student mentors. Together, this group creates a small, friendly community within a large research university.

First-year college students deserve a formative, integrative academic experience on which to build lifelong strengths and perspectives. This experience should include not just the courses they take, but the combination, sequence, and fit of those courses. The sections included in each FLC interest group were selected with these goals in mind. Each FLC course builds on the other by exploring unique yet related fields of knowledge. In combination, the courses in each interest-group cluster can provide you with opportunities for learning that will benefit you throughout your college days and beyond. Although located in the heart of a fast-paced city, Georgia State University is an ideal place to develop lifelong skills and build relationships. The new semester-based core curriculum, implemented in Fall 1998, simplifies transferability between Georgia institutions and makes it much easier to change majors. The new undergraduate core facilitates the learning communities concept by both providing the most ideal selection of core courses for various interest groups and simultaneously fulfilling the general education requirements for most majors. Other benefits of learning communities include the following:

• Makes registering easier. You can register for one FLC rather than separate courses.
• Makes advising easier. The FLC serves as an advising tool for the students unsure of how to maneuver through the general education part of their degree.
• Creates a rich freshmen experience. You quickly will get to know fellow students, faculty, and upperclassmen.
• Provides a forum for discussion of new ideas.