Wednesday, July 9, 2025 

Hello Class of 2029 and new transfer students,

Today is the day when you can start selecting your courses for the Fall 2025 semester on Garnet Gateway. If you have not yet set up a time to meet with your Summer Registration Consultant please consider doing so. You have until 4 PM Eastern on Wednesday, July 23, 2025 to enter your course selections into Garnet Gateway. All information on how to register and other resources to identify courses of interest to you are at your Summer Resources Lyceum Page under the section called “Registering for Fall 2025 Courses: Exploring the Liberal Arts and Academic Opportunities.” 

When you make your course selections on Garnet Gateway, please provide the following information:

• 1 top-choice First-Year Seminar (FYS) course
• 3 top-choice non-FYS courses
• 8 alternative FYS courses
• 12 alternative non-FYS courses

Transfer students need not sign up for an FYS. They should provide 4 top-choice non-FYS courses and 12 alternatives.

Instructions on how to register on Garnet Gateway are at this instruction page on the Bates Registrar website.

NOTE 1: If a course has more than one section (e.g., CHEM 107 offers 5 sections), you need only note the course (CHEM 107) once, and the Registrar will place you in whichever section does not time-conflict with the other courses that you’ve selected for your Fall 2025 schedule.

NOTE 2: Pay attention to your Mode of Inquiry requirements (which are discussed in the Summer Resources but about which you can also access information here) when selecting courses. It is recommended that students complete 1 to 2 MOIs in their first semester and that all MOIs be completed by the end of the sophomore year.

Required First-Year Seminar (FYS) for Students in the Class of 2029

The FYS is a core academic component of the First-Year Experience program. Each first-year student is required to take an FYS, which fulfills the W1 requirement of your General Education requirements (it is one of your 3 required W or writing-attentive courses taken over your time at Bates). Transfer students do not have to take an FYS. The FYS is a limited-enrollment course specifically designed for first-year students. Topics vary from year to year, but seminars represent a broad range of interdisciplinary issues and questions addressed within the tradition of the liberal arts.

First-year seminars enable entering students to work with faculty and other students in a small class; they provide engaging opportunities for students to sharpen their abilities in writing, communication, and research; and they foster an attitude of active participation in the educational process. First-year seminars carry course credit toward the baccalaureate degree and are offered only in the fall semester. Your first-year seminar instructor is also your pre-major academic advisor, and you will work with them over your first and into your second year to navigate the curriculum, explore your interests, and select a major area of study (major declaration occurs during a student’s second year at Bates).

You can learn more about the 2025 FYS courses by going to the First-Year Seminar Explorer. The Explorer also contains a worksheet on its last page to help you organize the courses you are interested in taking.

It is a good idea to take a look at the course schedule before you communicate or meet with your Summer Registration Consultant so you have an idea of what to talk about with them. 

Michael Rocque, Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of the Faculty 
Kim Trauceniek, Senior Associate Dean of Students
Nick Dressler, Associate Dean of Students for Residence Life and First-Year Experience
Catie Luedee, Associate Director for Outdoor Education and Programs
Luke Allen ‘22, Coordinator of Campus Life Programming and First-Year Experience