Texas Tech University

First-Year Experience Requirement

FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE REGISTRATION

Make sure to register for one of our First-Year Experience (FYE) courses, and its linked Leaning Community Group, when you register for classes.

Please follow all instructions from your primary academic advisor for your major.  RRO is a fun but FAST experience, and the Honors College wants to prioritize your time spent with your major advisor.  Your overall degree plan is your foundation for everything else, so it should be your primary focus during RRO.  Because of this, Honors advisors will email information prior to RRO and we will schedule advising appointments with you during the Fall 2022 semester.  Of course, we'll also be available for a come-and-go opportunity to meet you in person on Day 2 of your session!

Regardless of major, all incoming first-year Honors students are required to participate in the Honors College First-Year Experience (FYE) program. So as you're putting together a Fall 2022 course schedule, you'll need to enroll in one Honors First-Year Experience (FYE) course, with its linked Learning Community Group.

The First-Year Experience (FYE) course is an Honors section specifically designed for newly admitted Honors students. These courses are taught by top faculty across campus and capped at enrollments not exceeding 22 students. Students may select from a varied list of courses based on their degree requirements and/or personal interests. All FYE courses provide some form of Core Curriculum or lower-level degree credit. See our Fall 2022 FYE course list.

The Learning Community Group (LCG) is a complementary component of the FYE. It is led by two Honors student mentors whose job it is to help first year students as they transition to university life. Each LCG section is matched to a specific FYE course, so students will take the LCG with the same classmates as in their FYE course. All LCG sections provide one hour of course credit, and online participation in all weekly LCG sessions is MANDATORY.

Professors of the FYE courses, alongside the student mentors for the LCG sections, form a new student's first support team within the Honors College.  The student mentors are kind, knowledgeable, and approachable sources of guidance and advice for their first-year students, and we encourage you to take advantage of the information and resources to which they connect you, and the support they offer, so that you truly feel that the TTU Honors College is a place of belonging for you.

Selecting an Honors FYE Course

A full list of FYE courses and their corresponding LCG sections may be found here: Fall 2022 FYE course list. There is no comprehensive list of FYE courses available on Raiderlink, although you can look up each course individually via the Section Search Tool or in the Browse Classes portal.

The FYE program is a mandatory portion of the Honors curriculum. Incoming First-year student Honors students must have one FYE course and its corresponding LCG section on their schedules one week before the first day of fall classes or else they will be removed from the College. We recommend finding an FYE course before planning any of your other courses since FYE courses have limited availability and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Because FYE courses are matched to specific LCG sections, both times must work in your schedule for you to take either. If the LCG time conflicts with a course in your schedule, you must choose a different FYE course altogether. If you are using the Schedule Builder Tool on Raiderlink, it is important to note that the system does not accurately link FYEs to their specific LCGs. Reference the times on our provided list found here: Fall 2022 FYE course list, then manually block these times on Schedule Builder before adding other classes. Do not forget to block your LCG time, as well. To avoid these issues, we recommend using the Registration system's Plan Ahead tool.

Honors FYE Course Availability

FYE courses fill on a first-come, first-served basis during summer registration. If the remaining course choices are not your top preferences, you are still required to make a course selection. The Honors advisors are happy to provide guidance should you have trouble selecting an FYE course, but we are unable to override students into FYE courses once they have filled.

Registering Successfully for an Honors FYE Course

Registration for FYE courses opens along with general registration during your designated RRO Advising & Registration session. Unlike permit-required non-FYE/standard Honors courses, students do not need to obtain permission from an Honors advisor before registering for their chosen FYE course & linked LCG section.

Instructions on how to register successfully for an FYE course & linked LCG section are provided on the Honors RRO Step-by-Step Registration Guide webpage and there is additional help within the Honors RRO FAQ webpage.

Please note: 
Incoming first-year Honors students are not required to meet with an Honors advisor before, during, or following your RRO Advising & Registration session date.

If you feel like you need assistance with anything related to the Honors College, please contact us via email (honors.advising@ttu.edu). If you would like to request an appointment with an Honors advisor at any point during the summer, you make initiate that request via our online scheduling system, Booksy.

Honors College