Living & Learning Communities
First-Year FAQ
Q: Do you offer any special programs for first-year students?
A: Yes. Occidental offers an academic/residential program called the Living and Learning Communities (LLC), which is designed to foster academic and personal success. As a first-year student, you live in the same residence hall with other members of your fall seminars.
Q: What’s the point of Living and Learning Communities?
A: The program was launched in 2001 to help you make the transition from high school to college. You have the opportunity to interact and form bonds with one another and your professors inside and outside the classroom. Living in the same hall with your classmates makes it easier to form study groups, peer-edit papers, work on projects, or provide moral support.
Q: How do I qualify for LLC?
A: As a first-year student, you automatically qualify to participate in LLC.
Q: What is a cultural studies seminar?
A: Cultural studies seminars, which focus on critical analysis and intensive writing instruction, examine human culture from a variety of perspectives. Recent topics have included “The Theater of Shakespeare,” “Water and Environmental Change,” and “Feminism and Philosophy.” The seminars, together with a satisfactory writing evaluation, satisfy the first-year writing requirement.
Q: How many of us are in each seminar?
A: No more than 16 students.
Q: Do I get to pick my seminar?
A: You are asked to select eight seminars from a list of about 30 and rank them in order of preference. You generally get one of your top three choices.
Q. Are there any other first-year requirements?
A: In the spring, you’ll enroll in one of several interdisciplinary colloquia. Recent colloquia topics have included “As We See Each Other: Mutual Images of East and West” (History, Politics, American Studies), “Shades of LA: Contact and Conflict in Modern Los Angeles” (English and Comparative Literary Studies, Politics), and “Represent! Power, Resistance, and the Politics of Identity” (Religious Studies, Music).
Q: Do the seminars have regular weekly sessions?
A: The seminars are scheduled to meet in the classroom from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. three times a week. It’s not unusual, however, for a professor to join you and your colleagues for pizza and an evening study session, or for your class to plan a field trip to hear a speaker or see a performance related to the seminar topic.
Q: What other courses can I take the first year?
A: That’s up to you. The cultural studies seminars and colloquia count for 12 credits (four for the fall seminar and eight for the colloquium). You don’t have to declare a major until the end of your sophomore year, so the first year is a great time to explore a variety of courses or fulfill some of the Core requirements.
Q: Who else lives in the residence halls?
A: That depends. You live in one of 10 residence halls, together with sophomores, juniors and seniors. You might not be roommates or live on the same floor with students from your seminar, but you will all live together in the same hall for the first year. Most halls also have more than one LLC, so you’ll have the opportunity to get to know a lot of different people.
Q: Do you consider other factors when assigning residence hall space?
A: Our first goal is to place you in the seminar of your choice. After you are assigned to a residence hall, we try to match you up with another student based on your Residence Information Forms, which list characteristics and personal likes and dislikes (e.g. night or morning person, neat or messy).
Q: What does the residence hall staff do for the LLCs?
A: Residence hall staff, faculty associates within the halls, and the faculty teaching the cultural studies seminars collaborate on study sessions, field trips, and special programs on campus that relate to your seminar. The staff also works to create an inclusive community and help you in your transition to college life.
Q: What do students think of the LLC program?
A: You can read more from the students’ points-of-view in “One Class Speaks Out