First-Year Programs
Description
University Life (UNIV 111) is an engaging course designed to help first-year students transition well to Gardner-Webb, flourish during their first semester, and be equipped with tools and resources to succeed throughout their educational journey. The course familiarizes students with campus supports, helps them develop meaningful relationships and a service-oriented disposition, provides them with strategies to thrive in college, and introduces them to thinking academically through a Christian worldview. First-year students must be enrolled in this course their first semester at the university. Students who fail the course must repeat it the following semester.
As a result of completing University Life 111, Gardner-Webb students will be able to:
- Demonstrate awareness of available campus support resources and services
- Determine appropriate success strategies and goals for excelling in college and beyond
- Understand the importance of relationship building and productive teamwork in academic settings
- Identify how serving others connects to the GWU mission
- Apply a Christian worldview to their unique educational journey
All first-year students are required to take University Life (UNIV 111/ 2-hour credit) in their first semester of enrollment at Gardner-Webb University regardless of AP credit or advanced first-year status. A traditional first-year student is one that is entering college within a one-to-three-year span after graduating from a high-school program. An advanced first-year student (i.e., early college high school) is one who has completed high school and college-level studies concurrently.
Students with more than 15 hours of transfer work (non-AP credit or dual-enrollment credit) are not required to take UNIV 111. For academic advising purposes, a transfer student is a student with 15 hours or more that is not considered dual-enrollment or AP credit.