On the other hand, Freshman Seminar taught me a little over nothing about college life and Howard University. I didn't learn how to use the metro trains or buses, how to get a library card, what RSVP points are, what a provost does, who our dean and department chairs are, and the like. I had to learn everything about Howard University from the upperclassmen I met in the Honors program and the organizations I'm involved with at school. Granted, Freshman Seminar's uselessness in this matter has taught me self-reliance and improved my assertiveness. I didn't have to rely on a required course to tell me what to expect from college and professors, how grades work, financial aid tips, how to take an audit course, change a class to pass/fail, take a consortium course or study abroad, and where the school of social work is located. To be honest, I still don't know how to do some of what I've stated, however, I'll figure it out.
In the end, I've become acclimated to the university and learned about African-American history simultaneously. Though I'm not sure how a student who isn't involved in campus life would know how the school works, I'm confident they too will figure it out. I must say though that perhaps I would have made fewer mistakes had Freshman Seminar been there. Say it required at least an hour or 2 of proven study time (a form with a tutor's signature for example) a week so freshmen students don't spend all of their free time playing Call of Duty. Or perhaps the course could have required that students meet with their TAs once a month to discuss their classes and college life and ask any questions. My favorite is always, "what do you wish you had known your freshman year?" That questions seems to always bring up teachers and the administration building, but it helps freshman students to weed out the more secretive details of college life and make less mistakes.