ECS First Year Experience

WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE!

Welcome to the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at California State University, Fullerton! Your first year as an ECS student is an important one in which you have opportunities to make new friends, learn more about majors, join student organizations and participate in events across the college and campus. Learning to manage all your new responsibilities, courses and activities can be a difficult transition for many first-year students. As such, this section of the ECS website is dedicated to providing important information related to your first-year success.

You will find information on:

  • Registration
  • Student involvement and enrichment opportunities via TitanLink including events, organizations and news articles
  • ECS major information and details
  • ECS Dean's Office Contacts
  • Support & Services including scholarships and tutoring information

 Please use this as a guide and resource while navigating your first year as an ECS student.

First Year Banner

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what should you expect?

In your first year you may find life is different in many ways:

  • Freedom (and new responsibilities)
  • Things move faster
  • Help is available – but you need to be proactive and get it
  • You may end up spending more time on campus than expected

Your first year may feel overwhelming but it is important to know that ECS faculty and staff are committed to supporting all students, including you. Success in ECS begins with a positive first year transition in which each student has the ability to find and access the resources they need to do well in school.

For more information on what to expect in your first year, read below:

More on what to Expect

Freedom (and responsibilities)

for many students, the first big difference noticed is that they can do what they want. Students may no longer have parents telling them to get up, checking to see if they have finished homework, making them eat healthy, or imposing a curfew.

But with freedom comes responsibilities. Now you need to:

  • Get your homework done on time, Eat well enough to keep you healthy and alert
  • Get enough sleep to function well the next day, and week
  • Do the laundry (your roommate will appreciate it)
  • Set aside time to study
  • Manage time and deadlines
  • Find time to relax and exercise
  • Get yourself up for class

 Things move faster

In the classroom, college moves quicker than high school. Professors speed through information much more rapidly than high school teachers, sometimes covering a new subject every week.

What that means for you is:

  • You need to keep up with reading and homework – professors are not your parents, they won’t check on you
  • You need to learn a lot more material for tests
  • Even if you did well in high school, you need to learn how to study better, more effectively, or you will be lost

Help is available – but you need to be proactive and get it

  • Professors have office hours and can meet by appointment.  But you need to seek it out – you need to get to the help yourself
  • Contact the ECS Student Success Center if you need help with your academic, career, and personal development plans, or academic advising.

 

You may end up spending more time on campus than expected

CSUF has over 375 clubs and organizations to suit a variety of interests and needs, including social, cultural, academic, sport, faith, community service, and more. Clubs and organizations support the mission of the University by providing active involvement in co-curricular experiences. They also help to provide valuable leadership and organizational skill development opportunities. With so many opportunites to become an acitve member of the CSUF community, students want to stay on or near campus as much as they can. Even commuter students who live at home and drive to campus want to stay all day, to catch up on homework or just hang out on campus with friends.