As undergraduate representatives and Penn State faculty prepare to evaluate the freshman seminar program, it's a good time for all students to think about what worked -- or is working -- and what hasn't, since this brand of classes expanded to become a requirement a few years ago.

What most people can agree on is that these small, discussion-focused classes for first-year students have been positive additions to the offerings at this large institution.

Close course contact with tenure-track faculty and well-respected instructors here lets students get to know top professors at an early stage in their college careers. The smaller enrollments involved -- some classes have as few as nine people -- can foster long-lasting friendships that start in the seminar room and go beyond.

The best seminars, we've found, have been those that introduce freshmen to the resources of the university, while focusing on interdisciplinary topics and giving them a hint of what they might expect to see in upper-level classes within their majors.

We have valued the variety of course topics offered, and don't think those choices should be watered down to over-standardize the program. Give freshmen the basics, but also give them specific content to help them decide if this is the college or major where they want to be.

Instructors should be flexible in designing their seminars. They should be open to engaging the ideas and concerns each student brings to the seminar table. And they should be sensitive to the fact that some among us adjust to college life more quickly than others.

Scheduling the bulk of freshman seminars in the fall semester would increase the effectiveness of activities designed to help students settle in -- such as going to the library, visiting campus museums, learning about Penn State history or just having a fun forum to complain about dorm living. By the spring, many are past the basics and would find some of these aspects boring.

Also, keep seminars informal to make students feel more comfortable about opening up and talking about the questions they really have about attending university.

We understand that last-minute changes force some instructors to be thrown into leading these seminars, but most of the teachers for these class periods should really have a passion for making them varied and exciting.

We look forward to seeing how this good program gets even better.