The Perfect Start Your first year at Rollins will be full of firsts—from meeting your roommate to studying new subjects. Explore the many different ways we make sure your journey of a lifetime gets off to a great start.
We’ve worked hard to crack the first-year code by crafting supportive, personalized experiences to help you transition to living and learning at Rollins. And while everyone’s first year is as unique as they are, they all have a few key things in common like a focus on community building and mentorship. It’s one of the reasons U.S. News & World Report ranks Rollins’ first-year experience among the best in the country. Here are just a few of the ways we ensure that the first year of your #RollinsLife is nothing short of spectacular.
interdisciplinary, experiential, and relational learning you’ll do at Rollins. Because of Cristina Toppin ’21’s RCC, religion professor Todd French’s Discipline: Crafting Subjectivities, Shaping Lives, she decided to major in religious studies along with political science.
Groundwork for Greatness
The cornerstone of your first year is your Rollins College Conference (RCC), a seminar-style course designed for incoming students that acts as a roadmap for your Rollins journey. Whether it’s learning about the science behind the headlines in Physics for Future Presidents or creating your own spirit animal in Foundations in Sculpture, your RCC course provides a foundation for the kind of 20 | ROLLINS
My RCC let me explore a field of study that I didn’t even know was possible. — Cristina Toppin ’21
“My RCC was an opportunity to explore a field of study that I didn’t even know was possible,” says Toppin, who returned to her RCC as a peer mentor. “It was cool to see first-years embrace the same spirit of curiosity that I felt.”
Trusted Friends
Even before you’ve fully moved into your dorm room, you’ll have the support of Rollins’ peer mentors, second-, third-, and fourth-year Tars who are ready to help you out with everything from preparing for your first class presentation to deciding which meal plan to choose. It’s just another way that Rollins has mastered mentorship in and out of the classroom. “As soon as I came to Rollins, I realized there was support everywhere,” says Raul Tavarez Ramirez ’21, who also served as a peer mentor and an assistant hall director. “It’s not a place where you show up and people tell you what to do. It’s a place where people listen to what you want and then work with you to make it happen.”
