A First-year Interest Group (FIG) is a small community of incoming first-year students that take a group of classes together during their first quarter at the University of Washington.
The FIG program began in 1987 as a means of creating small, intentional learning communities within the large university setting. Over its 30+ year history, it has become a cornerstone experience for new students to support their transition to the UW. FIGs are offered during the first quarter on campus and have clusters of classes linked to a GEN ST 199 seminar course facilitated by peer instructors.
What's in a FIG? FIGs are built to be flexible — so you can select a full FIG or add classes to a FIG. Watch this short video to get an idea of how FIGs work.
Just take a class for fun! Sometimes it's nice to forget all the prerequisites and general education classes and just take a class you're interested in. I've had the most fun with VLPA classes and just more creative artistic classes that having nothing to do with my major.
—Jenise Dong (she/her), FIG Leader
120 Mary Gates Hall Box 352825
Seattle, WA 98195-2825
Mary Gates Hall 120: Academic Year - Mon-Fri 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m. Summer - Mon-Thurs 7:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., Fri 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Commuter and Transfer Commons (HUB 141): Academic Year - Mon-Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Breaks & Summers: Closed
Closed during University holidays.
206-543-4905 (Voice)
206-207-5564 (Text)
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