that all incoming freshmen take the freshman seminar; other schools have the program as optional, but recommended. Most first-year seminars are a semester long and start at student orientation. From orientation, students enroll in the course, which gives them a variety of college experiences, from tours of the campus to a breakdown of how to study for tests. Many schools even offer students help with purchasing books from the school's bookstore. For instance, as part of Mitchell College's First-Year Experience (FYE) program for transitioning into college, first-year students are assigned to Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) in their first semester according to a common academic interest or major. These groups explore the topics and issues related to their chosen path. Those who arrive at Mitchell undecided about their academic route are also grouped together to allow for a broader survey of options. Students are encouraged to communicate their unique perspective and make connections through co-curricular activities. Colby College's outdoor orientation COOT (Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips) program is designed to ease new students' transition into college and introduce them to Maine's cultural and natural resources. COOT features an on-campus orientation and a variety of trips, including hiking trips at Acadia National Park and Mount Katahdin canoe trips on the Kennebec and Moose Rivers, and other trips around the state. There are over 60 different trips, designed to appeal to incoming students with a variety of interests and fitness levels, and more "front country" trips have been added in recent years, including service- and arts-oriented options such as an organic farm stay and a challenge course. COOT leaders are chosen from upperclass students who apply for these positions, and are expected to help the students both during and after the trip with the adjustment to campus life. In 1991, Norman Adler initiated the Penn Reading Project at the University of Pennsylvania, an integrative introduction to liberal learning for college freshmen newly arriving on campus. Subsequently, Freshman Reading Projects have been adopted widely as part of the first-year experience at many college campuses. Program credits As a standard for most first-year seminars, many colleges give students one to two credits for completing the program, such as UC Irvine. Many schools, such as the State University of New York at Old Westbury in Old Westbury, New York, merge the program into a second course which helps to satisfy New York's general education requirement. In addition,