Student pathways

The Early Start Experience

Deadline: Applications will be accepted, as long as space remains, until August 1, 2027.

Dates: August 23- September 3, 2027

Cost: Standard ULethbridge tuition fees for one course (part of student’s total 40 courses)

Are you worried about your first semester of university? Nervous about meeting people, or building the skills needed to succeed academically? The U of L Early Start Experience is a two-week course to help you! LBED 1967: Early Start Experience is specially designed to promote student success and to ease the transition from high school to university for incoming first year students.”

STUDENTS WILL:

  • Get a full course credit through LBED 1967, Early Start Experience
  • Build social networks with a diverse group of incoming students.
  • Develop the skills & resources needed to be successful in university.
  1.  Acceptance to the Early Start Experience is conditional on being accepted to ULethbridge for the Fall 2027 term. ESE is open to students in all majors/programs.
  2. Registration:  You will be registered in Summer Session III for the course LBED 1967, as an Open Studies student.
  3. Registration opens May 5, 2027.
  4. Complete the Open Studies application form (PDF) at ulethbridge.ca/sites/ross/files/imported/forms/OpenStudiesRegForm.pdf  and select “Early Start” in the "I am registering in" section.
  5. There is an initial $140.00 fee ($40.00 open studies fee/$100.00 tuition deposit). Once you send in the form you will be contacted about payment information.

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?

  • The program will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, Monday to Friday, starting on the morning of Monday, August 23rd. (Note: We will end at noon on Friday, September 3rd).
  • We are not expecting you to sit through lectures from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day for two weeks! There will be 2 to 3 hours of lecture per day most days, but that will be broken up and interspersed with lots of activities, tours, discussion time, work on homework and projects, etc.

To get more information, get on our mailing list, or to receive the application forms, please contact:

Dr. Brendan Cummins
School of Liberal Education 
Email: brendan.cummins@uleth.ca 
Phone: 403-332-5281

WHAT PAST STUDENTS HAVE GOTTEN FROM EARLY START:

“I would recommend the Early Start course to anyone, whether you are a new student or transfer student…This course highlights some of the most important skills to learn and use while also making it a fun interactive experience to get to know more about the University community, expectations, and connections.” 2026 Early Start Student

“The course prepared me and gave me the opportunity to help others with their studies, learn more about my major, and ready myself for the years to come. I would recommend the course a million times over and can not stress how thankful I am to the professors and teacher assistants.”  2026 Early Start Student

“I am very glad I took this course, not only for the credits, but also the experience. If I could do a presentation on it every year to encourage first years to do it, I would. The changes I’ve noticed in how I feel about university have been clear this past week and it makes me excited.” 2026 Early Start Student

For more on what past students and teaching assistants have to say about ESE - https://youtu.be/YNWJfnY-iuM