Common First Year
Environmental Design
Common First Year Environmental Design
Common First YearThe first year is spent in a cohort-style program, called Environmental Design, that provides students with shared values, common principles, and meaningful relationships that continue to benefit them as they enter their specialized areas of interest and beyond. |
Design Your Success = Use Your APDesign Resources
Studio Environment
You will enroll in a design studio each semester. You will have an assigned desk in your studio space which will serve as your “home base” for your coursework each semester. Your design studio class will meet 9 hours each week, so you will get to know your professor and your studio mates well. Your studio will become your family away from home and will provide great support!
Academic Advisors and Faculty
Your academic advisor is here to assist you with navigating your first year as an APDesign student and
beyond. Your advisor will:
- Meet with you at least once each semester to plan your schedule and discuss academic programs.
- Help you navigate college and university resources.
- Help you map out your educational plan.
APDesign faculty are one of our greatest resources. Your studio professor will be with you in class 9 hours each week. Professors for your lecture courses hold office hours and welcome you to stop by during those hours.
Peer Educators
Each fall first-year studio will be assigned 4-5 Peer Educators. Peer Educators are upper-level APDesign students who are here to help you with the transition to K-State and APDesign. Your Peer Educators will:
- Serve as mentors
- Meet with you weekly in studio
- Share their insights and tips for success
- Be familiar with your studio projects and provide tips for balancing studio with your other classes and outside activities
First-Generation Mentors
Did your parents graduate from a four-year college or university? If not, you are a First-Generation College Student! K-State is committed to providing support to all students as they transition from high school to college, but we know this transition can sometimes be more challenging for first generation students. APDesign partners with the Office of First-Generation Students to pair upper-level student mentors with first-gen freshmen.
APDPro
APDPro is a professional development program offered to you as an APDesign student. The mission of APDPro is to
enhance your experience and provide you with a competitive advantage as you transition to the workplace. The programs available to you through APDPro will give you the career skills employers are looking for via workshops, lectures, seminars, professional mentoring and networking opportunities.
- More than 75% of APDesign students participate in APDPro each year.
ENVDinners
ENVDinners are held each Monday in the fall semester and every other Monday in the spring semester. The Residential Learning Assistants (RLAs) for the APDesign CAT Communities plan dinners and invite different guests to dinner each week. All first-year ENVD students are invited to dinner at Kramer Dining Center each week. Past guests include Dean Tim de Noble, first-year faculty, academic advisors, Peer Educators and APDesign student organization leaders.
First-year APDesign students take six common courses
Non-Baccalaureate Degrees
The 5-year accredited non-baccalaureate degrees we offer are the Master of Architecture, the Master of Interior Architecture, the Master of Industrial Design, the Master of Landscape Architecture, and the Master of Regional and Community Planning. You will begin your education by taking undergraduate courses and will apply to the graduate school in the spring semester of the third year. Following admission to the graduate school, you will complete 30 or more credit hours of graduate coursework (a GPA of 3.00 in all graduate coursework must be maintained) and graduate with an accredited master’s degree.
Academic Progress
- You will apply to K-State and APDesign as an undergraduate student in Environmental Design Studies (the required first year for all APDesign non-baccalaureate degree-seeking students.)
- You will apply for admission to a specific degree program in February of your first year.
- You will apply for financial assistance and scholarships for your first through third year of study as an undergraduate student.
- You will apply to the Graduate School in spring of your third year.
- Admission to the Graduate School is based on academic performance in the last 60 hours of credit earned and the requirements are:
- 3.00-4.00GPA – regular admission
- 2.75-2.99GPA – probation
- 2.50-2.74GPA – probation by department request (rarely granted - other selection criteria, as determined by the department, may apply.)
- No bachelor's degrees will be granted. After completion of the degree program you will graduate with a master's degree.
- One summer of coursework is required.
- You will apply for financial assistance for the fourth and fifth year as a graduate student, which will mean the loss of federal grants, but may result in larger awards of assistance.