Ahead of fall 2026 advanced registration, The Daily Pennsylvanian compiled a list of four types of special courses that Penn's undergraduate students can enroll in.
Academically Based Community Service courses
Established in 1992 through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, ABCS courses allow undergraduate and graduate students to work with West Philadelphia organizations to “help solve critical campus and community problems.”
“The goal of these courses is to bring Penn students into collaborative partnerships outside the University,” Netter Center Director of Community Engaged Scholarship Laura Ogburn told the DP.
Ogburn explained that ABCS courses are “designed to be collaborative” and help students “form meaningful relationships with the other communities that live in the neighborhood.”
“It can be hard for Penn students to get off campus and really learn about the place they're living in, and this is a way to get to know the community and become a community member in West Philadelphia,” Ogburn added.
Enrolled students work with one of the Netter Center’s six K-12 University-Assisted Community Schools, local nonprofits, faith groups, and other organizations. Many of these students continue working with these organizations after they have completed their ABCS course and maintain “long-term partnerships,” according to Ogburn.
“It’s just a very different way of learning,” Ogburn said. “It really breaks down the walls around campus and brings a totally different dimension to not just what you’re learning in a class, but how you’re learning it.”
Each year, Penn offers 80-90 undergraduate and graduate ABCS courses to over 1800 students.
There are currently 27 ABCS courses offered for spring 2026 — including “The Art of Speaking,” where students mentor Philadelphia public school students and “Chemistry of Dementia Risk Factors and Community Based Prevention,” where they work with a senior center.
SNF Paideia courses
The SNF Paideia Program has offered courses across Penn's four undergraduate schools that aim to help students “serve their communities as resourceful, engaged citizens” since fall 2019.
In an interview with the DP, Executive Director of SNF Paideia Leah Anderson highlighted that courses are "offered from a variety of disciplines" and most do not require prerequisites.
“We really view dialogue as a practice that all disciplines certainly engage in and contribute to in meaningful and substantive ways,” Anderson said.
SNF Paideia courses are meant to “create curricular opportunities to learn about dialogue, from dialogue, and how to dialogue through the lens of diverse disciplinary perspectives and concerns.”
“The learning that you have in those courses you can take with you into your major and into your career in life,” Anderson said.
SNF Paideia is offering 25 courses this spring, and will offer 27 courses in fall 2026.
First-year undergraduates also have the opportunity to apply to become SNF Paideia Fellows, a three-year program that emphasizes “public engagement and community building through meaningful dialogue across difference.”
Penn Global Seminars
Penn launched its Global Seminars program meant to “embed overseas travel into undergraduate seminars” in fall 2016.
These seminars are open to all full-time undergraduate students. Students can apply for a Global Seminar during the advance registration period in the semester prior to taking them. The applications are reviewed by a committee of Penn Abroad staff and the seminar’s faculty leaders.
PGS courses are “ideal for students who wish to explore a facet of another country’s culture or history under the guidance of a Penn faculty member,” and for students who have limited flexibility in studying abroad for a full semester.
Students enrolled in PGS courses pay a $950 flat fee to attend an international trip with a faculty leader — with financial aid packages applicable to those who qualify. The trips occur during winter, spring, or summer breaks.
There are 28 global seminars offered this semester that allow students to travel to locations including Greece, Botswana, and Vietnam.
First-year seminars
Offered every semester since Fall 1999, Penn’s first-year seminars allow students to “engage directly” in a smaller classroom setting “devoted to a significant intellectual endeavor.”
These seminars, which cover subjects from chemistry to anthropology, are open to and “highly recommended” for first-year students.
There are 33 first-year seminars — with class sizes ranging from 10 to 30 students — being offered this semester. Each seminar also fulfills a general education sector requirement in the College. Course offerings include “Modern South Asia and the World,” “Structural Biology,” and “Dangerous Literature.”
