Since 2003, UC schools have offered Freshman Seminars to freshmen in addition to the obligatory lectures, discussions, and labs.  Freshman Seminars are one-unit courses offered exclusively to freshmen.  These courses are graded Pass/No Pass and are designed to give students a break from the rigor of their everyday schedules.  Each Freshman Seminar has no more than 20 students, allowing professors to interact with the participating students on a level not possible in large lecture halls.
Freshman Seminars allow students to learn about a subject that may be of interest to them but may not necessarily have anything to do with their majors with less time commitment than an average class.  Some students at UC San Diego opted to take a Freshman Seminar called The Physics of Surfing.  This popular course combines hard science with the passion and pastime of many UCSD students—catching the perfect wave.
Professors strive to intrigue students with their Freshman Seminar topics, and perhaps convince a few to consider pursuing a major in their department.  This spring, UCSD offered Freshman Seminars with titles such as: Urban Agriculture; Crime Scene Investigations; Cult Films of the 1950s – 2000s; Art, Language and Culture of Flamenco; Math in the Movies; Beginning Ukulele ("prior experience not needed but should not be afraid of singing"); Slavery in the Work of Mark Twain; Psychology of Humor; and Christian Exorcism in Modernity.  Among UC Davis’s Freshman Seminars were American Roots Music, Who’s Afraid of Freud?, Physics of Baseball, Contemporary Shamanism, Life of the Poor in Victorian London, Zombies, and Introduction to Cryptology.