Despite the wealth of inquiry focused on the first-year seminar (FYS), little research has examined the pedagogical components of such courses. There is also a lack of research that assesses the extent to which FYS influence students' intrapersonal, interpersonal, and epistemological development. The goal of this study was to qualitatively explore students' experiences in FYS in order to determine the course components that may initiate student development. Participants took part in semi-structured interviews that were constructed according to the tenets of Mezirow's (2000) Transformative Learning Theory. Interview data provided preliminary evidence that experiential discussions, dynamic class activities, engaging course texts, and class visits by student affairs staff may act as developmental catalysts. These results may prove useful to instructors looking to promote development, and to future researchers focusing on the areas of student development and the first-year experience.