<p>My daughter just completed her 1st semester registration a few weeks ago... I was surprised to see that she was required to enter such a long list of courses as back-up to her 1st choices. I am assuming that every effort is made to give students their 1st choice courses. What has been your experience with registration and course scheduling?</p>
<p>I got my first choice elective, Linguistics, which is an awesome class btw; however, I know another person who was placed in Economics which I believe was one of his last choices. So, I'm not sure how things will turn out for you.</p>
<p>ok so class of 2012 got our housing assignments yesterday and i was placed in harris hall, the dorm that houses all first year CHOICE students at bucknell. i am not interested in being involved in CHOICE (kind of the opposite, actually) so i was wondering if any of you who go/went to bu know how the dorm is divided up. a lot of other kids in harris are really curious about it, as well. thaaanks</p>
<p>try to sign in again. they accidently put the assignments up to early and some may change.</p>
<p>i'm looking for a college in the mid- to upper-atlantic area that has a good science department (biology) and i was recommended by a friend to look at bucknell. you think that bucknell has a good science dept? i'm looking to go to dental school. does bucknell have pre-professional advising?</p>
<p>is bucknell for me?</p>
<p>quick stat check:</p>
<p>competitive hs
GPA - Weighted: 93.00
Class Size: 230, doesn't rank</p>
<p>Scores:</p>
<p>SAT: 770 M 650 CR 670 W
SAT II: Math Level 2 (IIC): 770, Bio-E: 650, Physics: 730, Chem: 660</p>
<p>ECs:</p>
<p>NHS (11)
Span NHS (11)
jazz band (9, 10, 11)
pit band- plays for school plays (11)
newspaper (9, 10, 11)
sadd (10, 11)
spanish club (10, 11)
intramural basketball (10)
math team (10, 11)
hospital- food service (150+ hours)
hospital- admitting (40 hours)
emt (100+ hours)
Honors and Awards: 1st honors (10,11)
2nd honors (9)</p>
<p>Eric,</p>
<p>As always you come thru w/ great info. and advice in the most recent "Class Schedule" post. Thanks! I have an additional question as a follow-up to your explanation on purchasing books. I've been buying school books for years as my children are in a private school where books are not supplied. While our school sells all the required books in our bookstore, they also publish a list of required books by course, along with the ISBN#'s and front cover photo well in advance of the start of school so that we have the option to shop around for used and discounted books. This has saved us substantially each year. Does Bucknell publish book requirements by course anywhere? That would be such a great service to the students!</p>
<p>A simple question: do the laundry machines use "smart cards" or quarters? And approx. how much is a load?</p>
<p>You can go to the bucknell bookstore website (there's a link to it on the upper right corner of the bucknell homepage), and look up the booklist by semester and course number. the online booklist will give you the name of the book and the author and prices. No ISBN though. I usually email my professors before the semester starts and they are all nice enough to give me the ISBN so there is no mix-up over the edition number. But for that you have to know which professor you have for which course. that is easy to find out from your second semester onwards but i don't know for entering students.</p>
<p>Laundry machines use quarters. Its $1 for the washer and $1 for the dryer.</p>
<p>Satn87 - Thanks! Sounds like first-year students will probably have to buy their books in the bookstore their 1st semester. They don't get their schedules until orientation. Beyond first-year/1st semester, how soon do students have their schedules for each semester?</p>
<p>One correction - starting this fall, you will use your BU ID card for laundry in addition to access to residence halls.</p>
<p>I just attended a Bison Gathering and just wanted to post a little more about the new BUID cards...</p>
<p>Using the BUID cards to access residence halls and other buildings will be ready when school begins. This will be through the use of proximity chips which do not require you to swipe the card. I was under the impression that you could leave it in your bag and move your bag near the sensor. However, the laundry machines will not be converted until a little later. It might still be a good idea to send some quarters (or pick them up in Marts Hall).</p>
<p>the new proximity systems are great, though if the new ones at bucknell are like those where i live, being able to activate them from a card in a large bag may be asking a bit much. perhaps more of a 'hold up your wallet from six inches away' deal. </p>
<p>and as far as laundry goes... finally! bucknell student government has only been pleading for card-operated facilities... forever. but it does seem as though the administration has waited so as to do everything right, for which i give them credit.</p>
<p>you know which courses and sections you will have (sections = which professors) by course registration for the coming semester. You do course registration for the freshman spring semester for example at the end of fall semester and do course registration for the next fall semester at the end of your spring semester. the date for the spring registration this time was March 31 to April 8. The fall one i don't quite remember; perhaps in november. There is definitely enough time to know which professors you will have and to buy books online if you want. </p>
<p>(the registration is in order of seniority; seniors register first, then juniors, sophomores, freshman. Also, each class year is divided by which letter your last name starts with and students are given separate registration times according to that; for example last names starting with B,L,M could be grouped together).</p>
<p>i actually preferred the quarters as far as laundry goes, but that's my opinion. With regards to the card entry for buildings, i was in bucknell for much of the summer and saw the construction at the doors. I wonder if it'll make getting into other dorm buildings a problem if you are not a resident of that dorm building?</p>
<p>You are able to get into any residence hall with your card until 11 PM on weeknights and 1 AM on weekends. You have access to your hall 24/7.</p>
<p>thanks, bucknellfrosh. the 'operating hours' line in the press release had me worried that the dorms would be closed to nonresidents at 5pm (or some similarly absurd hour). having experienced campuses where the dorms are closed to nonresidents 24/7, i can say it truly does disincentivize both inter-dorm friendly visits and school-related collaboration. its just an incredible hassle to wait for someone to open a door, especially when its cold or raining.</p>
<p>I know my D will find out some of this at orientation but she is not sure how she will be placed in classes because of AP classes. She is now entertaining a math minor/major but is going in as a Bio major. My question is will they just put her in Calc III or do they suggest a retake of calc II? When she called they just said once they review her AP scores they will automatically place her accordingly. (At first she was very confident she mastered calc AB/BC as she was the #1 math student, high 90's even 100% avg on all tests, 5 on the AP, But knowing college is much different than High School if they start her in calc III and she realizes that it was a mistake can she drop back? Also, is there a language requirement as a math major? I know you were a math whiz at Bucknell and thought you'd give a most honest answer. Her first semester will be Organic Chem, Biology (I'm not sure what since she might place out with the AP), Calculus ?III, and her Found. Seminar. Thanks. She just wants to get the most out of her time and AP placements if she can. She also didn't know if she had to take German or French for the math minor or major.</p>
<p>purple-</p>
<p>if she earns credit for calc 2 based on an ap score of 4 or 5, she will indeed be placed in calc 3. </p>
<p>on her chances of success in the course, its hard to say. generally speaking, calc 3 is a pretty easy math class for those who UNDERSTAND the concepts from calc 1 and 2. conversely, calc 3 is usually incredibly difficult for those who dont. [and lots of seemingly successful students dont. simply, it comes down to being able to piece together an integral due to conceptual understanding versus having memorized (via repetition) the integrals used to solve various types of problems that show up on almost all high school calculus tests, aps included.] calc 3 just moves too quickly, with expressions and equations often too long to memorize, for the latter approach to result in consistent success.</p>
<p>anyway, provided there is room available (and there will be, as inevitably some calc 2 students will be dropping down to calc 1) your d should have no problems dropping down to calc 2 before september 9, the last day to drop/add a course. her foundation seminar professor (who is also her general adviser) will be there to help with any concerns or issues.</p>
<hr>
<p>in terms of language requirements for a mathematics major, there are none. however, she will need four credits in the humanities to graduate, so if she is considering graduate study in math, a couple classes in french or german would be helpful. developing a reading proficiency in german while bogged down with everything else that graduate study entails isnt exactly fun.</p>
<p>Thanks for your quick reply. She is sitting right next to me reading what you wrote and feels better about calc 3 since she says she never memorized the concepts as she understood the concepts well. She'll give it a shot. Since she took AP Spanish she may as you suggest take German or French as she is seeing it is important in math studies. Thanks for all of your help.</p>