<p>Anyone gone through advising day. My D will be doing in in 2 weeks. Did anyone have a problem picking classes? Is there room in most of the classes, or were they filled? Does the counselor go through the classes you need to take with you individually? What else did you do that day?</p>
<p>First you have to go to the HUB to get your ID, then you are in a big room where they talk about coming to Penn State and general things you've probably heard or read before. Then you split up into groups. The students go off and have meetings where they talk about scheduling and you can ask questions about it. THen they have a safety presentation. After that you have a department and then separate into major areas. The students go in groups to schedule classes. There are advisers there for the whole group to answer questions. The adviser I had was not particularly helpful, but there were some current students there that really helped determine what classes you should take.</p>
<p>on the post-card PSU sends, they say to get there early enough to sign up for your ID and access account, but really, you can just do it at the HUB during lunch (which is actually what a lot of kids on my day did). </p>
<p>your daughter'll have two advising meetings-- one with a general advisor and one with someone from her department. my first meeting with the generic advisor was a disappointment-- she was a complete flake. i had been admitted to the science program WAYYY back last november and over the schoolyear realized that i wanted to change to a completely different college (arts and architecture). i was also interested in doing a double major-- which is definitely something to bring up at BOTH of the advising meetings-- and i had researched everything about making the switch to a new college as well as doing a double (or concurrent major, as they say at PSU) ahead of time, so i knew what i was talking about. basically, i ended up explaining some of the university's procedures to my advisor, and while she tried to put me in the DUS college (for undecided students), i insisted that she fill out a change-of-college form for the arts and architecture school. </p>
<p>luckily, the transfer was fine, but if i had just gone along with her advice and enrolled as undecided, not only would i have missed out on the important foundation year for art students, but i would have had to deal with a lot of red tape when i tried to transfer into the program after school started.</p>
<p>MORAL OF THE STORY: know what you want ahead of time. have clear goals, don't be afraid to ask questions, and be direct in your conversation. later, my departmental advisor was WONDERFUL-- it was helpful to do the "homework" from the PSU website about general ed and to write down a list of interesting classes (not necessarily limiting yourself to the three spaces per gen. ed. category on the worksheet) ahead of time. my advisor gave me some honest opinions about different classes, worked out some possible plans for deciding my major, and even discussed some career info. i'm debating amongst graphic design, fine art, or theatre production, so she really worked with me to schedule classes that would work towards all three majors while i decide which one to pursue. definitely the highlight of my day.</p>
<p>as for how fast the classes fill up, it's kind of grim in my opinion. i had my heart set on english 30 and psy 002H, but all of the sections for those classes were already filled-- and i went on june 2nd! my bet is that since they're both higher-level freshmen classes that the honors college kids took all of the open seats during their earlier advising days, but i'm not too worried and plan to schedule both classes for the spring term.</p>
<p>i don't remember if the "homework" had a link to this site, but it's helpful in determining which classes still have open sections:
<a href="http://soc.our.psu.edu/soc/%5B/url%5D">http://soc.our.psu.edu/soc/</a></p>
<p>of course, after you get your access account, you can log into eLion over the summer to check for openings and add/drop classes as you please.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. So far my D is undecided as to her major. But how did you figure out on the website the requirements for the freshman. I have been on that site and can't figure out where they are. The site isnt too user friendly. Now you have me worried! Were you able to schedule classes without too many breaks in between? Also do you have to take a language?</p>
<p>how did you figure out on the website the requirements for the freshman
hrrrm, what do you mean? the required classes? it all varies depending on the college your D is enrolled in-- it sounds like she's DUS since she's undecided, so they'll probably just schedule her in for a lot of general ed classes that she'll be able to use for a major later on. ask her to show you her "homework" for the advising day-- there's a site within the assignment that explains how PSU's general ed credit system works and helps students to decide on their prospective general ed classes. my advice to her would be to have a decent inventory of her interests pre-advising day, as otherwise she might end up in a class that her advisor likes but she doesn't.</p>
<p>*Were you able to schedule classes without too many breaks in between? *
i scheduled my classes without any real breaks in between (as you mentioned)-- monday and wednesday, for example, i signed up for classes from 10:00 AM until about 5:30 PM with a one-and-a-half hour lunch break and 10 minutes between some classes (for transporting myself from class to class). by doing this, i only have one class on thursdays.</p>
<p>the joy of it all is that you can switch your classes around on eLion (the online portal for students that you can connect to after you get your access account on advising day) when you get home. so, if your advisor schedules you for a bunch of long breaks in between classes and you prefer to schedule in blocks, it's really easy to change that on your own through eLion.</p>
<p>Also do you have to take a language?
if she knows that she wants a B.A. degree, she'll have to take a language, and i think they mentioned that some B.S. degrees (like business) require a language as well, but again, it's all dependent on her (eventual) major. if she's strong in a language or wants to try a new one, she should tell her advisors that. otherwise, it's not a rigid requirement.</p>
<p>Now you have me worried!
hehe, don't be worried-- it'll all make a lot more sense on advising day!</p>
<p>We were just there this week.</p>
<p>The postcard instructions say to go to the Thomas (or whatever, in your case) Bldg well before 8:30 so you can get your ID and computer access account. They don't tell you that this actually happens at the HUB which is where they will immediately send you to. So don't even waste your time going to Thomas first. Just go directly to the HUB by 7:30 and they have staff pointing you where to go. First you want your ID and that line moves fast. All they want is your school ID or driver's license and your PSU ID# and you will get your photo taken and Penn State ID card very quickly. You can also put LionCash onto your card right then and use that to pay for that day's coffee, lunch etc and get the discount. The line for your computer access account however can be long and moves slowly. You sit down at a terminal, follow the instructions and get your account and default password. Just be back at the (Thomas) building by 8:30, and then grab your agenda/info packet and go through the morning session. </p>
<p>The morning session is very general and a bit boring. The only useful part is getting your homework test scores back. During one part, advisors stroll down each row of parents and go over the student's score with them. Trouble is, some parents totally hog the advisor's time, so if you see an advisor has spent 30 minutes on 2 parents and has 8 more parents in your row waiting, you want to speak up and make sure someone gets to you before the session ends. But the upshot is that they just give you a printout with your scores and the PSU's recommendations for GE placement based on them. Meanwhile the students are in a separate room, going through the same process independently.</p>
<p>The afternoon is spent with your particular college, and registering for your courses. This is why you need the computer access account. If you have a major, this will be the most helpful part since that specific college's advisors can make much better recommendations than the general advisors in the morning session who may not know all the brass tacks of each major. For theater major which is what my daughter has, she found they already registered her for her core theater classes, and she only had to add some GEs. However she was very disappointed to find that as portrait said, most all the GEs were already filled up. Her test score sheet said she was also eligible for the Honors English 30 class, but again as portrait mentioned it was full. She was lucky to eke out a couple GEs, but still did not quite fill up her schedule so she is going to ask her department if there's any way she can still be slipped into a music or arts classes related to her major that is currently "full". I'm sure if you're an undecided major they will have you in your own group that will be able to spell out all the options for you.</p>
<p>I'm really glad I moved her FTCAP date up from July to June. If most of the GE classes have filled up now, I can't imagine what the freshmen who go in July will end up with.</p>
<p>BTW for those coming from out of town the weather is currently very warm and humid. Casual wear--shorts, tee-shirts and sandals--are highly recommended.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I finially figured out how to find the General Education Req everyone has to take. My D is undecided. My question for everyone who went, there are so many classes that fall under each category (Eg Nat Sciences, Quantifications etc..) Can you just pick what interests you within that category, or does the advisor recommend specific classes that freshman take? Also did you all sign up for a first yr seminar?</p>
<p>i second all of taramom's account-- especially the part about moving an FTCAP day from july to june! i'm genuinely surprised that so many GEs-- and especially that english 30 class-- are already filled, and it's only june.</p>
<p>lowermorelandmom, you asked if you can just "pick" what interest you-- basically, to my knowledge, yes. so long as a course has an open section and no prerequisites (save the scenario in which one's AP credit fulfills a prereq), options are fairly open and flexible-- of course, for DUS, advisors may have more specific plans for scheduling since being undecided is a bit different than planning for a specific major.</p>
<p>one thing that i noticed (perhaps taramom can add to this) was that my advisor was eager to schedule humanity GE classes as opposed to quantification or phys ed ones. i know that in my student session they said that the phys ed classes get scooped up by seniors early on during scheduling (before FTCAP dates in the summer) and to wait a few years to fulfill this requirement. keep in mind that you have all four years to complete the GE credits, so if the classes your daughter wants to take are all filled by the time it's her turn to schedule at FTCAP, she can always try to get them in the coming years.</p>
<p>also, make sure the classes she wants even exist for this coming fall term (check this with the website listed a few posts up). i know that a lot of classes in the coursebook that i was interested in taking aren't being offered until the spring.</p>
<p>every freshman has to sign up for a first year seminar, although you can take it fall or spring semester. the advisors help with choosing one, as there really are so many options. i originally intended to schedule mine in english or psychology, but during my meeting with the departmental advisor, i found out that one of my core requirements (an art history class) actually double-counted as a first year seminar even though the course book didn't blatantly list it as one. all kinds of fun surprises are in store for you, hehe.</p>
<p>Thats funny you should mention that. One of the classes I was looking at online said it filled the humanities requirement and was also a first year seminar. Do you get credit as both, in your case a history requirement and the first year seminar? How long (time wise) to you have to pick your courses?</p>
<p>yep-- sometimes a course might even triple-count: for example, it might fulfill two of the general ed areas like humanities and US cultures in addition to being a first year seminar. those're classes to look for, as indeed, you get ALL of the credit, not just as a general ed OR first year seminar.</p>
<p>i'd say i spent maybe... half an hour (perhaps a bit more) to pick my classes on FTCAP day, but i also asked a lot of questions and chatted with my advisor about things other than my classes. but then, as an example, taramom mentioned that her daughter's classes had already been pre-scheduled (as a theatre major), so i assume her scheduling time was probably even shorter. scheduling is the last thing you do that day, so it can pretty much take as long as you like or need it to; although, ahead of time you should have a list of prospective classes to enroll in so the most time consuming part is taken care of.</p>
<p>Here's some information explaining more about how the GEs work:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.psu.edu/dus/ge/faqframe.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.psu.edu/dus/ge/faqframe.htm</a></p>
<p>and a link to the bulletin which describes the requirements for each major:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook%5B/url%5D">http://www.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook</a></p>
<p>Thanks for all your good advice. We just came back from advising day. We set up daughter id the day before so we saved waiting in those lines. My question to you guys now is about books. Did anyone buy their textbooks while they were there? They said that 24 hrs after you enroll in the classes, you can scan in your id at the bookstore and find out the required books. I'm wondering if there is any other way to find out before they actually get up to main campus and start. I would like to try to buy new ones online cheaper. Any advice?</p>
<p>buying online is much cheaper than through the bookstore-- i've heard half.com is a good place to check, although amazon and other online book sellers usually end up being cheaper than through the campus bookstore, too. you still have to scan your ID at the bookstore to get the list of books you'll need (it's a good idea to copy down the ISBN numbers of the specific texts you'll need, as to avoid ordering a wrong edition), but at least when i went for my advising day, the bookstore people told me that hardly any professors had turned in their lists of books for the the fall semester yet and that i'd have to come back in the fall to find out.</p>
<p>from what i gather, we won't be able to find out which books we need until we get up to campus in august, but who knows. the bright side is that classes don't start as soon as we arrive, so there'll be some time to order the books before classes begin.</p>
<p>glad to hear the advising day went well-- did your daughter get the classes she was hoping for?</p>
<p>It really worked out great for my daugher. She got into an English class and a math 140 class, both the advisors said were all closed before any of the students picked. She wanted psy 002, but it was closed so she took a history class instead. When we got home that weekend, there was an opening in the psy class so she dropped the history. Then we were able to switch the math class to an earlier time. She has a unbelievable schedule, done by 1:10 ,4 days a week, and 2:15 the other day. She really lucked out. I think even though it appeared most of the classes are closed, with persistence you really can get into any class if you keep checking e-lion. Shes away for the summer, now I am working on getting her a laptop before she gets back and everything is sold out. Any suggestions?</p>