Ask an Orientation Leader :)

<p>Hi I am required to take 3 English classes for my major but I couldn’t register for any English class because they were all full for fall quarter. Would you recommend I try and wait list for an English class or just take it in winter? And would the english classes be full in the winter like in fall?</p>

<p>@ spike00: the reason fall classes filled up so quickly is because current students registered for classes back in May, and then you had incoming transfer students signing up for classes during their orientations in June, and by the time they get to incoming freshmen, the number of available seats diminishes the later your orientation date is, and even though they usually open up more seats during orientation, this is less and less true for those with late orientation dates. You’ll have an easier time in winter quarter because you’ll have accumulated some units (more units = better pass time, but as a freshmen, you won’t have a stellar pass time), but just know that English classes CAN and WILL fill up quickly because along with English majors, there are also students taking one or two classes to fulfill their GE breadth requirement.</p>

<p>Say I want to waitlist a math class that is on MWF from 9-10am, but I’m currently enrolled in another class at the same time because that is all that was available. Will I still be able to get off the waitlist and still get into the math class or will sisweb not let me because there would be a time conflict. So do I have to drop my current class or do I have to only waitlist classes that would already fit into my schedule?</p>

<p>If you are already enrolled in another class that meets at the same time as the course you want to waitlist into, you will not be able to get into the waitlisted class due to the time conflict. Sisweb will tell you there is a time conflict and only after you resolve the time conflict (drop the other class) will sisweb let you waitlist.</p>

<p>So I would have to drop my class before I know if I’ll even be able to get off the waitlist? What if I don’t get the class? Then I would be short some units. What would I do then?</p>

<p>Is there another time that the math class meets with other than the time you’re looking at, but with a different professor? Usually math and science courses have two or more separate sections, with different professors teaching each different section (for example, math 21A has sections A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, all taught at different times and with different professors, and the BIS 2 series has sections A and B. And of course, each section is broken into smaller subsections for labs/discussions). </p>

<p>What you need to do is decide which class is more important–the math class you’re trying to waitlist into or the class that’s already in your schedule. If the class that you’re already enrolled in is a class that is only offered that quarter, then don’t drop the class, and instead take the math class during winter quarter instead (there is no harm in starting your math and science courses a quarter late). </p>

<p>Is the course you’re already enrolled in a high demand course? What I mean by this is, if you briefly dropped this course on sisweb in order to waitlist the other course, but you see your waitlist number is #30 and you decide it’s not worth it to waitlist (because for math courses, it’s extremely, extremely unlikely that 30 people will drop the course within the 20-day drop period), if you were to re-add the class you were previously in (you should keep the CRN of the course you’re already enrolled in handy so you can just copy and paste it in quickly), would that spot still be open (therefore it isn’t in such high demand) or would you foresee someone else taking your spot as soon as you drop the course just to check your number on the course you want to waitlist into?</p>

<p>So if I have to drop a class in order to waitlist another, do I have to enroll into another class so that I have the right amount of units?Just in case I have to be on the waitlist until the quarter starts? Thanks by the way for answering all my questions.</p>

<p>That would be your best bet as far as making sure you have enough units for the quarter (barring what sopranokitty said), yes.</p>

<p>One more thing, I see that open registration for new students is August 24-25. I’m guessing that’s for students who didn’t go to orientation. Do they usually add more seats for math and chem? since those were on seat release for all the other orientation. So would I be able to try to get math and chem at that time, so that I don’t have to rely on the waitlist for pass 2. Thanks.</p>

<p>@ Sawtelle: they will not add more seats for math and chem to sections that are already existing (for example, section A will not get more seats added if it’s full, nor will section B, C, etc. because there is a limit to how many people can be in each discussion section for math and how many people can be in a lab for chem (this is why you’ll see something like A01, A02, A03, A04, A05, B01, B02, B03, B04, etc.) A new section will only open up IF a professor is willing to teach that section, if there is a large lecture hall available for the new section (because lower division math and chem courses tend to be in large lecture halls like SciLec 123, Chem 194/Rock Hall, and SocSci 1100, and these lecture halls are always in use), AND if there are TAs available to lead the discussions/labs (your participation in discussions and labs is graded by the TA for your section, not by the professor. Your professor is responsible only for the lecture portion).</p>

<p>Would I be behind if I only have 13 units billing hours and 12 credit hours?</p>

<p>You need 13 units to be at minimum progress, but having only 12 units won’t hurt you. You can just take more units in winter and spring.</p>

<p>Do you have to attend the freshman orientation set up for your particular college, like Engineering, or can you attend any of them - choosing by date? </p>

<p>My son might not be able to attend on the dates UCD has set aside for Engineering (early August), but he is available for another college’s orientation dates and also for the dates set aside for OOS and Internationals at the end of September.</p>

<p>Yes, he has to attend the freshman orientation set up for his particular college. This is because he will set him his fall quarter classes with a faculty advisor associated with his major/college. If he cannot make orientation, there’s make-up orientation the first week of school. </p>

<p>Hi. I’m unable to attend the orientation because I will be traveling to another country at that time. So my question is when and where will I take the placement tests for chem and math? Also, how will I sign up for my classes? Am I going to sign up by myself online? The last question is do I have to go to UCD another time to makeup the things I miss before school starts, or do I just go there when school starts?</p>

<p>OOS/Internationals can do the orientation just before school starts in late Sept/early Oct. The chem and math placement tests are online.</p>

<p>I got a 5 on the AP Chem exam and I noticed that on the AP credit sheet for Davis that it’s suggested that I take Chem 2AH instead of Chem 2A. If I don’t do well enough on either the math or chem placement tests to get into 2AH do I just take 2A? Does it even really matter which one I take? My current major is undecided physical sciences but I’d like to change to Pharmaceutical Chemistry.</p>

<p>I’m taking AP Statistics for my math class this year and I forgot a lot of things that I learned in Pre-calculus last year. I also forgot a lot of things from AP Chemistry. Of course I’m going to try and brush up on my knowledge before the placement tests but just in case it’s not enough ya know. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>liveonboca Thank you for trying to help. But I’m not an international student.
@sopranokitty Can you please give me a more detailed response to the questions I posted earlier, so I can plan out what I need to do. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.</p>

<p>@Heytheremate: A quick brush up on Chemistry should be sufficient to pass the Chem placement test. My son only had regular Chem in High School and passed the Chem placement test. Taking Chem 2A is a different story. It is a pretty challenging class but with your background in AP Chemistry, you should do fine. Try to get Professor Enderle. He is by far the best Chem Professor for 2A and 2B, but I do not know if he teaches the honors chem. FYI: My son’s lab partner was a Biochem major whom also took AP Chem and was still struggling with the Chem Series.</p>

<p>@school0: Both the chem and math placement tests are to be taken online. Dates for the placement tests can be found [here</a> (math placement test)](<a href=“https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/undergrad/math_placement]here”>Math Placement :: math.ucdavis.edu) and [here</a> (chem placement test](<a href=“http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/chemplacement.html]here”>Placement Requirements). Note that dates for the chem placement test for summer aren’t available yet, and won’t be until the end of spring quarter). </p>

<p>To sign up for classes, you have to know your appointment time first. Go to sisweb.ucdavis.edu, click on “login to SISWEB” under the UC Davis logo, and login. To access SISWEB, you will need to set up a Kerberos username and password to access SISWEB, which you can do [url=&lt;a href=“https://computingaccounts.ucdavis.edu/cgi-bin/services/index.cgi]here[/url”&gt;UC Davis Computing Accounts Services]here[/url</a>] (click on "get your UC Davis computing account. Don’t pay attention to the part where it says “new users must create their accounts at UC Davis”, because I know I was able to create my account before I came to Davis). Once you have logged into SISWEB, click on Student Services and Aid, then click on Registration, then click on Check Appointment Times. Generally, for incoming freshmen and transfer students, their appointment time is during orientation, but if you cannot make it to orientation, your appointment time is still on an orientation date, but you would be signing up for classes on your own. </p>

<p>There are two ways you can register for classes. One way is to do it through the schedule builder (more info on that in the next paragraph) and the other way is to go back to the registration menu, then click on “register for classes”, and manually input in the CRNs of the courses you plan on taking. </p>

<p>To figure out what classes you want to take, you can either use the schedule builder (which you can find on the sisweb homepage) or use ninjacourses.com (though if you decide to build your schedule on ninjacourses, you will have to manually copy and paste the CRNs when you register for classes). Note though that ninjacourses.com is not associated with UC Davis. When you use the schedule builder, once you have build your schedule, you can just click on “register” when it comes time for you to register and I believe that it should register you for the classes you signed up for, provided that the class isn’t full or that there are no restrictions. The schedule builder is new and was implemented last quarter. Since I’ve recently graduated, I can’t walk you through how to use the schedule builder in detail since I can’t register for any more classes. </p>

<p>To your last question, you just go there when school starts. The first week is really Welcome Week, anyway, with classes not starting until either Wednesday or Thursday. Make-up orientation is during welcome week. One of my former suite mates had to attend make-up orientation because she was in Europe at the time, and she said that the make-up orientation was basically useless, mainly because she already signed up for her classes during summer while she was on vacation. </p>