<p>Do you guys think going to the second available calso date would put me at a disadvantage in terms of registering for core classes?
I am an architecture major and as far as I'm concerned, there aren't too many students I would need to compete with, but still. I have no idea how it works at Cal. Could anyone provide any insight?</p>
<p>I’m not an architecture major so I don’t know what’s required for you, but it looks like there are plenty of seats open. Search the schedule (schedule.berkeley.edu), you should be able to tell what’s gonna fill and what’s going to be open later.</p>
<p>Early is better, obviously, but I think you’ll be okay. Figure out what classes are fullest and prioritize those.</p>
<p>To my knowledge they reserve the same amount of seats for each session of CalSO. So for instance they will reserve 5 seats at the first CalSO, as well as 5 seats for said class at the last CalSO. This is what I’ve heard and it makes sense to me. I hope its true I’m going to the third CalSO which is the Southern California one.</p>
<p>I asked CalSO and they pretty much confirmed my suspicion:</p>
<p>"Hello Michael,</p>
<p>Although it may seem advantageous to go to an earlier CalSO program, I assure you this is not the case. UC Berkeley has a systematic way to help ensure students get into as many of their top priority classes as possible. This is done through the telebears phase system. In short, students get to sign up for classes in two phases. The first phase only allows students to add 9 units of classes. That way students who have earlier phase 1 dates do not take up all the seats! All of the CalSO programs are held during phase 1, so you it is likely that you will get in to the class you want by the start of the year. Other things to consider: large introductory classes like Math 1, Math 16, Bio, etc. have more than one lecture class because there are many students trying to take it so it is likely that you will get in. Also, in the case that you aren’t able to take one course that you reallllly wanted to, you always have next semester to take it.</p>
<p>I hope this helps. Please feel free to hit us with any follow up questions!
All the Best
Tasha
CalSO Staff"</p>
<p>mrandall: Telebears phases don’t guarantee anything, especially when it comes to popular courses. I had a really late phase 1 for this semester, and got waitlisted in both the classes I added during it. One class I never got off the waitlist for (in my major, with senior standing) and the other had students petition for spots (cutting 100+ students from the class). So yes, when you have Telebears does make a difference, cause even if people can only add 10 units during phase 1 classes can still fill up. And it sucks when that happens. (Sometimes they’ll expand and add more seats and such, but that’s not always possible.)</p>
<p>Either way, OP should be fine.</p>