<p>Any feedback from students about the quality of the Cinema Studies program?</p>
<p>Ma’ayan’s post on Cinema Studies at Oberlin:
[Oberlin</a> Blogs | Blog Entry: “Three-Way Plug: Why Cinema Studies Was a Good Choice”](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/learning/college_courses/three_way_plug.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/learning/college_courses/three_way_plug.shtml)</p>
<p>Cool things:
- Classes focus on production as well as analysis.
- Teachers are awesome.
- Students make great films.
- It’s expanding. Oberlin recently took over the local one-screen, old-fashioned movie theater and will be remaking the top floor into a super-amazing production studio.</p>
<p>thanks! Is it difficult for first year students with no experience to get into cinema studies classes? (i.e. the gateway class form/style/media)?</p>
<p>There has been difficulty this year in the cinema studies department due to one section of a required class being canceled, I think due to the illness of a professor (or at least that’s the story I was told). Now my Obie has to try to double up or may not be able to do the Tisch in Spring program in his junior year.</p>
<p>It is also frustrating when key professors and department chairs leave the country during registration week. With tuition running at $50,000, we were hoping to have better advising</p>
<p>How completely frustrating. Has your son enjoyed the film department in spite of this recent debacle? Did he start as a freshman?</p>
<p>Yes, he does enjoy the program very much. Hopefully his registration nightmare will have a satisfactory conclusion when the key individuals return to the country. Either way, I will let you all know what happens.</p>
<p>Did he start as a freshman? Is it difficult for students who want to try the program to enter as sophomores?</p>
<p>He started taking film classes as a freshman, but did not declare a major until sophomore year. I think you should ask the department directly about how it would work if you started as a sophomore. At some point, with interest in the department growing, Oberlin needs to reassess and add more professors, to meet the demand. The graduation requirements are not difficult to meet if you can register for the classes.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want anyone reading this to assume that the problem need2learn is describing is a common one. I know nothing about the particular situation he or she is referring to, but it is extremely uncommon for a faculty member to leave the country (or even the state) during the semester. And when they do, normally students are informed well in advance and back-up plans are put in place. Faculty members take their advising responsibilities extremely seriously at Oberlin–it’s an important part of our job.</p>
<p>I would also venture to say that what sometimes look like “registration nightmares” to students usually get resolved without much difficulty later on. It can be easy for students to think they won’t get into the classes they need, but they almost always do by the time the semester is actually underway.</p>
<p>I am only speaking from the experience my son has had. I thought I made that clear. I hope for a satisfactory resolution to the situation, but since this problem is actually carried over from last semester, my faith is starting to fade. And indeed, both the professor and the department chair were “out of the country” during registration.</p>
<p>The professor is due back today, hopefully he will read through his emails, which went to robo response while he was away, and be able to resolve this problem. Without his help or the department chair, the folks in the registrar department were unwilling to get involved.</p>
<p>What is the best way for a student to try to get into a class that was closed by the time s/he registered? Any tips for strategies?</p>
<p>One of the students on the board will probably answer this with more authority. I know there is an add/drop period where you may be consented in to a class by the professor, if there is room.</p>
<p>My freshman daughter had no problem getting into two very popular classes that she really wanted to take, but which were full during registration. She emailed the professors and told them of her interest and then visited the classes persistently during the first week. She was added to both. I can only speak to her situation. As freshmen seem to have low priority during the registration process, interest and desire are important.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of turnover during add-drop. Last year I and most of my friends were on the wait lists for various courses (we were all second-semester first-years with terrible registration times) - pretty much everyone got the classes they wanted eventually.</p>
<p>If you contact the professor well in advance to get on the wait list (i.e., not at the beginning of the semester, but during registration week), and attend the course during the first week of classes, you have a pretty good chance of getting in, unless it’s something extremely popular. You can even contact the professor before the class has filled, if you’re worried that all the spots will be taken before your registration time. In addition, if you’re not able to register for a course that’s required/important for your major (this happened to me), professors will often bump you to the top of the wait list.</p>