I am a freshman, and I could not get any of the courses that I wanted this semester, literally none. All the good courses are gone within 2 seconds of registrations opening up.
Do you guys also face this problem?
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Across the board this can be an issue at many colleges.
Have you declared a major? Did you meet with your advisor? These two things can help sometimes. There may be sections of a class just for certain majors.
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yes, both my college kids have issues and they have always been able to get their courses by being very proactive - email
the professor to
ask to get on waitlist and be specific why you want to
take the course. Show up on day 1 and introduce yourself and/or go to the professors office hours. Good luck.
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We declare majors after two years, and we don’t have advisors yet. I’m pretty sure the registration is on a first come, first served basis (whoever clicks the enroll button fastest).
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At my D’s school it goes by seniority, so being a freshman she has not had the luxury of choice, but so far things have worked out fairly well. It’s not just a matter of room in the class, but the timings as well, so she’s going to try to change a couple of classes during add/drop. Also, they do have help choosing their schedule, which was good the first semester, because they spoke to a professor for her, which made all the difference for her start to the school year.
Good Luck and keep trying!
I am willing to bet that there is more information than that- even not knowing your school! But if you are in a very large school, it is possible that you didn’t find the info, or didn’t understand what to do with the info there is (poor communication of how the system works can be found in many large organizations!). Find an older student and ask them how it works. As @BornMe noted, many/most places open registration in stages, particularly by level of seniority and major. Incoming first years are lowest in the rankings, because they have the most time to get another shot.
Also, you say that you got none of the courses that you wanted this semester. Was it the courses, or the sections you didn’t get? (ie you wanted Bio 101 at 10 am T/TH and got stuck with the am M/W section- but you still got Bio 101)? similarly, did you get courses you needed, just not some that you wanted?
But yes: challenges in registration are one reason that the early registration is typically a valuable privilege offered by the ‘honors’ colleges at large universities
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My son struggled his first semester trying to get into classes that worked for a full schedule. We kept trying and we found a seat here and there and eventually he got all the classes he wanted/needed. They weren’t all at the times he’d prefer but that was okay - he figured he’d have to jog between two but it was probably doable. And then the day before classes started he was able to move one of those to a closer location so it was a better schedule.
So, keep on trying and see if you can add as the weeks go on.
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