<p>That’s not accurate – the registration is simultaneous. Perhaps you were told something about the procedure for Barnard students to take classes that are part of Columbia’s core, or courses labeled “limited enrollment”.</p>
<p>Here’s how it works for continuing students (slightly different for entering First Years):</p>
<p>There is a period of pre-enrollment from one semester to the next. For example, for Spring 2010, the dates at Barnard were November 4-23. All classes are listed here:
[CU</a> Directory of Classes](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/]CU”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/)
You can also see online how many spaces are in each class and what the enrollment is.</p>
<p>You would use that listing to find classes that you were interested in. Then you would log in to eBear and enter the course identifying information in the registration area. You could sign up for any course, but if the course has limited enrollment or needs approval of the professor to enroll, you would see a little message telling you of that restriction. Everything you sign up for is tentative until your advisor approves it. </p>
<p>So when the semester starts you have a tentative schedule of course that you are pre-enrolled in, which is listed in eBear. However - this is not final – you have a couple of weeks at the beginning of each semester where you can change classes – and the procedure is still the same. You’d log into eBear and add a new class or drop an old one, and then in the end get your advisor’s approval. </p>
<p>My daughter has sometimes had difficulty getting into classes because they were full, but those were all Barnard courses – she never had any problem with Columbia classes. Many of her courses were required to be taken at Columbia. However, I don’t think she ever signed up for any Columbia courses that had restricted or limited enrollment. </p>
<p>At Barnard, the problem was simply getting into a couple of courses that were full. She did get the classes, but it did require some extra effort to get her spot. </p>
<p>It IS likely that each school would give priority to its own students when there is limited enrollment, as is the case with seminars and colloquiums – however, I know that there were some Columbia students in a colloquium that my daughter took at Barnard, because the prof. held a class on a Sunday that students could bring guests to, and I attended and everyone introduced themselves. (My d. had suggested that I fly out to NY to come to the class because her prof was so utterly amazing – it was a really cool class).</p>
<p>But MOST Columbia classes are not seminars and don’t have any restrictions on enrollment.</p>