<p>So D & I were poking around on the course schedule site last night and talking about the steps involved in building a schedule and things to be aware of (proximity of buildings if classes are back to back, getting that “must have” class in place first and then fitting in other classes around it, etc.) D won’t know what math she’ll need to take until after BamaBound, and she’ll need to wait until after AP scores are back in July to figure out the science piece (but that can wait a semester.) Here’s her 2 current dilemmas:</p>
<p>1) She’s planning on a history major. She’s already fulfilled 101, 102, 203 & 204 via AP credits. Once past those, the classes that she’s interested in are already full. Is it worth an email to her history advisor (whom she’s met 2x & has emailed her) to see if she can get a waiver into one of the higher level classes?</p>
<p>2) She’s also planning on an anthropology major. 102 & 107 which are required for the major are also both full.</p>
<p>Does it matter that much if she doesn’t take a major class the 1st semester? She’s really more concerned about the history class, FWIW.</p>
<p>RobD: There could be additional sections of particular classes that might be opened when Bama Bound starts, so your daughter may not need that waiver. That said, I would still e-mail the adviser, and just make him/her aware that she wants to take a particular class or two but they appear filled and ask if a waiver is possible. </p>
<p>My son had the U.S. and comparative government classes from AP credits, so he was able to take a 200-level poi sci class in the fall and a 300-level this spring without any problem.</p>
<p>Also, do tell your daughter to take something “fun.” There are a lot of great classes at Alabama. She does not need to feel that she must take her “major” classes all the time.</p>
<p>Oh, she’s planning on taking “fun” classes. Of course her idea of fun classes is much different than mine and involve British history She is so thrilled that she can take so many humanities class; she spent a lot of time looking at the reading lists for the various english classes and realized that a lot of the required reading books were ones that she had to read in HS. She was going to share that today with her AP English teacher. </p>
<p>Thinking that after that 1 math class, and 1 or 2 science classes (depending on her AP Chem score) she won’t be traveling to that side of campus much!</p>
<p>1) She’s planning on a history major. She’s already fulfilled 101, 102, 203 & 204 via AP credits. Once past those, the classes that she’s interested in are already full. Is it worth an email to her history advisor (whom she’s met 2x & has emailed her) to see if she can get a waiver into one of the higher level classes?</p>
<p>Yes, she can ask for an over-ride, but if there’s already a waiting list, or it’s a room with a set number of “built in seats” or is at the max for fire code, then she can’t be given an over-ride.</p>
<p>Instead, she’d had to keep checking during the summer for a class to open up. The best time is evening and late evening.</p>
<p>For the one particular class (HY 247) it says there’s 40 seats, with 0 remaining and no waitlisted seats noted. It’s not going to end up being a big deal, but she’s heard about that prof & it’s in her specific subject area, so she was hoping. She knows that 2nd semester it will be easier to get classes, with the honors kids going 1st plus she’ll technically be a sophomore then with her AP credits noted.</p>
<p>Robd, may I ask how your D already made contact with her history advisor? Did she initiate contact or did they? Just when I think we’ve dotted all our i’s I find there is something else we don’t have in place. . .</p>
<p>When we were there back in November for an honors day, they broke the kids into small groups based on intended major to meet with a faculty member in that area. D choose history and there were only 2 kids in the group. He asked them if they had any specific areas of interest and while the other student was looking for a broader history experience, D mentioned her interest in Elizabethan & Victorian British history which led to a longer conversation about Alabama at Oxford and Dr. Mendle etc. She ran into him again at Capstone Day, they briefly chatted & then he emailed her to apologize for not being able to talk to her longer (one of the many little things that have warmed her heart for UA!))</p>
<p>So I think it was a serendipitous thing that happened because she was originally in such a small group. I don’t think you’ve missed any dotting :)</p>
<p>RobD: My son faced the same issue as your daughter does --a majority of the books listed with the Alabama classes he had read in high school. Because of this, he plans to take World Literature I at a local community college this summer so he gets to read others works. He had the same problem with the poli sci classes – some required The Prince. He read it as a sophomore in HS and again, this year with one class. Three times is too much.</p>
<p>Check the Fall 2009 class schedule to see how many seats those classes had when school actually started. It’s possible the class size could have changed, but generally it gives you an idea of whether or not some of those seats are being held back for incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>I thought several of my sons classes were already full too until I checked the previous years class schedule and saw they saved a bunch of seats for incoming freshmen. For example, BSC - 114 shows 100 seats total with all being full. But a check back to fall 2009 shows that class actually had 260 students. Fall 2008 showed the same.</p>
<p>It might be that only 100 level classes have seats held back, but it’s worth a look.</p>
<p>Rob…is your D going to minor in anything? If so, she could take some classes for that. </p>
<p>It’s easier for freshmen to get freshman classes because many/most of those are reserved for Bama Bounds. However the 200+ levels have been open for current students to select already for Fall 2010. </p>
<p>So, if she’s considering a minor or has any other Core classes to take, fall semester is a good time to take them.</p>
<p>Hey RobD, since your daughter is so interested in Brit History and such, I would recommend taking ANY courses taught by Dr. John Beeler. He is a fascinating and energetic prof., who really knows his stuff. I took the US Naval history course he taught, but his focus is british stuff, I believe mostly in the victorian era. If you don’t mind relatively coarse language, he is fantastic!! And he teaches part of the UA at Oxford program I think.</p>
<p>Anyways, being a mech. eng. major who wanted to take a upper level history course, all I did was call up the history dept. and explain my situation due to APs (I took euro, world and US with all 5s) and my major. They put me through to Dr. Beeler, who immediately gave me an override into the class, even though it was already filled. Oh, and the classroom was half empty during the actual course.</p>
<p>Yay for history majors!!! That’s going to be my second major (Lord permitting).</p>
<p>Mesquite_Girl: Thanks for that info…Dr. Beeler was the other prof that the advisor had mentioned along with Dr. Mendle. I’ll share, yet again, valuable advice from you wonderful CC posters.</p>
<p>As for coarse language, well, um, we are originally from NJ and I reserve the right to invoke certain phrases while in the car ;)</p>
<p>Mesquite, that is so awesome that you are able to take fun courses even though you’re a mech eng and CBH. A big reason son chose Bama is to take courses he’d be interested. But looking at the mech eng curriculum, I’m wondering where he’ll fit anything in. We’ll be doing Bama Bound June 1 and 2, so we’ll see what the advisors have to say. And hopefully, as mom says, we can do some tweaking during the summer if necessary.</p>
<p>A word of warning about listening to the advisors - don’t do what they say all the time. They told me to retake calc II with a 4 on BC. BIIIIIIIIIIG MISTAKE!!!
hardest,craziest prof in the math dept + swine flu on the fourth test = hours and hours of fruitless studying + an A- that hurt my GPA
Do some research on the internet, talk to students there, and consider their advice. But don’t always follow it.</p>
<p>Son is in Calc AB and depending on how he scores on the AP test will decide what Calc he takes. Yes, please, if you don’t want to name this crazy professor in public, please PM and please direct us to where we can research professors. Son has the NMF and engineering scholarship, so GPA is very important!</p>
<p>Mesquite, do you wish you had gone straight to Calc III (I’m assuming you had a sufficient AP score to do so), or do you wish you had started over with Calc I? Were you in regular calc or honors? Which would you prefer to take for calc as an eng major?</p>
<p>*A word of warning about listening to the advisors - don’t do what they say all the time. *</p>
<p>I think schools have had some situations where kids have come in with AP Cal credit, but not a full enough knowledge, so their default position is to suggest that the student repeat the class. But, if a student does have a strong Cal I base, there’s no reason to repeat.</p>
<p>Since AP scores won’t be known by the earlier Bama Bounds, you can sign up for Cal II or III and then drop down after scores come out.</p>
<p>To echo what the lovely Mesquite has said – students may choose to ignore the advice of Bama Bound advisors because they are generally college (and not major) advisors at the actual registration step. They aren’t as familiar with Honors and “special cases,” such as students entering as sophomores/juniors, and thus wouldn’t be of much assistance. Mine wasn’t. I would, however, listen to the actual major advisor, since they do understand and are generally enthusiastic about the “special cases.”</p>
She is so thrilled that she can take so many humanities class; she spent a lot of time looking at the reading lists for the various english classes and realized that a lot of the required reading books were ones that she had to read in HS. She was going to share that today with her AP English teacher. </p>