<p>I’m going to be a freshman at Penn next year (CSE at SEAS) and I’m really confused about how course registration works. When does it start? When does it end? How does one go about registering for courses? Who do we talk to about what courses to pick? I’ll be in China from 6/10~7/29 so I want to get all this stuff done preferably in advance. Also I want to take Econ 101/102 at Wharton (to leave open the possbility of dual degreeing). Will it be hard to get?</p>
<p>From Penn's website: Registration for New Students: </p>
<p>The course registration process involves two registration periods. The first is Advance Registration during which you will be entering your requests for the courses you hope to enroll in. At the end of Advance Registration, all students requests will be processed by a scheduling program to determine who gets enrolled in the courses. You will receive a schedule of the courses in which you have been enrolled. The second is the Course Selection Period during which you will be able to make revisions to your class schedule. You will enter your change requests via the Internet using Penn InTouch. In order to access Penn InTouch you must have a valid PennKey and password. If you do not have a PennKey or have forgotten your password, you may register for or update your PennKey via the internet at <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/computing/pennkey/%5B/url%5D">http://www.upenn.edu/computing/pennkey/</a>. If you need additional assistance with your PennKey, please come to the University Registrars Office, 221 Franklin Building (Monday Friday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm). Please note pin numbers (Personal Identification Number) are required to set up your PennKey account. For security reasons, PIN numbers cannot be issued via telephone or email. </p>
<p>Advance Registration: Freshman Advance Registration begins on Monday, June 20, 2005 and ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, July 29, 2005. During this period you will be entering requests for the courses into which you would like to enroll. At the end of advance registration, the system will schedule all students requests based on space availability or other criteria set on a course. Note: Depending on course demand, the system may not be able to enroll you in all the courses you requested. In mid-August, a copy of your schedule will be mailed to you. You may also view your schedule on Penn InTouch beginning Monday, August 8, 2005.</p>
<p>Hope it helps!</p>
<p>And in a few less words:</p>
<p>Advanced registration is kind of like the housing process. You pick the classes/professors you want (look at the course timetable <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/)%5B/url%5D">http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/)</a>. Then when advanced registration opens, you enter everything in (put seminars and recitations first, lectures last, and anything that's a requirement for your major (ie CSE120) very last since you have to be able to get into that). You can change it as much as you'd like between then and the end of advanced registration. When advanced registration closes, all the requests go into a mysterious computer that spits out your schedule. </p>
<p>From there starts Add/Drop. This is when you can change your schedule in real time (ie, you can see instantly if a class is open or not and enroll in it instantly). Many people get schedules missing lectures or recitations or labs, so this is when you attempt to fix it. Add ends 2 weeks into the semester and drop ends a few weeks later. </p>
<p>Any other questions, just ask :)</p>
<p>wow, lilchnsgrl, your summer is so similar to mines, I am going away to China also, probably at the end of July, and stay there about 20 something days. Additionally, I am also enrolled in SEAS, under the bioengineering program, so I hope to see u soon in Penn.</p>