<p>Hi, my name is Jay and I will be a freshman entering W&M this year.
I have a bit of problem with choosing courses.
They are set up really complicated way (maybe I just have never seen this kind of set up for course selection) and I really need help !!
How do other people choose them ? and how many credits should I go for in freshman year ??</p>
<p>please help</p>
<p>Thank you
sincerely</p>
<p>Jay,</p>
<p>Have you emailed your peer advisor? Chances are that student has already contacted you via your W&M email. They are there to help new students navigate summer pre-registration. When you arrive on campus next week, you’ll meet with your academic advisor (a faculty member) who will help you finalize your course selection. These are definitely good questions for that advisor.</p>
<p>Generally, most advisors recommend that entering freshmen take 14 credits give or take (15 is average) so as to ease themselves in to college academics.</p>
<p>If you’re having trouble navigating the online registration system or course schedule and cannot get in touch with your peer advisor, you can also contact the Registrar’s Office (757-221-2800) as they oversee registration.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply !
Yes they have connected me with a peer advisor and I have been communicating with her.
But still course selection option seems to be complicated for me.
For example, </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I do not know what ‘schedule type’ to choose. (I have never seen them before!)</p></li>
<li><p>I do not know how much credit range I need. (there is an option for credit range hours that I need to fill out but I do know what to do with it )</p></li>
<li><p>And I do know about start time and end time of any classes ! </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry… I have never done this kind of stuff before and am in the process of learning…</p>
<p>thank you
sincerely</p>
<p>I always searched by subject, and wrote down when the classes were that I wanted to take. Then I pieced them together in a schedule that I liked, and tried to sign up for those classes.</p>
<p>So, if you need to take Biology, search the Bio department, find the class that is appropriate for you, and see when it is meeting. Then pick one of them and sign up.</p>
<p>In order to graduate, you need 120 credits. 120 credits / 8 semesters = 15 credits per semester on average to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>If you have AP/IB credits, then you can subtract that number of credits from the 120, and you will find how many credits you still need to graduate.</p>
<p>Thank you for your information ! </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I just checked the schedule sheet and most freshman classes have either 3 or 4 credits.
So the maximum credit is like 12 and general credit is like 9 or 10. But you are recommending 15 credits per semester ??? What should I do ? </p></li>
<li><p>I have taken Ib classes in my high school but they are mostly unrelated to my chosen courses in W&M which are all sociology classes ! (I want to study sociology !). But I have taken… </p></li>
</ol>
<p>IB SL/HL (both) biology
IB SL economics
IB SL English
IB SL Math </p>
<p>during my highschool year.
So… can this help me or my credit in any means ?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for everything
Sincerely</p>
<p>p.s. - thanks for all the help! seriously!! :)</p>
<p>If you are a freshman, then try some classes that will fulfill the GER requirements:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>An intro to Sociology class</p></li>
<li><p>A science type class (Bio, Chem, Astronomy, for example) with a lab</p></li>
<li><p>A freshman seminar</p></li>
<li><p>Maybe a class that relates to your proposed major or a foreign language</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here is a link to a document that was helpful to my daughter:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.wm.edu/as/undergraduate/advising/documents/AcademicWorksheet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wm.edu/as/undergraduate/advising/documents/AcademicWorksheet.pdf</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m sure someone can answer this definitively, but in the meantime - it used to be that a freshman could only enroll in a maximum of, I think, 11 or 12 credits prior to arriving on campus and meeting with their advisor, who’d then give them the ability to increase the number of classes they’d enrolled in. I imagine that’s what you’re running into. Register for your maximum allowed credits now (11 or 12), and then add a course once you’ve arrived. </p>
<p>As for credits granted, I believe the registrar(?) would have sent you a letter telling you if any credits had been granted - AP credits are granted based on AP exams, and are pretty clear-cut. There was recently a thread about IB credits, and the lack thereof - if none were granted, don’t worry about it. </p>
<p>As for credits and courses selected, you’ll want a mix of things - like what mom4college recommended. If there’s a freshman seminar that really grabs your attention, start with that, and then build your schedule around that. Don’t feel like it has to be about your chosen major - find something fun and that will engage you. And if you find one that really sounds good, don’t wait to register, they can fill up quickly.</p>
<p>When I say “build your schedule around that”, what I mean is to schedule other classes around those meeting times/days - and try to avoid back-to-back classes that meet at opposite ends of the campus.</p>
<p>freshmen can only enroll in a certain amount of credits before they get to campus. After you get to campus, you will meet with your advisor, and you will be able to sign up for more classes to get yourself near the 15 credit number.</p>
<p>if you are trying to decide what to take, you can search classes by GER (as mom4college mentioned) and then sign up for those. I would say taking maybe 1 sociology class, and the rest GER classes would be good for your first semester.</p>
<p>incoming freshmen can enroll in only 11 credits prior to arriving on campus. After meeting with your academic advisor during orientation, you’ll do additional registering on Tuesday, August 23 (the day before classes start) to get yourself to 14-15 credits. At that time you can also drop courses you’ve already registered for and pick up new ones based on the conversation you had with your academic advisor.</p>
<p>With IB, we give credit only for 6s and 7s (and some 5s) on the HL exams. If you sent the scores to W&M, the Registrar will have evalutated them and given you credit which isn’t sent by mail but is posted in your myWM banner self service account online. Those credits just go towards graduation but do not count as part of your credit load for the incoming semester.</p>
<p>If you’re experiencing trouble actually making your way through the online registration system, you should definitely contact either the Registrar (757-221-2800) or your peer advisor. They’re there to help you navigate the actual process of registering for classes. You can look up the fall course schedule online (<a href=“User Login”>User Login) and there’s a whole website on how to register ([William</a> & Mary - How to Register](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/registration/howtoregister/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/registration/howtoregister/index.php)). Don’t worry about schedule type or credit range. Just search by subject and undergraduate courses (course level) and then you’ll see a list of classes and that’s where you’ll learn start and end times.</p>