<p>Can someone offer some advice regarding class waitlists?
How does a student get off the waitlist and into the class? Do some students have priority?
Thanks again.</p>
<p>My S wanted to change Spanish but just go into a different section. There was a seat available. When he dropped the section he was in and then added the available section, it showed him waitlisted in the new section and he was 4 credits short. He was able to get back into his original section so he has a full load, however, he is hesitant to drop the current section and try it again, because he does not want to be short on credits. If the class schedule shows a seat available, shouldn’t it be automatic when he does a drop/add? Any advice? Thanks</p>
<p>I think the waitlist order just goes in order of who registered for the waitlist first. When first registering for classes, the priority is seniors, juniors, etc, but if a freshman signs up for the waitlist before a senior, I’m pretty sure the freshman would be offered the slot first. What happens a lot is that students on the waitlist go to a class on the first day, and the professor will usually just manually add them to the class. There’s a limit, of course, but I’ve always been lucky with professors who were willing to work with me to get me into the class. Plus, with language courses, so many people drop/change/switch out the first week, so a class that is completely full the first week could have half as many people the second week. It never hurts to just talk to the professor!</p>
<p>@Tyler15: That happened to my S last semester and what he realized was sometimes it shows a seat available, but the first person on the waitlist hasn’t bumped into the spot yet. There must be a lag between when someone drops a class and the next person in line moves from the waitlist onto the roster. I have noticed a few spots available on the schedule despite the fact that the class has a long waitlist. S has moved up a couple of spots in two of his waitlisted classes, but hasn’t budged in the third. Very frustrating.</p>
<p>I believe the next person on the WL is notified by email and has 48 hours to claim the spot.</p>
<p>I’m waitlisted for a class too. However I’m spot 6 and the class can take 120 students so I think I’ll be fine. What worries me is my public health intro class, which doesn’t have a waitlist and is maxed out already. Should I just patrol the class listing and see if a spot opens up?</p>
<p>Talk to the professor or the department chair and see if they are going to add another section.</p>
<p>Last year the excuse was that they had severly underestimated class needs.
Hope they’re not going to use that as an excuse for this year as well. You’d figure they’d learn something.
My son was a junior last year and had a great deal of trouble. If he has the same difficulties for next year as a senior then something is seriously wrong.</p>
<p>Last semester my S was waitlisted for a class that looked like he had no hope of getting into. They ended up moving the class to a larger room and I think most people got in. We just went in to look at his schedule and there it was - he was in and we hadn’t received any notification. Either way, he was happy to get in. I am praying the same thing happens with Business Stats. It really has the potential to mess a lot of people up. With students about to start exams, the last thing they need is to be having to monitor the class schedule for Fall. It really is poor planning. S emailed his business advisor who basically said she couldn’t help him. She apologized but said it was a math class and they had no control over the situation. Sounds like someone higher up needs to step in and resolve the situation.</p>
<p>I think you are going to find that you will have to monitor the class all summer long and especially 2 wks before school starts. If there is no wait list then the seat available is first come first served. If there is a wait list then it does indeed go by the student who got on the list first. There is a lag. If you are shooting for a specific teacher you will have to monitor closely if there is no wait list. However, they usually open up at some point although it may be brief. I believe that if you are not concerned with which teacher you get then you will almost certainly be able to take the class one way or another. Beware, the teacher with all the seats available may not be what you want.</p>
<p>Now this is news – a private school with issues of class size and wait-lists? I hope Tulane has an advisor/counselor to help students navigate the system – or is it closer to a state school? I am very surprised to read these posts.</p>
<p>gigica - you are reading too much into it. It is nothing like a state school, and all schools have wait lists for a class once the slots fill up. Harvard, Stanford, you name it and they will have classes that only take X number of students and X + 20 want to be in it.</p>