<p>Looking for advice. I have a freshman at Cal Poly who was given a late registration date for Winter Quarter. Just spent several hours with my student trying to get any classes, which I thought should not be hard but it turns out just about everything was totally filled with many many students on waitlists for EVERYTHING…yikes even 7am classes. My student was only able to get 3 classes scheduled for winter quarter and they are not optimal. Will the waitlists clear or more sections be added in open enrollment period? I am hoping so…we passed Prop 30.</p>
<p>Sometimes they’ll add classes after regular registration ends. Some major departments will email students to inform them, but you just have to keep checking PASS yourself. I was one of the last groups to register for winter quarter of my freshman year, so I just kept checking PASS over break and noticed they opened up a new section of a good GE class I needed so I enrolled in it. </p>
<p>As far as crashing/waitlisting go, it’s best to do this with large lecture classes. These generally come in two forms: the 60-70 person type, and the giant 120 or 180 person type. There’s also usually one psych class a quarter that has like 500 people of something. English 134, 145, (probably 149 too) and public speaking classes (comms 101/102) are usually tightly capped, so if you’re on the waitlist, there’s not a very good chance you’ll get in. </p>
<p>I have to go now, but I can add more later…</p>
<p>Dadfan: Your student’s situation sounds very similar to my freshman daughter’s. She had 12th rotation and had to wait until this morning to register. Many of the classes she wanted were also full, so she is on waiting lists for 4 classes, hoping to get into at least one of them, preferably a chemistry class. She did manage to register for 3 classes, so she’s happy about that. Also, there are some GE classes that she will try and add after open enrollment has ended, starting Dec 8. She was so stressed out about this - I spent many hours on the phone with her trying to help her out. It’s unfortunate that our freshman students had to deal with a difficult registration process for their first experience. But I told her that she’ll have better rotations from now on, and priorities to use when needed. So things will get better! Good luck to your student!</p>
<p>It was hard to get classes during freshman year when I was there almost 40 years ago- except then we had to go to the gym during our designated registration time and go to tables for each department to get a card for the classes in that department. You could get all your classes and then get to the last table and find there were no cards left for that last class you needed. Then it was time to reconfigure your schedule and make the rounds again hoping there might still be openings. If you could get a job working the tables, you could pull your cards early- hard to believe such a system ever worked, but it did!</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses and helpful hints I can pass onto my freshman student. Agree it is too bad the freshman have such a hard time but let’s hope it gets easier for them to register in subsequent quarters. LOL about the punch card comment, was telling my son about all the loopholes back in the day when my varsity athlete friends would “collect” cards for us during their preferred registration…so we could get classes.</p>
<p>Ok here are a couple more tips:
-Watch pass during the first week or so of classes. People may drop and spots that weren’t available on the first day may open up. If they do, don’t be afraid to go see the teacher during office hours or show up to the class again to see if you can still add. I’ve had some success with this.
-It may be a bit late to this this for next quarter, but going to see a teacher who will be teaching a class you are interested in and explaining your situation can be a good idea. It won’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to register for the class, but it shows your interest in the class and hopefully the teacher will remember you if you show up on the first day to crash.</p>
<p>It will all work out in the end, Dadfan. Trust me. That’s why they call it “Learn by doing.” My daughter is a 3rd year and she’s had her share of late rotations. Even now with a 2nd rotation she’s on two waitlists with only 6 units so far. However, she’s not concerned. Since I don’t have access to her portal and have no idea how registering for classes works–never have and probably never will–I just let her take care of everything. Well…except for PAYING for it. 
Seriously, they’re young adults now and it’s a good lesson for them to learn the ropes and not have their parents stress about it on the sidelines. Heck, I can’t even imagine that our parents would even THINK about being as involved with their college kids’ daily life as we are nowadays. I guess we can thank modern technology for a lot of that. 
Best wishes to your student and please be assured that he’ll be fine in the end. Yes, it sometimes feels frustrating and time-consuming. But, definitely easier than standing in a gym going from table to table waiting for those cards that might all be gone. :)</p>
<p>It’s amazing what you can crash without even being on the waitlist. As some folks mentioned upthread, try getting on the waitlist for bigger classes since you have better odds. Once you have maxed that out, print out a complete list of classes that you can take and try showing up on the first day of class. If you are lucky, you might get an add number.</p>
<p>My kid’s roommate only got two classes via regular registration at the end of the last quarter and wait listed for everything else. When he got to campus after the summer break he went to several teachers and his counselor and magically got into every class he needed. Maybe not the preferred teacher or time, but he got the classes. I asked my son and his roommate how he did it and they said that you just have to look really pathetic and ask nicely for help and people will take sympathy on you and let you in.</p>
<p>Honest and true story. This is exactly what the kids told me. They also said that no teacher will ever turn you away unless they really can’t take you. No teacher wants to ruin your education or graduation timeline on purpose. Purely anecdotal info, but you can’t argue with a kid that arrived on campus completely unprepared and ended up with a full load of classes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips from everyone. My student got off a waitlist for a class and will talk to teacher as advised to switch another. Yes the technology today allows our kids to reach out and integrate us instantly into the online crisis that every class on their list is filled as happened with CoParent and myself and I am pretty sure alot of other parents ;)</p>
<p>Reviving old thread. Hey Osakadad, now that you are voice of more experience than above posts, how has it been for your S to get classes? Was freshman year a nightmare? Did it get better or is it just part of the CP struggle? Can’t remember which engineering he is in…I suppose they have to learn which classes to grab when they have good rotation versus bad. idk, the whole CA thing of being in a long line for everything gets so old. My friends in other places don’t have to fight or beg to get in the classes they need. This is giving us pause…
Will yours finish in 4 or 5? Thanks as always, appreciate your time.</p>