<p>is it a big deal if i occasionally miss a few classes? i'm an incoming freshman, and sometimes i think i'll have to and/or want to miss a class or two for reasons like catching flight home or driving to a concert. would this be bad in a small class (like FWS, PE, discussions) where the prof/TA wound notice i'm gone?</p>
<p>Generally, if you have to catch a flight home around the break periods, some but not all professors will teach a bit less material on those days before the breaks, generally in bigger classes like lecture halls.
Not being in class for a day or so each semester is usually fine.</p>
<p>In smaller classes and for most teachers, skipping classes is going to hurt, that is because they don’t have pause buttons. They will plow through the material just because they have so much to cover in so little time. Some classes have participation and attendance grades as well as quizzes and tests, so skipping will obviously pull the grade down and sometimes they will not reschedule the in class quizzes.
For example, PE classes have a time requirement that requires you to do something for certain amount of hours.</p>
<p>However, since I don’t know what classes you will be taking, it is you’re responsibility to go to each class at least once and try to measure if you have to be there everyday. Some lectures can be interchangeable with just reading the textbook, some discussions just review things taught in lecture and end up just being a 50 minute Q&A session. If that is so, then if you have to not be on campus/in class, you won’t fall badly in the material. It is just that some classes are set up so that you have to be there everyday.</p>
<p>Based on missing a couple per semester, that shouldn’t be an issue. Technically flights aren’t a valid excuse, but there is an implicit understanding with <em>most</em> professors/TAs that this happens and isn’t a big deal. </p>
<p>Warning: PE has strict attendance requirements since grades are based entirely on attendance. I think if you miss 3 or 4 you automatically fail. 3 or 4 lates count as an absence. Most instructors I’ve had offered make-ups though. Also, if you go and don’t put in effort, they can technically count that as an absence (but I’ll assume you’re not a loser). But if you are only missing 2, not a problem. This policy I think varies by PE class. If it only meets once a week, then you might only be allowed to miss 1 or 2 classes.</p>
<p>I would guess missing an FWS isn’t a big deal, especially since your instructor is likely a grad student. </p>
<p>Final caution: Check your prelim schedule before booking flights. You’ll probably get a syllabus in the first class that lists the exam dates. Professors generally hate having to create make-up exams and if you are missing class due to a flight, they probably won’t let you miss it. The time near breaks are usually somewhat popular times to give exams because of how they coincide in the semester so it’s definitely something to look out for. Usually, they’ll have the exam the Monday/Tuesday rather than the Thursday/Friday before the exam to accomodate the inevitability that people will want to leave a bit early, but that’s certainly not guaranteed.</p>