<p>Thought I'd put this out there to remind everyone and for everyone to hopefully help those who need it while using the COD/ISIS. I know I'm gonna get a friend to show me the ropes of ISIS before Friday morning. Boo on the 7am though, I wonder how many people will get up then (woo for first years crashing ISIS!)</p>
<p>dont even bother, its super slow when it starts up. just wait a few days until after the rush. you can always course action so its not the biggest thing in your life if you dont get up i promise.</p>
<p>Hahaha there is NO f***ing way I'm getting up to be on there at 7. I might look while I'm at work because there's nothing better to do, but 7am is shower time. I like my showers. Plus, I only need to CA into a physics lab and then find an elective. Not a big deal...</p>
<p>Hey shoebox10, I'd appreciate any pointers that you might care to pass along about how to deal with ISIS.
Thanks</p>
<p>Good thing I'll still be on the other side of the world :) But expect low activity during the first few days until fall comes!</p>
<p>Jimmyjam: I'm as new to ISIS as you haha. Maybe hazelorb and tenniscraze can give a quick "how to" in simple terms. :) <em>nudge nudge</em></p>
<p>yeah, that would be really nice</p>
<p>I'll be on there by 9AM(when I get to work) no doubt.</p>
<p>I just went into ISIS and clicked around. It really doesn't seem hard to add/drop. The only thing I find utterly sttooppiidd is that you have to click "check availability", then if it's open, you go and add. Meanwhile, someone else could be a click ahead and get it. I've heard people complain about this before as well. VT was pretty much the same way, and it caused me pain as well. The good thing about ISIS that VT's system lacked is that you can "swap" classes, or just change the time. This avoids the issue of when you drop a class and then go to add another section, someone has already taken it and you're screwed (happened to me last year...three times). </p>
<p>I wish there was a system that you could say "show me all (fill in department name) courses", then you see if it's full or not, and you click a button that says "add me!" or "swap me!"</p>
<p>ISIS is very easy to use. All you need is the 5 digit/letter schedule number for the course and section you want. You get this from the COD. On ISIS make sure you are in the Fall term (073) and just click "Course Enrollment." From there you just add/drop whatever you want. Don't worry it's fairly straight-forward and self-explanatory.</p>
<p>Thanks boundary, tenniscraze, hazelorb, and others for the ISIS advice. The schedule I got at orientation is pretty darn bad, so I'm really looking to do a lot. Time will tell.</p>
<p>Here's a tip about ISIS reopening: you will more likely lose your connection before doing anything worthwhile so be patient or trying 5 days later. </p>
<p>I highly recommend recording all of the schedule numbers ahead of time so course enrollment will be slightly easier. You wouldn't have to bother with course availability. Utilize the swap function. Instead of dropping course A to add course B and find out B is full, the swap function would check if B is available and only swap A for B if B is available.</p>
<p>Granted, I don't have to worry about my classes since only 40-90 people are vying with me for the classes I want. Have fun praying to get into ECON 201 while I work on my UART queues.</p>
<p>don't bother getting up early to change classes and stuff, it's just a huge parking lot trying to access ISIS that morning and for the better part of the day. You will be completely ****ed off at the system if you try and use it that morning so avoid the frustration by skipping it altogether.</p>
<p>First of all, you might not be able to access "Course Enrollment" now since summer school is still going on. However, once you log into ISIS, enter "073" (072 refers to 2007 summer) and then click on "Course Enrollment" halfway down the page. You will then be able to see what courses you have signed up for in the fall or you will be notified of a block of some kind - whether it be financial or others. Clear the block as soon as you can to avoid further complications when you sign up and register for classes!</p>
<p>The first time I used ISIS, I was confused as to whether I had to enter the date, time, schedule, and other details to sign up for the particular class. ALL you need is just the 5-digit schedule number of the class itself and you enter that in the box. Then ADD the course. If there are multiple sessions for a particular class, ISIS will automatically direct you to a choice of other sessions (if available), should you desire a session that's already been filled up. The rest is pretty much self-explanatory!</p>
<p>You'll mostly access Financial Aid, Student accounts and Course Enrollment in ISIS. Anyway, you have to LEARN your ISIS password because you WILL have to remember it for the next four years. Some browsers don't allow you to go "back" in ISIS, resulting in automatic termination from the system. So get used to pressing the buttons on ISIS ("Main Menu" is where you'll always want to return) and have fun :)</p>
<p>yea, the reason i said don't bother is because loading each page takes about 5 minutes due to the huge load on the servers, and then if you're inactive for 10 minutes (which you might be while trying to add a class) then it logs you out. and then it won't let you log in if there are more than however many users so you have to keep refreshing the log in page, but it won't tell you that it won't log you in until you type in your password so it's a lot of luck with even getting into the system. really, at worst you'll course action in the fall. i know it's disconcerning to not have your schedule finalized but you'll save yourself a lot of frustration if you just wait a week.</p>
<p>the only thing you'll have to use course availability for is if the class you want is full, the COD only updates enrollment numbers once or twice a day so it's good for that. you don't have to check availability in order to add a course, you just need the 5 digit number like everyone else has said - like QXV12 or whatever they are, they're crazy.</p>
<p>Yes, also remember that the COD is not updated real-time, which is a major disadvantage and poses inconvenience to all of us. Check back a few times a day and see what opens up. If something does, you might still not be lucky. But who knows :)</p>
<p>Yeah, the whole COD not updating is a pain in the butt. They told us this a million times during orientation, and kept telling us after haha.
If you try to add a course in ISIS, but it's full, will it just give you an error message and say "course is full"? Also, if you try to swap a course, and the section is full, will it just retain your original class or will it drop it?</p>
<p>If the class you want to swap into is full, the first class will not be dropped and a red letter message will appear on the top of the screen detailing the swap was aborted.</p>
<p>Will it let you add a class that conflicts time wise with a class you already have?</p>
<p>Yes it will, as long as the class isn't full. If you click on your "Schedule", it will notify you of the conflict. In certain circumstances, it may be necessary to hold on to this "conflicting" schedule to secure your class(es).</p>
<p>Woo! VT's system last year wouldn't let you do that and it sucked. What about this whole online waitlist thing? How does that work?</p>