<p>Not to jump the gun or anything :D the Fall 2011 course catalog is now online. Check it out here.</p>
<p>As if my senioritis wasn’t bad enough… Haha thank you for posting this :)</p>
<p>The entire campus squealed in delight when it came out Thursday night after weeks of waiting. Have fun! I remember making dozens of possible schedules during the summer before I came :)</p>
<p>Haha. Yes, it’s fun to look over possible choices. I was also checking out the Rate My Professor site. Do think it is accurate for the most part? Some of the responses are highly contradictory. :eek:</p>
<p>Honestly, I looked at Rate My Professor for about 5 minutes before realizing it wasn’t worth my time. You’re much, much better off asking current students and alumni on CC, on campus, etc.</p>
<p>I think Rate My Professor for Smith at least is pretty useless. Most people only use it if they are really, really disgruntled or really bored and want to stir the pot by making things up.</p>
<p>Let’s say there’s a popular course and professor, aimed mainly at freshmen intended majors in a particular area, and lots of kids wanted to get into it. How would they sort it out if there were 25 who wanted to get in and there were only 18-20 slots?</p>
<p>For a regular course, it would be based on who were the first people to register for it online. And then on the first day of classes, they would see who shows up. Sometimes, if you don’t show up for the first class, they take that as a sign that you’re not interested (a lot of people sign up for courses that they then end up not taking, because they decide they’d rather do something else, or they’re waitlisted somewhere else and get in) and they give your spot to someone who is there, but not registered. Sometimes they are able to squeeze a few more spaces into the course, and they’ll take people off of the waitlist. More often, they’ll tell the waitlisted people to keep attending the class, and at the end of the two-week period they’ll see who is actually taking the class that is registered for it and who has dropped, and that will open slots. But for most of the courses that are the base courses for people intending to major in that area, the course will not have a registration cap on it. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that all the people in the classes ahead of you have registered months before. And then during the intervening months they will more than likely have completely changed their mind about what they want, and on the first day of classes they’ll re-register for other courses. So just because a course is full, doesn’t mean you won’t get in eventually. </p>
<p>If you’re talking about a First Year Seminar course, I think they have some kind of system where you indcate your first, second, third choice and then they match people from there, but I don’t know for sure. When I was a first year, first year seminars were not as big a thing.</p>
<p>When do freshman register for classes? After they get to school or are they supposed to be seriously looking at it this summer?</p>
<p>How long are orientation activities once they get to school? And re: roommates–do students get info on their roommates during the summer before they get to school so that they can contact them, maybe get to know them a bit? And btw, how is the matching up of roommates determined?</p>
<p>First Years (it’s good to start practicing using the vernacular now :-)) register during orientation, and I believe they do it after they meet with their advisor (who they’ll meet during orientation). Someone should feel free to correct me though, I know they made some changes to Orientation since I did it a few years ago. </p>
<p>Orientation usually lasts a week, and it now includes something called Orientation Groups. Orienation Groups used to be called “Pre-Orientation” and was optional, but now apparently its called Orientation Groups and everyone participates in one. Some of the groups go on trips like hiking or kayaking, and some just stay on campus (there’s more about this on the Smith website: [Smith</a> College: For New Students](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/sao/firstyear/stud_firstorientation.php]Smith”>Orientation Programs | Smith College)) and have various focuses. </p>
<p>I did the Leadership Pre-O, which was fun but mostly was just a time to meet people in a small group setting and get to know the campus. When regular Orientation started a few days later, I didn’t even go to the sessions because I felt I was already sufficiently oriented during Pre-Orientation. I guess that’s probably why they combined the two programs. </p>
<p>You’ll get information about your roomates in the summer, I think towards the end of July if memory serves, so you will be able to email back and forth and share info/discuss room set up. Roommates are matched based on the answers given in your housing survey, which you will get later on.</p>
<p>Mea culpa…First Years! :eek:</p>
<p>Hahaha, it’s ok, I know it’s a little weird. But if you and your D start practicing now, it will save her a lot of snotty conversations with those wise upperclasswomen when she arrives at Smith. Also, she should practice women’s college. Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances “girl’s school” unless she wants an earful from the nearest SWAG major.</p>
<p>Haha believe me I wouldn’t go there…haaha. ;)</p>
<p>oh yeah, my friend used “all girl’s school” at a smith booth at a college fair once and she got an earful! :D</p>
<p>I’m an upcoming sophomore at Smith. I have my classes all picked :)</p>
<p>See, I thought the same thing, but I remember deciding on a 100% different schedule over the summer. It was an epic course re-organization.</p>
<p>I doubt it. I need all of them for my major/going abroad</p>
<p>How exactly does one go about picking classes? Do you chose 4 that don’t conflict as far as timing goes? Can you do more? What about preparing for your major?
I NEED TO KNOW NOOOOW
I have no patience hahaha</p>
<p>Brittany, </p>
<p>The normal course load is 16 credits, which is four 4-credit classes. The minimum number of credits you can take and maintain full-time student status is 12, and the maximum you can take without petitioning the administration is 24. Class times cannot overlap. If you have a good idea of what major you intent to complete, I would recommend starting to take those classes your first semester, but don’t limit yourself to them. You never know what you might take on a whim and find out you love. I’m not sure what major you are interested in, but if you are interested in a chem related major or are pre-health, then you should start taking chem in the fall since the way chem works is chem 1&3 are offered in the fall and chem 2&4 are offered in the spring, meaning you can only start the sequence in the fall (and it’s a long one). </p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about getting your schedule perfect right now. You will meet with you pre-major advisor during orientation as well as your SAA’s (Student Academic Advisors). There are also opportunities to talk to students and professors from all departments at various events throughout orientation. Also, first-years register well after the rest of the student-body making it more difficult to get into some classes. Certain intro classes reserve spaces for first years, but others (such as ESS) can prove extremely difficult to get into.</p>
<p>Do you know what you are interested in taking at all? We might be able to give you more specific advice.</p>
<p>Assuming I’m able to get into all of these classes that I want to be in (which is a silly assumption… so I found back ups for each course-- I’m serious), then I have a schedule that works. ldkfjdsiofjewoijf oh my gosh this looks like such fun.</p>
<p>Why is high school even continuing to go on. Just a twisted endurance test at this point.</p>