Hey guys! I’m a senior and recently got admitted to Wellesley. I want to major in Biology, but I don’t know much about the course selection process. When you get on campus for orientation, do you meet with your advisor? Or are you expected to know or pick your classes before orientation? Thanks!
I don’t know about Wellesley in particular but generally at LACs you meet with your advisor and then register. If you want to feel prepared you could look through the course catalog and start noting classes that look interesting to you.
http://www.wellesley.edu/academics/catalog
For some majors there may be group advising since the course sequence is pretty standard with a few electives. Go to the Biology website at W and see if there’s a suggested semester by semester plan ( or quarters, if W is on quarters).
After you arrive on campus you’ll have a meeting with the first year advisor who was assigned to you. He/she will help you out with the selection process for your first semester. Definitely take a look at the course browser and see what’s available, though! Also, feel free to ask me any questions about Wellesley student life; I’m a recent grad and would be happy to help!
Lots of info here about the course selection process:
When you get to campus you’ll take placement tests for things like QR, math and foreign language (some you can take over the summer online). Your First Year Writing Seminar will be assigned over the summer, so you’ll already know one of y our classes before you get there. I think you can choose 5 of the many they offer and they try to give you one of those but sometimes you’ll get a random one. This one class is pass/fail no matter when you take it so don’t worry if you get one assigned in the Spring instead of your incoming semester. They all focus on improving your writing so don’t worry too much about which section you get assigned.
Wellesley will assign a faculty advisor based on your interests and this person will contact you and meet with you to figure out your schedule. You should definitely look around though, at the distribution requirements and courses you may want to take. Have back up classes for every time slot in case you don’t get your first choices (you probably will for at least half of them). You’ll know who your faculty advisor is before Orientation.
You will also have a student advisor in your dorm who will walk you (and your group) through the registration process and help you register. Registration is usually at 8 am on the dot, and the fastest finger wins. You can do it from your room or you can join the group, which I recommend in case you have an issue–then the advisor will be right there to help you. Most classes have electronic wait lists but be sure to look and see if one you want has one where you have to email the teacher to get on it.
You will be able to see exactly how many spots are left in each class in the course browser after the Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores register (by April 20 I think). They do reserve spots in popular classes for First Years.
My D got all her first choice classes the first semester but had to pull in a back up the second semester, so definitely have a substitution list. She got everything she wanted as a sophomore. Don’t worry too much about it, just have back ups.
PS I just looked at that link. You’re going to be in great hands with advisors to show you every step of the way. The student advisor who helps with registration is called the APT (academic peer tutor). Your First Year Mentor is more of an Orientation Leader who helps you navigate the social stuff and takes you to dinner, shows you the town, etc.
I’ll just add: don’t over-do it your first term. I don’t recommend taking more than one science with a lab your first term. A friend’s D ignored this suggestion and really struggled. All the students at Wellesley are academically strong. Give yourself time to adjust to being in college and the course load.
Wellesley’s first term is shadow graded. In general I agree with college_query’s advice! But your faculty advisor will look at your record and help you decide if you can handle two labs your first semester. Some people do! Mine did and did just fine but she was in a buckle-down-and-study frame of mind, which this really requires, plus she is the type of person who would rather be busy than have free time. In general labs take 3-4 hours in your week for class time and also have a lot of homework (lab reports). Sometimes she had more lab homework than class homework. She said 7-8 hours per lab for A level work!! So keep this in mind and DO NOT over schedule yourself if you are the kind of person who needs free time. Your lab grade is rolled into your course grade and then multiplied by 1.25 for your GPA. But you won’t have a GPA your first semester, so maybe take your weakest science that semester if possible if you end up taking 2. As a premed student you will be saddled with labs pretty much all the way through so build up that stamina as well. Another thing is in general Wellesley encourages its pre-med students to take a gap year between college and med school so you can spread out the stress and prevent burn-out. Otherwise you have to have all of your pre-med classes finished by junior year and this will inevitably require doubling up on labs for most semesters. This is true at any school however. Please be mindful of spreading out the stress and of burnout. It happens to a lot of people.
Oh I’m sorry! I confused this with another thread. You probably aren’t even pre-med!!! I’m leaving this post up in case someone else out there might want to read it.
As another bio major thank you all for sharing this information!
Thank you guys so much. This is really helpful information