<p>I'd like to hear more from freshmen and their parents about the courses they took first semester and how registration went for the spring semester. Most students take 4 4-credit courses per semester, correct? Plus Elon 101 in the fall - do I have that right? Were you able to get courses you were mostly happy with for the spring? I realize it will vary by intended major - but I'm still curious to see some sample schedules. Thanks.</p>
<p>Yes most students take 4 4-credit courses per semester, plus Elon 101 in the fall.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth - My S was able to get into the classes he wanted. They did advise that he change one of his classes because he choose 2 writing intensive classes in his 1st semester along with a lot of EC’s. </p>
<p>As time goes by most students get to know the professors and who is doing interesting work in the areas they are considering majoring in, and those professors (in addition to Elon’s counselor) recommend other classes, professors and internships.</p>
<p>Good to hear. I know things at Elon have a reputation for running smoothly - was curious if this pertained to course selection as well - which I know can be rough freshman year at many schools.</p>
<p>Elon has 4 required classes that all frosh take: College Writing, Global Experience, Math (stats or calculus) and Health. They take 2 in the fall and 2 in the spring, and which ones they take which term can vary. </p>
<p>For first semester freshman year, Elon has kids sign up in June (or maybe it was by June 1? I can’t remember…) for all 4 core classes plus up to about 6 more they want to take. They then receive a schedule that has 2 of the core classes and generally 2 of the other classes they signed up for, plus Elon 101 which is a half-semester, 1 credit class.</p>
<p>For Winter term and Spring semester D had a stressful course selection, but it ended up fine.</p>
<p>The priority for spring course selection (and I assume for all semesters after the 1st semester freshman year) is determined by the number of credits you have completed. Since D had no AP credits, and is a first semester freshman, she had zero credits. Within the zero credit group, the registration times were alphabetical. So D was in the second to last group of the entire university to register. There were only 3 courses in her major she was eligible to take based on required pre-reqs, before her turn came up all 3 were “closed.” I told her to speak to her current professor. She did, and the current professor told her to go ahead and register for her other classes, then meet with the head of the dept. So she did, and the head of the dept told her she could sign up for whichever section of whichever of those 3 courses she wanted and it would be approved. D did that, turned in the paper from the dept head authorizing her to enroll in a closed class, and she was all set! Elon’s personal attention is indeed alive and well. (This worked because the courses didn’t have labs… labs have stricter limits for safety and practical reasons, of course.) </p>
<p>She ended up with her two core classes (in her case Global and Statistics, since she had College Writing and Health this term), one elective course that satisfies a Gen Studies requirement, and one course in her major. :)</p>
<p>Don’t forget that in addition to the 4 Fall - 4 Spring, about 95% of freshmen will come back to campus for winter term. They sign up for one 4-credit class that meets 3 hours per day, 5 days per week for the month of January. Some of the classes offered are standard classes, and some are unique and fun classes that are created specifically for January term.</p>
<p>^ Lafalum84 - good point, yes it does work out in the end… </p>
<p>By the way - it’s College Writing and Global Experience that are writing intensive and not recommended to do in the same semester.</p>
<p>Hey Rockville mom, Are you from Rockville Maryland?.. I’m from Gaithersburg…</p>
<p>Anyways, I am a freshmen leadership fellow at Elon, so my schedule is a little bit different. However, your fall term classes are selected automatically, which actually is kinda nice, takes off the some stress of an already stressful off-to-college summer your child is going to have. The winter term/spring registration is a slight scary, but you sit down with an adviser before and they guild you though what you need to take. This winter term i will be taking a class called “Engineering life” which is about the ethics and science of cloning. It is going to count as my science credit. Don’t stress too much about your child schedule next year, its more important to find a school that fits. I assure you if your child comes to Elon, class scheduling will be a lot less stressful than it seems. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have anymore questions!</p>
<p>Oh and my schedule was like this</p>
<p>Fall term:</p>
<p>Global (4 credit hours)- MWF 12:15-1:25
Critical thinking (4 credit hours)- MWF- 9:25-10:35
Statistics 212 (4 credit hours)- TuTh 12:25-2:05
Elon 101 (1 credit hour)- Tu 9-10
American Government (4 credit hours)- MWF 1:40-2:50</p>
<p>Winter</p>
<p>Enengineering life- WTWTHF 1:30-4:30</p>
<p>My spring is complicated due to a injury</p>
<p>oh and I am a political science major, with a possible minor in philosophy</p>
<p>Ok - now here’s a somewhat stupid question - is there a fee for the winter term? I understand there would be a cost associated with going abroad for 3 weeks - but I was not aware that so many students take a class in January and had not factored that into my estimate of the annual cost for Elon. Could someone give me a ballpark cost on that? January term tuition? Housing? Thanks.</p>
<p>I also want to say thanks for the info. My son is very seriously considering ED at Elon next year and I just want to be sure that we have examined every issue. I have read some complaints on the parents forum regarding freshman having extreme problems registering for classes for the spring at other colleges - and my son will have few if any AP credits - so was just wondering about other’s experiences in this area.</p>
<p>The winter term is included in the cost of tuition/ So you pay for it whether or not your child decides to stay and do it.</p>
<p>Thank goodness - I was starting to get concerned.</p>
<p>Yes, winter term tuition is included with your fall tuition, and your fall meal plan and room fee include winter term - whether your child attends or not. Spring fees are slightly lower than fall fees because of this. So when Elon quotes you annual costs, they include Winter Term (at least, on-campus Winter Term).</p>
<p>And be reassured, even in the second to last group to register, my Daughter was able to get classes that she needs and wants. She might not have gotten her first choice elective or the exact times she wanted, and she was closed out of a science class she will eventually need to take - but she has 3 more years to take that class. She’s satisfied with her schedule. I’ve seen the horror stories you’re referring to, and that didn’t happen for D at Elon.</p>
<p>Winter Term is a wonderful time. You attend the same class everyday with a small group of students who have study groups and time to have meals together and explore…</p>
<p>Other posters are quite correct. Fall is a breeze since they do the scheduling from your picks of about 8 classes. It takes the pressure off. My d found spring stressful as she too was toward the end. She got the classes just not the times or professors she wanted. Frankly, she was intimidated so I don’t know if she really even considered the teachers. ( even though we told her that would be the first priority not the time). Her friends helped her through the process. The academic advisors do help. She got a call after her fall schedule was set this summer because the academic advisor noticed she had received credit for a dual credit course in H. S. which was a duplicate of the course she was to take fall. She chose another course. So they really do pay attention. So the point is, it may be friends or the faculty but help seems readily available.</p>
<p>My son is just finishing his first semester at Elon, so I thought I’d add to the thread based on his experiences to-date.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, Elon has incoming freshmen complete a form during the summer indicating their preferences, then develops their fall semester schedule for them. If required classes aren’t on that fall schedule, the responsibility becomes the student’s going forward to ensure they’re taken at the appropriate time.</p>
<p>When my son got his fall schedule, we were more than just a bit concerned to discover that he’d been given 19 hours, especially after thinking all along that 16 was the norm. Some further research led us to learn that the 3 extra hours were comprised of 2 for a required Health class and 1 for Elon 101, with the former only being a half-semester course that ended for our son in mid-October and the latter being a pass/fail course. So despite being scared off by the number “19”, everything has worked our perfectly this semester(today’s the last day of classes before exams!).</p>
<p>Looking ahead, our son had absolutely no problem constructing his spring term schedule, nor did he have a problem confirming his desired winter term class.</p>
<p>Having arrived at Elon with 20 credit hours thanks to AP exams, my son had some built-in
flexibility when creating his schedule and has taken advantage of it to his liking. Combined with the fact that he’s an early-bird and prefers 8am classes, he set up a spring schedule that he was able to confirm without any deviation once registration began.</p>
<p>As others have shared, the winter term classes meet for 3 hours a day, five days a week, with the only question being whether it’s an 8:30-11:30am course or 1-4pm. My son opted for a morning class in January and is following that with 8:00am classes five days a week for spring. He’ll be carrying 16 hours, which will include the freshman-required Global Experience and will head home in May with 59 hours(leaving him just 3 hours short of being classified as a junior when he returns in August. an online class during the summer could
move him into that classification if he so desires).</p>
<p>Another thing I should mention about my son’s spring registration is his use of the RateMyProfessor website as a resource. Between the anecdotal feedback shared on the site and input he got from his suitemates, he was able to pinpoint exactly which sections of each class he preferred. His willingness to take on early classes only made his registration life easier, as those are always the last to fill up when there are alternatives.</p>
<p>Sorry for rambling, but just trying to share my son’s freshman experience where classes & registration are concerned.</p>
<p>thejake13 - that was really helpful. I like the fact that freshman don’t have to actually register on-line for their first semester - my older son went through that at his college and it was quite intense the first time he did it. Elon’s method seems simpler - no surprise there!</p>
<p>95% of Freshman stay for Winter term? Really??? We visited during Winter Term and campus seemed kind of…empty.</p>
<p>How much time do Freshman wind up getting off between the end of Fall and beginning of Spring semester?</p>
<p>mhc48 - a lot of upperclassmen use winter term for study abroad. Elon runs quite a few 3 week study abroad classes, lead by a professor that study a particular topic. So although there are many upperclassmen participating in winter term, they’re not all on campus.<br>
[Study</a> Abroad Programs and Applications](<a href=“Elon University / Isabella Cannon Global Education Center”>Elon University / Isabella Cannon Global Education Center)
Also, winter term classes run 3 hours per day, 5 days per week. So if you were there during the day, there would have been fewer kids walking between classes.</p>
<p>This year the last day of finals was Dec 14. Winter term started January 4, so my daughter was home just a bit short of 3 weeks. There is a week-long break between the end of winter term (this year 1/25) and and the start of spring semester (Feb 1) which is known as “Fake Break.” Pretty much all of the guys and at least half of the girls leave campus that week, but the sororities do their recruiting (they don’t call it rush) that week, so the 40% of girls who are involved in sororities or going through recruiting remain on campus.<br>
[OnTrack</a> Help](<a href=“Elon University - America’s Top-Ranked Teaching University”>Elon University - America’s Top-Ranked Teaching University)</p>
<p>All but one of my d’s floormates stayed for winter break. I think Elon never seems crowded. I think it has 250 acres for 5,000 students. I don’t know if it is the schedule or the size of campus but it seemed quieter to us. Our comparisons though were with larger schools in less space so that might be it. </p>
<p>We loved the schedule ( didn’t think I would). It was the perfect amount of time off. Her friends who had six weeks were eventually bored. Having that time to take one class is great - especially if your child doesn’t come in with oodles of AP/dual credit. You can either choose a a course which counts toward your major or somehing fun or it may work out it is fun and counts towards major. I like that they don’t do recruitment until spring. M d didn’t go throught the process but I think it is much better than a fall “rush”</p>