<p>I’m an admitted Fall 2011 freshman for Physics, probably changing to engineering. I’m wondering how hard it is to get into the classes I’ll need. The suggested schedule calls for me to start off with Math 21A and Chem 2A in the first quarter. Not getting into Math in particular would literally keep me behind schedule for years since the combined Math/Physics/Engineering sequence is very long.</p>
<p>Can I expect to get into Math 21A and Chem 2A for my Freshman Fall Quarter? Or do some people get delayed right from the start?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>You register for your fall classes at orientation with your orientation group. The order in which you register in your group is chosen at random, so you could be out of luck when it comes to getting chem and math classes for fall. I registered toward the middle of my group and by that time, Chem 2a was full and I had to waitlist to get in. A lot of people did get in by waitlist, including myself, but I’m sure many others didn’t as well. I guess it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get in for fall. You certainly won’t behind schedule for “years.” I know a lot of engineering majors who started Chem 2a in winter quarter and they’re doing just fine. </p>
<p>Registering is a lot smoother after fall quarter since your registration time is based on the number of units you have. These units could come from AP credits, community college credits, etc. But if you don’t have very many units, you’ll probably have to waitlist to get in math/science classes or get really late lab times.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>During orientation, your major advisor/dean/counselor will recommend a class schedule for you. Depending on your registration time slot, you may get those classes or have to
waitlist. If you are on a waitlist, just make sure and go to the classes and labs (as many sections as you can) until you get in. There are usually some drops and if no one is physically there that has waitlisted, they will do some kind of lottery with the students who showed up. An example from orientation - for the engineering students, they recommend taking Chem 2A during the winter quarter - let the chem people take it the fall quarter.
I got lucky during orientation - I was ‘randomly’ picked to re-take the math placement test during orientation. They wanted to do some testing on how taking it in-house matched with the scores you got online. It was voluntary, but since I re-took the test, I got priority registration for fall. That was sweet.
Here is my experience - you can get all your classes, but only if you are diligent and pro-active. Do not ‘forget’ to sign up for the waitlist, and do not only show up to one lab. I also got in chem 2a over winter break by checking the schedule every day and saw the day they added a whole bunch of sections.
Now, here is my advice. As stated above, you get your registration appointments by how many units you have. So if you are thinking about not taking your AP tests for credits, TAKE THEM. Also, do not follow this advice I took during orientation - they said to only take 13 units your first quarter so you won’t get ‘overwhelmed’. Well, I wasn’t overwhelmed for sure, but I also have my registration appts on the last possible day each quarter. But even having the last appts, I have gotten all my classes so far.</p>
<p>@jbourne</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great tips.</p>
<p>What’s your thoughts on DHC? Supposedly there’s some registration priority associated with it, and the program seems interesting.</p>
<p>ah yes, I believe there is reg priority for honors program. Sorry, I don’t know anything about it :)</p>