Getting Shut Out of Desired Classes

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Miami - Florida
1

<p>My freshman son has been frustrated his entire freshman year with getting shut out of virtually every class he has wanted to take. Incoming freshmen register the summer before, but their "preferences" are given little weight and classes are basically assigned randomly for first semester. He ended up with with only two classes he liked, two he pretty much hated and ended up dropping one he had no interest in. When he tried to add a fifth class, pretty much every freshman level class he had any interest in taking was full. He ended up with four classes in the fall. I told him not to be discouraged, because he would truly get to choose his classes starting in the spring.</p>

<p>Spring selection time comes, and same story. Now the university gives each freshman a specified time to go online and choose classes. By the time he gets to do it, all of his first, second and third choices are filled. He ends up again with two classes he likes, and three he hates. He drops one that was junior level (one of the few available ones that he thought might be interesting) because after a week, he realizes it is way over his head based on his lack of knowledge of the subject area. He tries to add a fifth class, but again, everything interesting is filled. I assure him he has seen the last of these problems, since he will now be choosing as a sophomore and will be selecting before all 2,000 incoming freshmen.</p>

<p>He is in the process of choosing classes for the fall. Again, each student has an assigned time to register. A bunch of kids he knows were given times a week ahead of him. Guess what? Again, he can't get what he wants, including several freshman level required classes that he was shut out of last year as an incoming freshman. He can't even get into a foreign language intro class that he wants to take.</p>

<p>He is frustrated beyond belief. His friend at FIU, the state university right down the street with 30,000 undergraduates, has had no trouble getting classes he wants. </p>

<p>So, here we have UM, whose big selling point over the state universities is a smaller student body, better access to selecting classes you need/want, smaller class sizes and more intimate contact with your professors. While he has found the latter two features to be true, the ability to get the classes you need/want has been a nightmare every bit as bad (and compared to FIU, worse) than what we have heard about the state universities.</p>

<p>And for the privilege of having to take classes you don't like, you get to pay 8 times the tuition. What a bargain!</p>

<p>In most other ways, he is happy with UM. But in the one that's most important--being stimulated by the education--he is quite displeased.</p>

<p>What gives? Any UM students having the same problems? Is there a way to work the
system that he isn't privy to? Any UM faculty/administrators on the forum have any suggestions?</p>

<p>He is giving some thought to transferring to a state university, on the theory that if you are going to be frustrated with class selection, you might as well save a ton of money in the process.</p>

2

<p>not the first time I have heard this about UM; seems to be common among schools where they assign registration times based on # of credits completed; AP’s skew this if you don’t have any…this happens everywhere though…</p>

<p>It should get better next year; has he discussed this with his advisor? is there a waitlist process for classes? often kids switch their schedules around over the summer…</p>

<p>I would not assume that a state U would be easier; unless you have priority registration for whatever reason…</p>

<p>But given how much you are paying for UM, you have every right to get an answer to your questions…your son should contact whoever he can</p>

3

<p>Are most of the classes he’s trying to take requirements for some major? If so, lots of students put those classes off until senior year. Since seniors get priority registration… well, you get it, right?</p>

<p>Also, has he talked to his advisor about the problem? I had a similar problem, and my advisor told me I can go to the professors and get an override, and I’ll be able to take the course. By doing this, I’ve been able to get into every class I wanted this semester but one. And they’re all relatively upper level classes. (I’m a Freshman, soon to be a Sophomore).</p>

<p>If I were your son, I would talk with my advisor and try to fulfill my pre-requisite courses. Almost none of the pre-requisite courses fill up until the Freshman enter in the fall, and even when they do there are always other sections open. Seems like a good idea to get those out of the way, anyway. And then, when he has those all done, he’ll have more credits, and get priority with registration. Works perfectly :slight_smile: It’s probably a better idea, too, because it will give your son a better idea of what he is interested in. I’d further recommend that he not be so quick to jump out of a class when he doesn’t think he’ll be interested in it… because things that you never thought would be interested in (say, Philosophy (for me)) may turn out to be very fascinating subjects.</p>

<p>What is your son’s major? This could help to elucidate from where the problem stems.</p>

<p>So, yea. First and foremost, tell your son to contact the professors (via e-mail, or drop by their office with his course request sheet) and ask for an override.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input. He is intending to be an English major. He has been trying the whole time to fulfill the required courses to graduate, nothing in his major yet. He just wants interesting classes in the required curriculum, e.g., science fiction instead of Virgil to fulfill the english/writing requirement, musicology instead of art history to fulfill the fine arts requirement, japanese instead of latin to fulfill the language requirement. The desired classes were full, the alternatives were open (wonder why?). I understand that certain classes are popular and other aren’t, but then why not open more sections of the popular classes instead of forcing someone to take an unpopular class? Why spend a fortune for the privilege of taking classes you have no interest in?</p>

<p>He has discussed this with his advisor, who was useless. I suggested he email the professors whose classes he wanted, and it worked in one case, but not others.</p>

<p>Rodney, I agree that some of the problem stems from not having AP credits, but again UM doesn’t publicize that until you are there. My son could have gone to a number of state and private schools that would have taken his AP credits, but he missed UM’s cutoff by a point in every one of them. No big deal, if the only impact was on how many credits he would have to take there (which we knew). But UM hides the fact that it also affects your ability to get the classes you want (which we didn’t know). Basically, even though you pay the same tuition, you are treated as a second class citizen if you don’t enter with AP credits. Who knew?</p>

5

<p>My DS did not enter this year with many AP credits at all. He also missed many by 1 point. However, he has not had trouble getting classes. He was in the school of Arts and Sciences and I am guessing that is where yours is as well. My son did take the Science Fiction English you are talking about this semester. He’s taken pretty basic requirements, chem, calc, eng, spanish, psych, econ and I think there are many sections of those types of required classes. Perhaps that is why he had no problem.
At orientation, I wrote down the name of the person who is your go-to for any problems. I suggest you call/email her…I did earlier in first semester and she got back to me immediately. Mrs. Deutsch is her name. She is wonderfully helpful and kind. I got her email from the website somewhere…I would think that your son should set up an appt with her and she’ll take care of his wishes. Please let us know how this goes.</p>

6

<p>Just for reference… as far as I know, every school gives preference to those with more credits during registration. And none of them advertise it… because most people don’t care about it when deciding on a school.</p>

<p>Also, I suggest that, if his professors weren’t helpful, he e-mail the heads of the departments which run the classes in which he is interested. If they have enough interest, they’ll often open up another section or move the class to a larger classroom. This recently happened with two of my classes. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>I also suggest to just keep checking!</p>

<p>My daughter wanted a certain class and could not get it. She found a substitute she was happy with, but since I was new to how things worked I got curious and kept checking every hour or two. It was amazing how many times sections opened and closed in a few days time. They were very fluid.</p>

8

<p>Had the experience of looking over my S’s shoulder when he scheduled his classes via computer one year; the key was preparation. Prior to going online, he had all his classes set out, which professors he wanted, what desired sections he wanted each day and plenty of alternatives just in case. Yes, the time came, he got his scheduling “window” and boom, the keys start clicking fast…He got all but one of his first choices and the alternative wasn’t bad at all. It reminded me of a time-critical military task. </p>

<p>I suggest something similar to DinDune, you may have to take the step of calling the parent advocate and making sure an advisor sits down and assists your student in the process before his next class scheduling or as rankinr recommended, ask for an override or Department Head intervention.</p>

9

<p>I disagree with DinDune that as a parent you should contact Dean Deustch or any other faculty members. You’re son is currently in college and he can contact the necessary people if he sees fit. Yes, classes in the psychology department and other departments such as introductory language classes fill up quickly, but many other classes are still open or reopen the first week of classes when people add and drop. Some professors establish a waiting list if you e-mail them with your interest, others will override you into a class permitting the classroom has enough seats. Some classes actually end up switching to a larger room or opening up another section if necessary. Even if you are shut out of certain classes that may sound interesting there are plenty of other great classes offered at the university. And the musicology classes such as intro to rock or jazz usually fill up after seniors register because most seniors like taking those “fun” classes in their last semesters. It is also sort of a senior privilege to get to take intro to rock or other cool sounding classes like that.</p>

10

<p>New 42,</p>

<p>Understood, helicopters need to return to base!</p>

<p>Students, please be patient with us parents…</p>

11

<p>I had a question about something Mrs. Deutsch said in her orientation lecture, and wanted to clarify this with her, as it had to do with her lecture to the parents.
I am passing on the name because she is accessible to students for help. Most students don’t know her name(as they were not attending that lecture), but possibly goodday can pass on the name to her son and if he won’t call the her, then perhaps she should take the initiative to get the ball rolling. The university can’t help your child if you don’t let them know you need help.
In addition, there are guidance folks who have offices on the first floor of Hecht and Stanford who can also help. They are accessible to all freshman for situations such as this.
We would all hope that our college kids can solve their own problems, but perhaps goodday’s son just doesn’t know who to ask, thus she’s asking us. And if he is not assertive, then I believe she could make the first phone call and the UM contact would take it from there.</p>

12

<p>I never had this problem, but that’s probably because I came in with credits so I registered before a lot of freshmen.
You mentioned he’s trying to get into classes like science fiction and musicology. By musicology, I assume you mean evolution of jazz or rock. These classes are in high demand and get filled up by upper classmen. There are certain classes like these that you just have to wait to take. For instance, I wanted to get public speaking out of the way my freshman year, but it’s impossible to get into it before junior year. It is what it is. There are plenty of classes to take and plenty of courses to choose from. Maybe your son needs to expand his interests and not just drop classes because he doesn’t like them. We all have to take classes we don’t like and we just have to deal with it.</p>

13

<p>Thanks, everyone. All excellent suggestions. I’ll let my son know, and leave him to do it himself, at least in the first instance. I think on a matter like this, parents should intervene only if the student asks for it.</p>

<p>BaghDAD, my son is very well organized for this. I couldn’t believe the notes and spreadsheets he had to do to prepare for class selection D-Day. They ought to give you math credit just for figuring out how to register.</p>

<p>DinDune, thanks for the contact name. I’ll pass it on and see if it helps.</p>

<p>Nothwithstanding all of this, I still maintain that when you are spending $40K a year on tuition, these problems should not be happening. UM needs to figure out a better way to handle this, or cut down on the required courses if they can’t accommodate the demands that this puts on their registration system. Again, why have to go through all of this and pay a fortune for the privilege when you can have the same experience at the state universities and pay a ton less for the privilege?</p>

14

<p>The kids (not parents) must reach out to their adviser, or someone higher up, if necessary. The U has been wonderful in all regards.</p>

<p>Agreed with above posters, Mrs. Deutsch (arts and sciences) is fantastic and gets things done. She really cares about the kids and does her best to help with class scheduling and other issues the students may have. My son is very lucky to have her as his adviser. We have never had to intervene on his behalf as he knows what to do, how to get it done and who to go to if there are questions or issues.</p>

<p>Son is now a junior and came in with numerous AP credits, but has been shut out of higher level classes and always let in by the profs. </p>

<p>By the way, my freshman son at a NYS public (large SUNY) also has scheduling and housing based on credits. (He’ll have over 90 credits when starting sophomore year, so it will be advantageous to him.) I think most schools work this way, especially since everything is on line and by credit/lottery numbers.</p>