<p>My son is a new spring admit freshman. He is currently attending orientation and so far has only managed to register for 10 credit hours -- everything else is full. Specifically, he has not been able to get freshman physics or discrete mathematics (he's a computer science major). He got freshman English, programming plus lab, and a film (humanities) class. </p>
<p>He said that his advisor told him to keep checking back online since students drop classes the first day. How realistic do you think the odds are of being able to register for those classes? He is particularly worried about the physics class. He wants a minor in physics and he is already one semester behind since he didn't start school in the fall.</p>
<p>If he is unable to register for those classes, do any students have suggestions for a no-prerequisite class that isn't full? (He's 19, so he must take at least 12 hours to stay on my health insurance. He also won't post on CC, so I am doing it for him.).</p>
<p>Yes, a new freshman, so he was finally able to get a schedule full of something he called Gordon(?) electives-- took until 11:30 last night. He’s feeling a bit of frustration – since there were less than 500 spring admiits (and most were transfers), FSU’s spring orientation seems to be an afterthought (i.e. he got an email telling him to check into his dorm room on Monday morning and sign-in for orientation at 12:30. However, you can’t check into the dorm without an FSU number which you get at orientation!). </p>
<p>I think he’s nervous and new and really wishing he could have gone in the fall. Good news is that the small orientation numbers made it easy for him to meet a lot of other spring starts, so at least he’s not feeling lonely!</p>
<p>LTG, his FSU number was available online, and he could have gone to the ID place once it opened to get the ID before orientation. In fact, any time he was in Tally after he paid his admission deposit he could have gotten his ID card. We always post on here to get your FSU card early. Sorry you did not know.</p>
<p>Add drop will continue for a few days. He literally can check online every hour and see what classes he wants that are available. FSU has this first day rule that if you are registered for a class and don’t show up on the first day, you are dropped. Some lazy students register for say 18 hours, knowing they will only keep 15. Instead of going online and dropping it like they should, they just don’t bother to show for the first class. So classes pop up as open the first few days of classes. And MWF classes will show up by late W. And TTh classes will show up by late Thurs. So have him keep checking.</p>
<p>He will feel at home soon.</p>
<p>Gordon Rule classes are part of the required courses every student needs to graduation. He probably got a schedule full of Gordon Rule and gen ed classes. But he can keep checking back and might be able to pick up what he wants and drop a Gordon Rule class to do later.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is keep trying…maybe dozens and dozens of times a day of the drop/add period for the section/class you want. Secondly, do not give up a workable class until you have the section/class you want.</p>
<p>This is where being in Honors really pays off. The difficulty eases with tenure.</p>
<p>We try to get students who know they want to attend FSU to get their FSU ID cards at Preview.</p>
<p>I agree that getting the ID card early would have helped (not particularly easy since we’re not in Tallahassee). I think a problem is that incoming spring freshmen (not transfers) had only one orientation date available – the day before classes began – so, with the pressures naturally attendant with starting college, being unable to get the classes recommended on the map, just adds more pressure. Of course FSU cannot be expected to provide numerous orientation dates for only a couple of hundred students and I also realize that most spring starts are transfer students, but I do wish FSU had provided the brand new students with more information regarding the logistics of campus life. My daughter, who has been accepted to FSU, but who has not made a final decision yet, has received more info from the school than my son ever did – for instance my daughter received an email from the school informing her that her English ACT scores entitled her to some credit in Freshmen Comp. My son never received such an email, but had higher ACT scores than my daughter. When he met with his advisor at orientation, he asked about it and the advisor was able to get him the credit, but I wonder if he would have been sitting in English 101 had his sister not received the email from FSU.</p>
<p>Having said all that, my son said orientation was well run and fun. He finally got a decent schedule, even if not exactly what he wanted. They drilled the “if you don’t show up the first day you are dropped” mantra into him so well, that he went to a class yesterday afternoon and, even though there was a sign on the door stating that the class was cancelled for that day, he stayed in the classroom anyway-- just in case!</p>
<p>Now that he has a schedule, a dorm room and a temporary parking ticket, he’s calmer and excited. I’ll drive up on Saturday to bring him his bike and a bunch of books he ordered from Amazon. After that, I’ll probably be much calmer too!</p>
<p>LTG, that is funny about your son waiting around in the classroom–he did the right thing playing it safe. He has the discipline to be an offensive lineman on the FSU football team–FSU student-athletes I’m sure get priority registration. Honors students and “degree in three” students also get priority registration, anyone know if there are any other groups of freshmen students that get priority registration at FSU?</p>