<p>My daughter is a freshman and just finished registering for spring classes. She goes to a top 20 school that has a huge core requirement and so is not totally free to select anything that interests her. The final classes that she got into could have been selected from a hat with her eyes closed. They neither fulfill requirements nor hold any interest to her. I feel like it is a complete waste of 25k for her to take these classes. She also has no interest in these classes. She examined every single alternatives and there were none. everything was shut. I am wondering if any of you have been in this situation and what you have done. I have composed a very direct letter to her advisor and the dean explaining the situation and asking them for advice. One example is that she would like to continue with her spanish. Her advisor offered up the solution that she take it in summer school. I can see that the school offered 80 spots last spring and is only offering 54 spots this spring. I am so frustrated. Please give me any advice that you have. I am considering suggesting to her that she comes home for the spring semester and takes classes at one of the wonderful universities that we have in the Boston area that have availability in her interests. I would hate to do this, but 25k is not affordable if you are not reaching your goals. Has anyone been in this situation? I could really use some advice. Thank you</p>
<p>Wow… while dealing with classes that fill and trying to get the classes a student needs/wants is something that pretty much everyone deals with at least a little…</p>
<p>still, I have not dealt with anything nearly as bad as you describe! I’d be plenty ticked off if you’re paying that kind of money and are stuck with classes that neither meet requirements nor meet the student’s interests at all.</p>
<p>I don’t have any advice other than, wait. Spots open up. Unless it is a very small school, you get into about 90% of the classes you want.</p>
<p>Also, the administration at your daughter’s school is under no obligation to answer your letter if your daughter is over eighteen. I know if she goes to college in Maryland it’s actually illegal for them to answer without written permission from your daughter.
So that’s really a waste of time.</p>
<p>I suggest that she contact the professors of each class she wants to take, explain her situation and request to be admitted to their class. It’s worth a try.</p>
<p>When my daughter was a freshman and sophomore she didn’t always get classes she wanted the first round, so she would always sign up for back up classes. If she didn’t get in during regular registration, she would show up for those classes, more often than not, she would get in after few kids dropped out. Sometimes she would go speak with the professor directly and they would make room for her too. She is a senior now, she’s been able to take all required courses to fulfil 2 majors and many other interesting courses.</p>
<p>Now, my daughter is also the type who would set her alarm for 6am to make sure she is online as soon as registration opens.</p>
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<p>My daughter also went to a school with a very large core course requirement. However, for each required course area, there were MANY MANY different courses from which to choose. For example, my daughter had a science requirement…the school had HUNDREDS of science courses. The school had a religion requirement, social science, arts…and in each case…there were LOTS of choices every term to fulfill these requirements.</p>
<p>Are you saying there was ONLY one course offered for each core area and your daughter didn’t like that ONE course?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that a top 20 school would have such a limited amount of courses…and that your daughter couldn’t find ONE course to fulfill some requirement. </p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, the core requirements were clearly stated to be so that students would be exposed to areas in which they might not otherwise take courses. </p>
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<p>I understand your frustration but YOU should not be composing this letter, dealing with the dean or dealing with your daughter’s advisor…SHE should be doing this. It is highly unlikely they will solve this problem with YOU anyway. They will expect to be dealing with the student.</p>
<p>Agreed with others…ask professors if she can enroll in courses. Or check online EVERY day multiple times…kids drop classes and change their minds all the time.</p>
<p>My daughter didn’t always get the core courses she WANTED and she also didn’t get them at the TIMES she wanted (she took a LOT of 8 a.m. and evening classes). But she got courses every term and graduated on the four year plan…with two major.</p>
<p>^^^^agree with Thumper. This is my S every semester and somehow figures a way through a combination of e-mailing professors, showing up in class, and going back time and again to look for classes in which spots have opened up to make something work. </p>
<p>I myself have not been involved.</p>
<p>Emory has lots of class choices, and as everyone said, there is a lot of movement (classwise) during the first few weeks of the semester. Agree with all who said your dau (not you) should contact the profs and express interest in the classes she wants. Things have a way of working out</p>
<p>One thing D should NOT do is try to get into course X and then show up in the third week once a spot has opened. Professors hate that, because the latecomers have already missed homeworks, quizzes, etc. and expect to either be excused from those, or to make them up somehow thus causing extra work for the faculty. If she is going to try to force in or wait for an opening, she should pick a course(s) and show up and get to work from day 1.</p>
<p>Wait until the end of this semester and spots will likely open up. Chances are good that some freshmen may not return for Spring semester or other students will transfer leaving seats open in classes they had registered for. </p>
<p>My S has often snagged a seat in a previously closed out class by going to the online registration page right after the deadline for paying tuition has passed. At our state u’s, students’ class schedules are immediately canceled if the tuition payment deadline is not met. That opens up seats in previously filled classes.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses. I would like to reassure you that it is my daughter that doesn’t like the classes. And while many of you feel that there were alternatives that she left on the table, that is not true. Also, please don’t judge me or assume that I am trying to control her choices. This is not the case.</p>
<p>She spent countless hours looking, and has already begun to send letters to Professors. She ended up in 4 classes, only one of which will explore an area of interest, though it doesn’t count towards a requirement and she is fine with that. Another is of interest, but doesn’t fulfill a requirement. The other two do not fulfill requirements and are not of interest at all.</p>
<p>You are all correct in that a lot will likely open up. She has begun to reach out to the profs in the classes that she wants. Thanks for the advice, especially about my writing a letter.</p>
<p>If the professors have no authority to increase the size of closed classes, the student can contact the department chair, who may be able to add some more spots. However, it is likely that spots will open up anyway during the add/drop period at the beginning of the semester.</p>
<p>As a parent, I can understand the impulse to contact faculty and administration on behalf of your child. As an instructor, I say don’t do it. Let your child write the letter. Not only do Privacy laws prevent speaking with parents, but instructors and administrators will be more open to fulfilling requests that come from the students themselves.</p>
<p>“”"Emory has lots of class choices, and as everyone said, there is a lot of movement (classwise) during the first few weeks of the semester. Agree with all who said your dau (not you) should contact the profs and express interest in the classes she wants. Things have a way of working out "</p>
<p>I suspect that what has happened is that the daughter did select at least some of these classes and is interested in them, but mom doesn’t like the schedule. So mom threatens to pull daughter out of school and make her move back home, which upsets daughter because she has chosen this top 20 school and probably has made friends and wants to stay there. She knows if she goes back home for a semester, she won’t be readmitted as a transfer and some of the credits won’t transfer anyhow.</p>
<p>In response, daughter tells mom she has done all she can do about her schedule without realizing that mom is now getting ready to fire off a letter to the dean.</p>
<p>My advice is for you not to write a letter to the dean and not to pull your kid out of her top 20 school.“”</p>
<p>peacefulmom: Sorry for responses. I can imagine how frustrating it is. My S went through his school, with only one course he was desperate to take and couldn’t get in it because there was a turf war between two departments and kids from the other department got preference. He was first on the waiting list.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like the problem is a bit out of hand at the school. </p>
<p>It may be that your D will expand her interests and something good with come of this.</p>
<p>Try not to link it to money; it your D is happy at her school many lessons are being learned. A she gets seniority in the pecking order there she should have better luck. Perhaps it’s just a bad semester.</p>
<p>If it’s any consolation, all such requests for advice are psychoanalyzed in this way here.</p>
<p>I’m very curious…what ARE the core requirements? I hope your daughter find courses that can fulfill them. She may actually end up being surprised at how a course interests her…one that she thought she had no interest in may actually open up another avenue of study she had never considered. That is one reason schools HAVE core course requirements…to open students’ minds to things that they might not otherwise choose.</p>
<p>Good luck…hope your daughter is able to figure this all out.</p>
<p>I don´t think it´s helpful when people try to draw too many unfounded conclusion about OP just because she is asking for some help on behalf of her daughter. I don´t think any one is a mind reader here.</p>
<p>When courses opened up for registration for your D was she at her pc to register having previously decided what she wanted? Or did she do it later? In many cases classes fill up in a hour or less. And upperclassman are given priority. </p>
<p>My DS chooses the classes he wants and a couple alternates prior to registration opening. He sets his alarm for 5:45am so he is logged in by 6:00 which is when the system opens. By 6:10 he is done. He has always been able get the classes he wanted. There was one exception and he went and talked to the prof and got in. </p>
<p>Kids that follow this procedure get the classes they want usually. The ones that wait even a few hours have major issues.</p>
<p>My daughter is at a similar size school, and had a similar problem in the spring semester freshman year. She stayed on the waitlists for the classes she wanted, and ended up in all of them, including a 20-people class for which she was #37 on the waitlist. Don’t panic. Most likely it will work out.</p>
<p>Peacefulmom - I am glad things are working out for your D and I understand your frustration.</p>
<p>S1 was almost in the same situation as the OP. Fortunately he is on a dorm floor with mixed ages and the upperclassmen provides some tips. For him the best suggestion was to go to the professor BEFORE the class is totally filled and ask to be pre approved as an extra person if the course fills up. Apparently the professors are more open to creating spots for kids who ask in advance. This worked for two of his core classes. He did end up taking Geology instead of Astronomy and for is 4th class he simply took an elective.</p>
<p>What he learned was that his registration priority is based on how many credits you have. S1 did not come in with any AP or other credits so he was at the end of the list. As there are many others with the exact same number of credits, he is adding a one credit phy ed class to give him an edge in nest fall’s registration.</p>
<p>As for me…well I just count my blessings that he has done well enough to be able to register for spring classes!</p>