HELP NEED ADVICE-- daughter is closed out of all classes

Parents Forum
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<p>I know it’s very frustrating when a son or daughter does not get the classes he or she wants or needs. It happened to my son his freshman year, and he attends a large state university. Fortunately, lots of AP credit satisfied many requirements. Still, he got some real bummer classes his first semester. Then, when he registered for the spring semester, his honors math class was canceled because of low enrollment. He managed to make the switch to another class but had to put off math until this fall. </p>

<p>My best advice is to have your daughter e-mail the professors of the classes that she wishes to take. If she expresses an interest in those classes, perhaps they have room to open a spot for her. Or, again, she could wait until some students drop/add classes just before the spring semester starts.</p>

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<p>I’ll just add a slight note of humor here. My son, at a large state school, would always come away from intial registration with hardly anything he needed. Because of this, one semester, we got the tuition bill, and it was a bill for a part time student. That’s how few credits he signed up for. However, he always got into a reasonably good schedule by contacting professors and doing all the things people have recommded. Needless to say, we later got a supplemental bill for full tuition.</p>

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<p>This is really a school-specific issue and also depends on how the school handles registration. If the core requirements are high, or if a number of majors require specific courses or sequential courses. and the number of seats offered are low then the kids with later registration windows never get a chance to register at all.</p>

<p>We have been in a similar, though not quite as bad, situation for the past two years and have found some work-around methods to be successful…perhaps some might work for you or other readers. At my D’s large public U, the first round of registration goes to athletes, then to honors college (in class standing order) and then to all others in rolling windows which are determined by the total number of credit hours earned prior to the current semester. There are many courses that are officially designated as “limited enrollment” - history, chem, bio, English, etc - that are either core requirements, required in sequence, or required of so many majors that there will be hundreds of kids who do not get a seat each semester. Students can only register for these classes in a regular semester ONCE during their entire time there, which means that very few will drop the class as they know they will be forced to take it elsewhere or during a summer session. My D has a fairly early reg window as she has more credits than most in her class (soph with junior standing) but still gets closed out of classes and is in a program that is highly structured and only allows 3 years for undergrad. Her best solution has been to get “force registered” by a department chair (certain departments are given a limited number of slots that are never opened up to the general student registration system)…she has to get on a list at least one semester in advance as it is on a “first come, first served” basis. She meets with her advisor at least twice a semester to plot her strategies (she also has field-experience requirements). She has had to take some courses in the summer, through her school and others (checking for course articulation and with her advisor first), and will take one over winter intercession because she will not be admitted to her major in the spring without it…but after spring semester she will have only one core requirement left and will have finished all of her pre-reqs. Her roomie has a later registration date and has had friends with earlier windows “save” her a seat by registering for a class she needs, then dropping it later at the exact instant that she requests it (sometimes it works, sometimes not). </p>

<p>I now understand why 4-year graduation rates are lower at public schools…the whole registration thing is a pain but D’s determined to graduate on time and is willing to go to almost any length to do so. I have spent endless hours scouring websites and running course numbers through their USelect articulation system (thank goodness for an online system) to help her create plan B-F for a critical course! She gets up very early in the morning to check last minute availabilities and register…she discovered that the phone registration system will accept calls 10 minutes prior to web registration opening and takes full advantage of that. It’s a bit nerve-wracking but she takes it on as a challenge and I have to laugh at the early morning “VICTORY” texts I get on registration day! I can chalk it up to budget cuts and still feel that she’s getting a very good education at a great price…otoh, my neices at private LACs don’t seem to encounter this at all and I would be very unhappy if I were paying $50K a year to go through this!</p>

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<p>UF - you are married and divorced already at 18?</p>

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<p>OP–sorry to hear about D’s situation. Will her school accept community college classes to fill in some of the core requirements? There are many CC’s that offer on-line courses that D could take while still attending her top 20 U.</p>

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<p>UF, do you have anything helpful or constructive to add to this topic, or are you just bored? Whether the OP and her D are happy with the way scheduling is done at the school, is not really the central issue here. Most people simply cannot afford to take extra semesters at $25K per, or to forgo the opportunity to graduate on time and start their career/grad school experience…and, really, why should they have to?! Shouldn’t the school have an obligation to make a real effort to ensure that a substantial number will be able to register for the classes they need? I think they should…but unfortunately, this is a problem that isn’t often visible until the student is already enrolled.</p>

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<p>

it is usually very easy to get the CC summer courses pre-approved. Usually you can’t count outside courses for the major though.</p>

<p>But I don’t think it is in any way justified to have to take “online CC courses” while paying top 20 U tuition… I am sure it will all work out.</p>

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<p>Perhaps US News needs to add “course availability” or some such category to its methodology. The situation described does not speak “Top 20” to me.</p>

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<p>OP - does your D’s school offer a waitlist procedure? My son has been able to be on the waitlist for a course and successfully get it. Perhaps this is an option for your D.</p>

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<p>

which end of that maturity spectrum are you on? :wink: Should’t you be in gym class or something, or is this a sick day, or are you home-schooled?</p>

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<p>

I never heard of anyone who was unable to graduate in 4 years from a top 20 private U because they were shot out of required classes. </p>

<p>Many upperclassmen register for more classes than they end up taking, and spots become available during add/drop period. Sometimes the school will add extra sections if they see that there are too many people on the waitlist. </p>

<p>There could be a few extremely popular classes that will be impossible to get into as a freshman or sophomore, but with some planning you can usually get what you want at the end.</p>

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<p>Peaceful: If this happened to my daughter and I was paying the tuition, you can bet I would pick up the phone and call the Dean. I disagree with posters who say this is only your daughter’s problem. If parents are paying the tuition, it is their problem too.</p>

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<p>nngmm said “I never heard of anyone who was unable to graduate in 4 years from a top 20 private U because they were shot out of required classes.”</p>

<p>Neither have I.</p>

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<p>peacefulmom:</p>

<p>one of the downsides of being a Frosh, is that a student is at the bottom of the registration food chain for Spring semester. The good news is that registration priority only gets better.</p>

<p>Based on your other posts, the college in question is Emory? If so, they have a standard Distribution course requirement (besides writing, several courses outside field or major), which is not a strict core. One of the plusses of Emory is its small class size, but as you have now figured out, small class size also means that courses are capped, in part due to classroom space. </p>

<p>Tell your D to keep trying during ‘add-drop’. Alternatively, post on the college-specific thread that your D attends. Perhaps folks who are knowledgeable about the ins and outs of that specific college can provide specific advice.</p>

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<p>OP,
my son went to Emory and never seemed to have trouble getting what he needed/wanted–if sometimes original registration didn’t work out, he would simply email the professor and show up at class, armed with a copy of the bulletin to demonstrate why he needed that course this semester…he never had a problem. And once your daughter has another semester under her belt and has earned some seniority, the problem goes away entirely.</p>

<p>I’m sorry you and your D are feeling so frustrated right now.</p>

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<p>S2 experienced some difficulties in getting courses he wanted in the fall – he got on a couple of waitlists, went to every class he was interested in taking from day one and at least said hello to the prof and asked what typical waitlist movement was like. At his school, as folks drop out of a course, the waitlist moves up automatically. By the end of the second day, he had four courses he liked.</p>

<p>He registered yesterday for spring and got everything he wanted. This time he was prepared with alternatives and knew that things generally shake out after a couple of days.</p>

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<p>Peaceful… I’m wondering if part of the problem is that your daughter’s interests are too narrow — or if she is “picky eater” when it come to selecting from the course menu. That is, if she could look at a list like this one – [History</a>, Society, Cultures (HSC) Courses for GER requirement - Area VI | Emory College of Arts and Sciences](<a href=“Welcome to Emory College.”>Welcome to Emory College.) – and decide that there are only 5 courses on that list that she is at all interested in taking, and then be dismayed when she is shut out of those 5. </p>

<p>So whereas another student might have the same experience, that student may be philosophical about another choice. That was my approach – I was more interested in college of meeting my goal of avoiding classes before 10:00 am. … even into law school I took all sorts of stuff I wasn’t interested in because it happened to be offered MWF at 10 am or whatever specific slot I was trying to fill… and very often those turned out to be excellent choices for me. Part of the college experience is expanding one’s own interests – so you never know, the class that now doesn’t “interest” your daughter may end up being her major because of the new doors it opens.</p>

<p>Even if not, it may turn out for the best. My daughter got shut out of a class she thought she wanted her senior year – it was a mistake, because she should have had priority – and she lobbied hard to get in, including sitting for hours outside the door of the department head. She did get into the class… but within 2 weeks she had realized that she did not like the prof. and the course was not what she anticipated. It worked out o.k. – but in hindsight the world wouldn’t have come to an end if she had taken another course. </p>

<p>I don’t know anything about Emory, but I’d also note that when my son was attending a CSU, he discovered at registration that the system would allow him to sign up for many more classes than he could possibly take in a semester. He was a transfer, coming in as a junior, so he had registration priority and he would sign up for 28 or 35 units, and actually go to many of the classes the first week of the semester, but then winnow it down to the courses he liked the best. So that was his way of holding a spot while he shopped – but obviously if a lot of upper level students were doing that, it would cause many classes to seem full when in fact there was plenty of room. (I would fault the people who created the system for that, not the students like my son who were “hoarding” – as I assume that my son isn’t the only one who figured out how to manipulate the registration system to his benefit.)</p>

<p>When I was in college back in the stone age, they had a first-come, first-serve registration system where freshman had the lowest priority – students actually would line up outside the administration building the night before registration started, and break into the building during the night – so when the building opened the following day, the students were already inside, camped out, in line, in their sleeping bags. I think the university wised up and move to a randomized priority system. But even with that system… I ended up getting the classes I wanted. But very often I would switch and join a class that I hadn’t even considered, because some friend would start talking about how wonderful their class was, so I’d go visit the class to check it out – I’d agree and sign up. Again, there was a huge amount of attrition early on – in my day the real key was to get hold of a computer punch card for each class. The “pre-registration” didn’t really count – what counted was being able to get those cards and turn them in within the actual enrollment period after classes had started. I’d sometimes go to a class and it would be so crowded that students would be standing outside the door, overflowing into the hall. But at the end of class… there would be coveted class cards lying on the floor, as students would simply discard them or leave them behind if they decided the class wasn’t what they wanted after all. </p>

<p>Anyway… figuring it all out is part of the learning process. Your d. may be disappointed and venting, but she’ll manage. Pulling her out for the coming semester would simply be depriving her of the learning opportunity and sending a message along the lines of, “if at first you don’t succeed, give up.”</p>

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<p>Peaceful - I would also be very concerned about the $25K. I realize that some people wouldn’t be, but it would take over 3 years for hubby and I to save $25K. That’s a long, long time.</p>

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<p>Peacefulmom’s daughter’s dilemma is entirely credible. Another mom recently told me her very responsible freshman daughter was also shut-out of classes that either met her core requirements or her interest. She’s also enrolled in four classes of no interest and no requirement fulfillment. That student attends a highly-regarded expensive Ohio LAC. Same student still doesn’t have a dorm room either. All for $55,000/year “all-in”. Mom is flummoxed. What a disappointment!</p>

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<p>My D wasn’t able to get into a single class in her major during registration (as a 2nd semester frosh, there were only 3 she was even eligible to take). I told her to talk to her current professor, who referred her to the head of the dept. She met with the dept head who told her to pick one of the 3 courses and sign up for whatever section she wanted, and signed off on a form allowing her to register for a “closed” class. D picked a section, submitted the form, and is now registered for the class. It never hurts to ask.</p>

<p>That said, in the beginning she too was quite frustrated finding any classes that she wasn’t closed out of. In the end, she has 1 class in her major, another that’s a frosh requirement, and two others that fulfill core requirements. But it took a bit of hunting and re-arranging to make it all work.</p>

<p>If the OP were my daughter, I’d tell her to meet with her advisor, and if that didn’t work ask to speak to an academic dean. She should be able to get at least 2 or 3 classes that meet her core requirements or requirements for her major. And I, too, would find it irritating that such a highly rated school would not be able to accommodate a student in a single class that they want.</p>