With the freedom to choose, do Freshmen find they can get the classes they actually like? Or are they left with the dregs?
Generally no. The only class my DS ever had a problem with was his first choice freshman writing class. He went with his second choice and really enjoyed it.
Thanks. Any other tips about ensuring a student gets the class he wants?
Only the really popular classes are harder to get into and the basic type classes are large enough that there usually is room. If there is a class you truly want to take, then email the professor and explain that you are concerned about getting in and what do they suggest.
What you can do is go to the course schedule and look at previous semester at a class you want and see what the class enrollment number was. If the class only takes say 12 or 15 students that will be tough to get into until you are an upper classman. But if there are more than 50 slots, you likely won’t have a problem.
The course scheduler is here https://cdcs.ur.rochester.edu
Pull up previous terms to check.