I’m going to be out of the country for orientation. I’m supposed to do the class sign ups by myself, and I’m worried I won’t be able to get the classes I need. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience regarding this? Will I be missing out on a lot or what?
The main things you’re missing are a chance to spend some time on campus and having a pass time earlier in the summer.
The advice here applies to freshmen, so it’s not quite the same if you’re a transfer student.
Whether you’ll get the classes you want or not really depends on what the classes are. Even if you can’t get in your first quarter, remember that at this stage in your academic career everything counts towards something. Despite how much some students overreact to not getting into [insert class here] fall quarter, it’s not the end of the world and you’ll easily be able to make up for it in later quarters.
Generally what happens with classes like the CHE 2 series that a lot of freshmen take is that people get in, but don’t get their preferred section. The alternative is being waitlisted, and usually ending up getting in because someone decides not to show up to lab (in the case of CHE 2). My advice is to not be picky on your class times and professors your first year or so; unless you’re coming in with a boatload of community college credits that bump your registration time, you’ll have the lowest priority as a freshman and will need to take what you can get your first few quarters.