<p>When I visited Tulane last weekend, we were able to meet in small groups with advisors and register for classes, even if we had not yet committed to going to Tulane. I ran out of time to finish my registration, as I had to leave to catch a plane. Tonight I went online to complete the registration, but now the freshman honors colloquium is already filled!! The timing of the other 2 sections which do have a few openings left unfortunately conflicts with other courses in my schedule (math, which is my intended major).</p>
<p>From the class schedule, it looks like there are only 48 spots allotted in total, counting all 3 sections, which is surprising. My sense was there were a lot more than 48 freshman honors students -- I know they all won't be signing up for this seminar, but the honors program director gave a very convincing talk during the weekend as to the value of this class as an interdisciplinary approach to the exploration of ideas, citizenship, etc.</p>
<p>Does anyone know whether the classes at Tulane typically fill up this quickly? Or is it just the honors sections? I'm going to try to get on the waitlist, but in the meantime I quickly tried to grab the one remaining spot in a different honors class (social psychology), but the system turned me down because the prerequisite hasn't been waived. I believe I can email the advisor about this, but of course now I'm wondering whether I'll miss out on that class also while waiting to hear back.</p>
<p>Can anyone give me a realistic sense of how difficult it is to get into classes of one's choice? Is there generally a mad rush for certain courses when registration period first opens? How often do students get shut out?</p>
<p>I’m obviously no expert, but I think I read somewhere (likely here) that they do gradual opening of the classes (meaning, the two Honors weekends account for only a certain portion of the total projected allotted seats so that when early and regular registration happen, there aren’t certain sections completely filled and inaccessible to non-Honors Weekend participants). How this works for a class designed for honors students is obviously up for questioning, but I’d imagine it’s some sort of automated system that either doesn’t account for that or intentionally gives on-the-fence Honors students the ability when they do enroll to still be able to access those things, so perhaps you’ll be fine. Good luck getting into the class!</p>
<p>Candles: Classes, especially the smaller ones with only fifteen seats like the colloquia, will fill up regularyly, but with two other sections still open, I wouldn’t consider you to be squeezed out of the class, rather just having to make some decisions about your priorities in class selection. At EVERY university, students have to learn to work with the schedule and typically there are other sections of classes that allow them to work out their class schedule to get what they want, but not necessarily the teacher or time that they want. You do have the option of signing up for the waitlist for that class - I checked the class schedule. My older son has had to do that on occasion and it has always worked out as other students shift their schedules around prior to the start of the semester. No one is currently on the waitlist, so there is an excellent chance that you will get into that class. If you don’t and there is no other way to work the colloquia into your schedule, I suggest you go ask the professor himself on the first day of classes and it may be possible to get an override since you would be the first person on the waitlist - no guarantees, but it is one option that might work. But first, get yourself on the waitlist. If you can’t figure out how to do that in the registration system, send me a pm and i will try to help. It is imperative that you check your Tulane email at least every other day when you are waitlisted for a class. That is how you will be notified when a spot becomes available. My son has missed his chance to get into a class before because we were on summer vacation and he didn’t have access to email where we were vacationing. They give you 48 hours to respond and if you don’t register for the class, they move on to the next person.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies.</p>
<p>I recall at the honors weekend they stated more spots open during orientation, to be fair to all of the incoming freshman, and, in fact, I noticed the TIDES classes have limited availability. I’m emailing the advisor to see whether any more spots will open up for the freshman seminar section that’s currently full. Are you taking the freshman colloquium?</p>
<p>Kreative, thank you! Did your son take the freshman seminar, and, if so, how did he like it? Unfortunately the other sections overlap with other courses related to my major and when I tried juggling those around, it didn’t work out - labs, 4 credit classes with recitations, etc. If I don’t get off the waitlist, so be it.</p>
<p>I guess my question more generally is how does registration work? Once it’s open, does one typically need to act quickly to get their first choices? Given Tulane’s over-enrollment the past few years, I’m wondering about the availability of certain classes. Kreative, does your son usually end up not getting into one or two classes per semester (if you know)? I understand this can be an issue at many schools, I’m just trying to get a realistic sense of the situation at Tulane.</p>
<p>My son did not take the freshman seminar - too much reading for him! But to answer your more important question: he has ALWAYS gotten into the classes he needed/wanted but has occasionally had to take a different instructor or time/section than he originally wanted. It is important to register as soon as your registration opens up if you have a specific class list you need to take. Some times and teachers are just naturally more popular than others, but Tulane usually finds a way to accommodate students if there is a greater demand for a particular class than anticipated. That has been our experience anyway. Be sure to waitlist for the section of the freshman seminar that you want, but I wouldn’t anticipate them increasing the class size by much because that would completely change the nature of that course. Students move there schedules around quite a bit and when I looked at the schedule, there was no one on the waitlist, so I think your chances of getting in are excellent. Some of those registered may not end up even coming to Tulane, so just try to relax and wait for some movement.</p>
<p>My D took the seminar both semesters and completely enjoyed it, but kreative is right that there is a lot of reading.</p>
<p>If you are first on the waitlist you will almost undoubtedly get in, because someone always changes their schedule. Also, it is highly likely that the prof would wave you in. No guarantees, because as kreative says the very nature of the class is the small discussion format, but in a case such as yours where the other two sections are completely impossible to schedule, it is an exceptional case. Also, these profs really want people to take the colloquium course and hate for students to be denied a class they want. Which prof’s section are you wanting to take?</p>
<p>Finally, my D has never had an issue getting a class she wanted. She did have to be waved in once or twice, maybe even three times, but these were classes with only one section. IIRC, only once was it because of the class being full. The other one or two was/were because of not having the pre-req’s the class required, but in her case she was qualified and so they overrode the system. Which is my way of saying Tulane is great about that kind of thing if you have a good case. Of course a few profs might be sticklers, but the vast majority are not as long as they think you can succeed. Anyway, in the time I have been doing this CC gig, one of the complaints I have never heard about Tulane is being able to get the class you want/need. As kreative said (I know I am being repetitious), might be a different time slot when it fits, but otherwise not an issue.</p>
<p>One thing I have had students tell me a lot is, if you haven’t been able to talk to the prof beforehand, just show up the first day of class and talk to them afterwards. You will learn the ropes quickly.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering. The section of the seminar which fits my schedule (and I suspect others’ schedules, lol) is taught by a professor named John Howard. The other two sections are taught by Tom Luongo (met him at honors weekend and thought he was wonderful) and Mary Townsend (couldn’t find her on Tulane’s website).</p>
<p>I also need several of those waivers you’re mentioning, FC. Received an automated message back from advising stating that there will be a delay in response time, given that it’s peak advising time.</p>
<p>Dr. Howard is certainly an outstanding professor. He has won numerous awards for his excellence in the classroom. And as you say, Dr. Luongo is wonderful as well. I don’t know Dr. Townsend, perhaps she is new to the Tulane faculty. Maybe we stole her from another university. Hopefully they will post some info about her soon.</p>