<p>DD is starting Emory in the fall. We have made the deposit and she has picked a meal plan and submitted a housing application. Not sure what else still needs to be completed? Have any other incoming Freshmen registered for classes? If so, how did you know which classes to pick? Also, what about the Health Insurance Waiver--I think I read something about completing some forms if the student will still be covered under parent's plan--otherwise Emory will charge you for the student health plan? Are we missing anything else? Thanks in advance for any info.</p>
<p>Hi luli64, </p>
<p>I attended Emory’s accepted student’s day with my S. They stated that registration for classes is in the fall during or just after orientation. Each student is assigned an advisor to help them with registration and advice on classes. Each advisor has 2 to 3 freshman, I think that is what they said. I am also worried about registration, and that my child will have the time to research to get the classes and teachers he wants. Students will take placement tests for languages. They told us not to worry about it and everything will be fine.</p>
<p>I am encouraging my S to contact other freshman to find out what classes and teachers they recommend. Also, I am encouraging my S to look at is the summer abroad programs for languages. There are opportunities to take 6 to 8 week classes abroad with Emory professors and students to fulfill the language requirements. </p>
<p>Would appreciate anyone else’s comments on how best to prepare your child to know what to register for when they get on campus.</p>
<p>Another parent of an incoming Emory freshman here. I also would like to know more about classes and registration. Does every freshman have a language requirement? The summer program sounds great! Anyone know anymore about required health and immunization forms? I briefly saw they were online but I don’t quite understand how this works.</p>
<p>Parent of an Emory student here (he is graduating Monday!). Congrats on your child’s admission to Emory! Wonderful school and my son is sorry to be leaving. He LOVED it! </p>
<p>Respoding to some questions above.
- Registration: As far as registration, Emory will take your incoming student by the hand and lead them thru the process at orientation in Aug. Don’t fret about the registration process. Your student will be guided thru it then. Spots for incoming students are saved in classes. However, each student will need to have several ‘plans’ for classes as some will be unavailable when they go to register. They need to have a list 2-3x longer than the four classes they will be taking in the fall. So incoming students should go over the General Education Requirements (GERs); figure out which ones, if any, can be crossed off by their AP Credits and assemble a list of classes they would like to take. It is very helpful for your student to chat with a returning student to get a better idea about classes that are better than others.
- Emory takes the Health Insurance requirement quite seriously. However, if your student is covered under your plan, supply the university the required documentation and any fee will be waived. If you fail to do this, the university will charge your student for health insurance. However, it is not difficult to supply the information to waive this fee. I cannot recall the immunization requirements from four years ago with clarity but my son did submit his immunization form from his doctor (it was his last visit to the pediatrician). Remember, there is a student health service for Emory which is on the campus and staffed with Emory doctors. There is a medical school/hospital on campus so there will be first-rate healthcare for your student should the need arise.
- Language requirement. Yes, there is one for just about everyone.<br>
- Other things. Do you have a hotel room for Move-in and Parents weekend? And have any serious discussions before you arrive on campus. Move-in day is well run but chaotic like any campus move in day.</p>
<p>I agree with rpg1 about having 8 to 12 classes identified. S had a very negative experience this year trying to get basic classes. Freshman parents, be prepared for that panicked call from your child saying they cant get any of their classes. AND, it didnt get much better in Spring semester.</p>
<p>My son had a lot of trouble registering for his fourth class (He registered for his first three classes without difficulty) that first semester. We got that panicked call. He finally settled on a Theater class, which he really enjoyed and satisfied a GER. His second semester experience was apparently better than tennesseedad’s son. He had little trouble registering the rest of his time at Emory.</p>
<p>Yea, freshman are at the bottom of the totem pole. They won’t get their first choices and will be stuck with the (oh-so-dreadful) 8:30 AM classes. Many professors will let you overload, however. (Except the Math/CS department. They’re sticklers. I have no idea why). And add/drop/swap is very helpful. If you can’t get into classes you first wanted/preferred, my honest advice is to just deal with it. You need like 32 different classes to graduate. So you can still get something you want/need even if it’s not your first choice.</p>
<p>And freshmen don’t sign up until August. I’ve already signed up (as an upperclassman), so you guys get unfortunately get leftovers. Still lots of choices for Freshmen, though, while the rest of us are desperately trying to figure out life/career/graduation requirements.</p>
<p>So what are the course suggestions that Freshman take their first semester if say, they may want to apply for the business school in two years?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info. For all the parents who have been thru this before–can you give us an overview of move-in weekend? I have booked a hotel room in Buckhead–is that convenient enough or should I change my reservation to something closer? We will have a car. We are planning on driving down on Friday–we live about 9 hours away. Move in is on Saturday and am assuming that my daughter will sleep in the dorm that night and we will leave on Sunday. Since we will have a fairly long drive ahead of us on Sunday, I don’t want to linger, but I also don’t want to bolt too early in case they have any sort of activity planned for parents. Any advice? We can’t wait for our daughter to begin this journey!</p>
<p>We live in South Florida (about a 10 hour drive) and are going to fly in on Friday evening. We haven’t yet determined which hotel to stay at Friday and Saturday eve (though we have a few booked) but did learn that parents are told to leave the campus on Sunday by 2 PM…we will book our return flight accordingly. We will rent a car. The kids sleep in the dorms on Saturday night and they have mandatory dorm meetings on Saturday night (I saw this on some website page). We will ship stuff to the dorm and have stuff waiting for us at the local Bed Bath and Beyond. I would still like more registering for classes info since Emory is so new to us. I don’t find the Emory website that easy to navigate.
I would guess the kids have to take an English comp, math class, science class and some humanities elective for Gen eds?</p>
<p>Dorm move-in was incredible . 5 students descended on our car when we pulled up and carried everything to Ss room. Took maybe 20 minutes … wow!</p>
<p>Do NOT miss Dr. Dukes session on Parenting a College Student. This session alone was worth the trip.</p>
<p>The Coca-Cola toast was pretty fun.</p>
<p>So Tennesseedad–tell me more about Dr. Duke’s speech-
- do you recall at what point in the weekend that took place?</p>
<p>I really liked staying at the JW Marriott in Buckhead. Really nice, attached to the great Lennox Mall with a great steak/sushi restaurant, plus all the fast food options. Not a bad drive from Emory, maybe 15 minutes.</p>
<p>First time we stayed the old Emory hotel, it was not very nice. Do not stay at the old hotel. The newer hotel looks nice if you can get a reservation.</p>
<p>I am deciding between the Emory conference center, JW Marriott and the Ritz ( since DS will only be joining us in the hotel for one night…). Not sure if there is a clear advantage being closer to campus or not since we are renting a car.
Just saw online that the kids need 2 chicken pox shots and my son has only had one…</p>
<p>rpg1 – I’m glad your child had a good experience. Let me just relay some of my D’s frustrations in registering for classes. </p>
<p>It’s very difficult to get the classes you want. You would think all the freshman could pretty much count on being able to take 100 level (freshman) courses, but that is not the case. Have 3-4x the # of courses is good advice. The lottery system determines your “spot” in selecting classes, so if you luck out, you may get some of the classes you want.</p>
<p>Adivising is extremely minimal. But perhaps this is the norm for a school of Emory’s size. I’m comparing it to my experience at a small LAC, where your advisor made an effort to get to know you as a person and student, and made suggestions on classes based on years of experience with the curriculum and the people teaching it. That is not the case here. At least it hasn’t been my D’s experience. </p>
<p>On the upside, she is learning how to advocate for herself. She will be choosing a new advisor, and emailing profs to get the syllabus and grading metrics before she walks into class in the Fall. I didn’t think she’d have to go through all this, but apparently, this is Emory. </p>
<p>I sincerely hope her experience was anomalous – and rpg1’s child’s is more typical. If there’s one piece of advice I can give the incoming freshman it’s this: make sure you are very clear on the procedure and grade implication for withdrawing from a class should you find it too difficult or not covering the material you expected. You should also ask your advisor how many freshman withdrew from a specific class you’re considering taking. In my mind, if a large percentage of the class withdrew, then you might want to select another class.</p>
<p>S received little to no advising as a freshman. He was pretty much on his own. Registering for Math classes has been particularly frustrating. </p>
<p>He had a better experience registering for next years classes. (but still did not get his Math class)</p>
<p>I agree with your upside, Classof2015. When S called all freaked out about only getting one class and wasnt sure he would be a full time student . I responded with, Im sure youll figure it out gulp. AND, he did, but it made for a very stressful time.</p>
<p>^thx T-Dad – glad I’m not the only one with a kid who didn’t find it easy. Yes, I hope it will build character. Or something.</p>
<p>Seiclan – about applying to undergraduate B-School – D is on that track too. She said the pre-reqs (which are on Emory’s website somewhere) are Business Econ, Business Statistics, and Financial Accounting. She found the first 2 very hard. In high school, she had a 3.7 GPA, 2080 SATs, lots of APs and was very good in math (won some prize at graduation). </p>
<p>If your son hasn’t taken any statistics course before, don’t expect this one to teach him the basic concepts at all – it just won’t. D showed me the syllabus – it was tougher than the Statistics I took for my MBA. The first few days are very fluffy then you walk into the midterm and it’s all regression analysis. I’m honestly wondering about the value of an undergraduate business degree. I think she’d be better off majoring in Math or Econ and getting lots of work experience.</p>
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<p>@tennesseedad: How did your S figure things out when he only managed to register for 1 class…? Is there 2 phases for registration and he got some more classes in the second phase?</p>
<p>Any experience that you’re willing to share would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Several questions from parents about move-in day.<br>
- Hotel. In general, it is better to be near to campus. You are NOT there to sightsee so the less you have to deal with directions/traffic, the better. The Emory Conf Center is best for being close. Very nic hotel in a lovely setting, although Buckhead hotels such as the JW Marriot or the Ritz are a bit nicer. The Buckhead area is about 15-20 minutes away which is not bad and close to many great restaurants and shopping. If you have a hotel in Buckhead and cannot get any closer to Emory, you will still be fine.
- Move-in Day. Emory handles this very well. The process goes smoothly and there are many people to help bring your child’s belongings to the Dorm room. At one Dorm, the University President, Dr. Wagner, is always on hand to help! I strongly second the comment about attending Dr. Duke’s session on Saturday for PARENTS. Dr. Duke is a Psychology Professor and talks to parents about what your child and YOU are going through as they start college. He sent two children thru Emory and help set up a very elaborate system for residential advising (Read: spotting freshmen that are not properly adjusting to college life). He gives it several times during that Saturday. Plan to have dinner with your student on Saturday (maybe with roommate/family?) but get them back to the Dorm by around 8:30pm as the freshmen will have a required Dorm meeting around that time. There is a Dessert reception for Parents. On Sunday, you should say your goodbyes by noon or so and be off. The Freshmen will start into their orientation in earnest by midday Sunday. Move-In day is always a little emotional for all concerned so say your comments/advice/feelings to your child BEFORE you arrive on campus.
- Registering for classes. Developing a list of potential classes is the key since it is likely that all of the ones your child wants will not be available (8-12 possibles). Talking to a returning student is really key here. Find one and have your child talk to them before getting to campus. Once they get thru the first registration (and it is correct that there are two times to register; once during orientation and a second period just before classes called “Drop/Add” where one has a second chance to get in.), the students will get the hang of it. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>There are two registration times. You can register for up to 9 hours in the first time slot. Then the next day, you can register for the rest of your classes (or something like that). The theory being it is likely you will get at least two classes that you want. My son had a list of about 6 classes. During the first registration period, he was able to find one of his classes. (that is when I got the panicked phone call). The next day he discovered that one of his classes had opened a new section which he was able to grab. He convinced a professor to allow him to overload a third class. His 4th class was a Math class that opened up during the drop/add period after the second day of class.</p>
<p>Everything turned out OK in the end, but it was certainly a stressful start to the semester. </p>
<p>Make sure your student has a list of 8 to 12 classes. Help them be ready for the crazy registration period and encourage them to be open to taking GERs outside of their immediate area of interest.</p>