<p>I read somewhere that students find out their classes near the end of o week: isn't that sort of late? When do students get their books then? How can someone ensure they'll get the classes they want/need? I know for other schools they have multiple orientations and the earlier you go, the better in terms of getting your top choices, so I guess I'm just not sure i understand how it works for Chicago- any help would be appreciated, thank you!</p>
<p>Hi Waiting17, all incoming students register for classes during Orientation Week. You’ll have a few group meetings with your adviser to discuss appropriate first-year options and placement test results, and then a private meeting with your adviser during which your course schedule is set. Your adviser will work with you to assure that your schedule includes all of the courses you will need as a first year student in alignment with both the Core curriculum and your goals or major plans; most first year students will take exclusively or almost exclusively Core courses in their first quarter (some of which may satisfy both Core and major or program requirements-- Gen Chem, for example, is recommended for pre-med or science-interested students in the first year but also satisfies the Core requirement in Physical Sciences). </p>
<p>Registration for us is a little later than most schools, but we reserve space for first years in relevant courses when upperclass course schedules are set in the Spring (and many courses-- such as introductory language courses, calculus, and the humanities requirement-- will be taken exclusively by first years, so space availability is not an issue). Most Core Curriculum courses offer multiple sections of the same course topic, so while your humanities section may have 20 students in the class, the same course will be taught at different times by a number of different professors to make the course available to more than the 20 students in your individual class. Course books are available for all courses at either the Seminary Co-Op bookstore or the Barnes and Noble bookstore on campus (which carries both new and used books). Other used books are widely available from returning upperclassmen on marketplace.uchicago.edu or through house listhosts.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the quick and through response! For the placements tests then- how are they given over the summer? Would a student take one for each subject, like math, English, a foreign language, science, etc?</p>
<p>Some of the placement tests will be available online over the summer; others will be available on campus during Orientation Week. The timing will be communicated to you in your orientation materials. We do not offer a placement test in English, but you can expect to take placement tests in Biology, foreign language, and mathematics; some placement tests are available in other sciences (physics, chemistry) but are optional.</p>
<p>Then we can expect this orientation information in August? Along with our housing arrangements? again, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions!</p>
<p>The timelines are all a bit off for me since I’m now a fourth-year, but you will receive a flash drive with a huge host of information. I believe the flash drive is mailed out in July. Housing decisions come a bit later I think (August?).</p>
<p>@UChicago I was going through the course catalog, and I can’t figure out how the Bio placement exam places a kid, as none of the courses appear to list good performance on the bio exam. If I want to do the premed bio sequence, which starts with BIOS 20170, does that require a good score on the bio placement exam?</p>
<p>The bio placement test has, historically, not restricted placement into bio classes. Instead, it has usually been a measure more for the bio department to gauge how much biology knowledge students come into the College with. I have not heard of any of this changing.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the AP 5 sequence does require a 5 on the AP exam. Scores on IB exams, etc. will not cross over.</p>