<p>How flexible are the FYS - can you change during real registration if you are preregistered? My D's conflicts with the Spanish class she was placed in and the Chem class she has to take first semester. Also it looks like the intro Chem class meets twice in one day - would that be true or is it two sections - they have the same number and are not labs? Any current students have insight? There are only two Spanish classes at her level so she doesn't have a lot of leeway there.</p>
<p>Usually you can add and drop any class during the first two weeks of classes, though there might not be as much availability in other FYS’ as not as many first-years may be switching out of their seminars. So she’ll probably be able to switch out of her FYS, whether she’ll be able to switch into another FYS will depend on availability. It’s something she should talk about with her advisor or with the SAA (student academic advisor) in her house when she gets to campus (the SAA will be at the house meeting she’ll have after move-in). </p>
<p>Chem doesn’t meet more than once per day, the other intro classes with the same number are different sections of the Chem 111 course. </p>
<p>Just as a side note, I know that they really push FYS and they’re all really great courses, but it is possible to have a successful, happy first year without one. I never took an FYS cause they didn’t fit with my schedule and I had a bunch of other things I needed/wanted to take. I actually really enjoyed getting to take an upper-level English course instead and didn’t feel that it disadvantaged me at all compared to other first years.</p>
<p>From what it seems, Spanish and chemistry are the priorities right now, so I suggest she stick with those. She can easily switch out of her FYS into another WI course (or take one in the spring). I too didn’t take a FYS, but I did take a WI history course with about 15 people total. I don’t see any real differences between my course and a FYS.</p>
<p>I second smithiegr, prioritize spanish and chemistry and save the WI for second semester if you need to (I had a great second semester WI, Reading and Writing Short Poems, it was easy, fun, you learn a lot about poets and different poetry styles, not too writing intensive, might be good if your D has a heavy science work load in the spring).</p>
<p>My D didn’t take a FYS, either, and it didn’t make a difference. I suppose they are good for making friends, although house life on its own is great for that. </p>
<p>Also, chemistry meets twice a day ONLY if you count the lab. Often, you don’t have a choice for the chemistry lectures, but you can choose from several lab times. Smaller lab classes have only one lab, so that can wreak havoc with a student’s schedule. Chem I should have slightly more flexibility.</p>
<p>Through your D’s education, she is going to have to prioritize. Sometimes a required major course rules out all the hoped-for electives due to scheduling conflicts.</p>
<p>My read on the schedule -from helping D. - is that Intro Chem meets three times a week for lecture and once a week (in the afternoon) for lab. I recall there is flexibility in which lab day to choose.</p>
<p>Actually looks like the biggest conflict is FYS and Bio but it looks like she can take ay of the three 151-154 or something level bio classes so that should help even though she may not take her favorite first. I think she could live with dropping the FYS for now. It is the first time she has had to figure this out since HS does it all for you and it is challenging. I like the fact Smith has them meet with an advisor first - her friend at Mount Holyoke had to register this summer with no input.</p>
<p>Pre-registration doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just practice for real registration. It doesn’t actually reserve spaces in the classes/sign you up for anything. So even if your daughter didn’t preregister for a particular class it shouldn’t be a problem getting into it.</p>
<p>Overwhelmedma, we just found out that D could take the Cell Bio course (202) because she took AP Bio in high school …for the same reason, she has switched to CHM 118 over 111 because it is slightly more advanced. These changes opened up her schedule to let her take language …also, based on the feedback from this forum, she plans to take a writing intensive class from the Eng dept instead of the FYS. Overall, her schedule looks much better now.</p>
<p>My D took advanced bio in HS but it was lab based and they didn’t do the AP - she definitley doesn’t want a more advanced chem class but she really doesn’t want to drop the FYS so it looks like she may take the ecology bio - 153 I think first although it interests her least but she has to take it at some point. I curious to hear what her advisor recommends although it looks like hers in the Chem dept so they may be big on science. She loves eng and I don;t think she realizes how much she may miss it and be to science heavy but we’ll see.</p>
<p>Overwhelmed, my D has managed to take an English, film, or theater course most semesters in addition to doing the hard sciences. Sometimes she inserts a history or a government class instead. She figures that three courses of science and math need the balance of something more narrative-based.</p>
<p>She was planing to but with the FYS a science (her first choice was film) and taking an advanced spanish she had no room for anything but bio or chem. Hopefully it will be easier to fit in next semester</p>
<p>Every semester is a little different, she may also juggle things around after she’s actually attended her classes and had a chance to look at the syllabus and experience the professor. That’s the beauty of the first two weeks of classes, after first years spend weeks obsessing over their schedules, they often change things completely.</p>