<p>Our son received an email informing him that it's time to select his classes for the fall. Instructions were not provided, however a link to a portal was posted. Launched the portal link and logon. Now what?</p>
<p>Woody2013 and any current Furman students...we can use your help. </p>
<p>There's not instructions on what to select for classes. Can anyone provide some input/help as to how a incoming freshman would go about selecting his classes? He knows he has to sign up for the Freshman Seminar and that's about it. What other classes should he consider? No major declared but thinking of pre-med/ chemistry or bio. </p>
<p>Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated. He needs to select his classes by June 23.</p>
<p>If you’re considering pre-med then go ahead and sign up for an advanced math (mth 150 for a freshman) an advanced science (say Bio 110 or Chm 110) to knock out those pre-prerequisites. For the fourth class I would recommend any GER. The ICE system can be very confusing (in fact I still don’t really know how it works), but if you have any questions I can do my best to answer them. </p>
<p>Woody just graduated so I am not sure how much longer he will be around</p>
<p>We just finished process with daughter. We also stressed a little at first. Make sure you go through the [advising</a> and registration made simple for new students](<a href=“http://www.furman.edu/advising/openarms/]advising”>http://www.furman.edu/advising/openarms/) website. Make sure to read the FAQS section carefully. There is a really good flowchart there that shows which GERs one needs per section. Just remember that after freshmen seminar then you are only choosing 3 classes and I would just focus on GERs unless you are in one of the majors listed that suggest certain classes to start in freshmen year. GERs also include a language and math and we thought it would be good to knock these out while things are relatively fresh from highschool. Lastly, I would read student descriptions of FYS in ratemyprofessor for feedback on particular classes. </p>
<p>The ICE course registration process is a challenge. We were totally confused at this time last year and, a year later, we are a little less confused. Just remember, your son will be assigned an Academic Advisor during his Orientation. The Advisor will review his initial course selection and can make changes to the course selection if necessary so don’t worry too much like we did. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that the Intro to ________ courses, any subject, are very challenging. You may want to add in a GER like Wellness Concepts in the first semester since the workload is intense. There are truly no easy classes. Freshman Seminar, Foreign Language, Wellness Concepts and an Intro course was our D’s final outcome. Good luck to you and your son!</p>
<p>GER stands for General Education Requirement. The GER consists of 2 first year seminars, 11 core courses and 2 global awareness courses. When you look at the details of a particular course, you will see what GER that course satisfies. For example, SPN-201 satisfies the FL(foreign language) GER. The flowchart srockrae mentioned is very helpful. I’ve had a copy in my files for 2 years and refer to it often because this can get a bit confusing. </p>
<p>There are faculty advisors available to help you through this. When we did this 2 years ago, my daughter sent an email with her questions and received an answer very quickly. The contact info is on the advising and registration made simple website. </p>
<p>Take a look at Wellness Concepts for your remaining class. It’s a very popular one to take first semester as it helps balance out the load with science and first year seminar. My daughter went in as pre-med and took FYS, Bio111, Math150, and HES101 (wellness concepts). This combination was suggested by the professor who answered her email during this process.</p>
<p>deezee1980- GER’s are general education requirements that all students must take ( unless an AP credit exempts them from the entry level). For instance, there are two freshman seminars-one is FYW-where writing is the focus and FYS-which still requires writing, but the focus is not style grammar, thesis development, etc. In sciences, Furman requires two-one ( at least ) with a lab and one can be without a lab. **For entering freshman be aware there are limited science courses without labs ( Empirical studies of the Natural World I believe is how they are grouped. I add this since both of our kids ( now rising seniors) did not realize you could take another science with a lab and meet the second GER. Descriptive Astronomy is apparently an excellent course with good professors-our DD learned about this from friends during her Spring study-away in Italy. When she tried to register for it this fall ( yes, our two are still completing GER’s), the class was full. </p>
<p>There is a lot of good advice from other parents, and as BobbyCT says, your child will get solid advice from his/her advisor. Our kid’s advisors have been very helpful in many key issues-but did not keep pushing for them to get GER’s out of the way more quickly. Taking foreign language courses closer to high school study is much easier than when you have been away from a language for 3 years or more. Good luck-Furman is a challenging and wonderful place to spend 4 years.</p>
<p>So there are 8 elect this course options, each option have three blank boxes with a drop down menu. Are all the boxes suppose to be filled with a course selection from the drop down menu? And should all 8 options be completed?</p>
<p>Help…is this difficult or is it me? </p>
<p>Sorry if I’m just not getting this and hope someone can help us.</p>
<p>It truly is a stupid system. The way I understand it (and I have done this 5 times now) is that in every section, the ICE system will try to put you in the top course you selected. If you do not get in that class, it will move to the next course you selected… etc etc. </p>
<p>Understand that even if you really screw it up, your son’s advisor will be able to go in there and review/revise his selections. </p>
<p>Furman courses are hard, especially math and science… if your son’s strength is math and science mth 150 and a science 110 should not be too bad. Be sure to check if AP credits count for any class before signing up for them as well.</p>
<p>I am having flashback pains remembering our first experience with the ICE “process”. We spent hours trying to figure out how the drop down menu and boxes worked. Finally we gave up, my D callled Furman and they explained in 2 minutes how the system worked. It is not that hard once it is explained properly. I agree with Spurs, it is truly a stupid system. Don’t waste hours like we did, just give them a call. My pride got in the way.</p>
<p>One other suggestion that might be helpful would be to download the Furman academic catalog for the upcoming year. It was helpful for us to read the academic policies, GER requirements and course descriptions. It was a great and easy reference. They should also have a list of the upcoming Freshman Seminars. Please note that last year the Seminar descriptions were for all previous seminars and many of them were no longer offered. My D LOVED her seminar Media and Human Behavior and her writing seminar Medicine, Morality and Culture. As Georgiatwins taught me, the right professor for the Freshman Seminar is critical. You will do great!</p>
<p>Just curious from those that have been through the “ICE” block selection system. Do you have to fill in all 8 blocks? I mean we understand how it works and have worked through the possibilities of what she could get, but we did not fill up all 8 blocks. I think we got through six. I guess you could just keep repeating stuff. Are all eight blocks required to be filled? It does seem like an archaic process!</p>
<p>srockrae-Yes, fill in all of the spaces-just try to prioritize your alternatives in the order you would like to take them. Also, don’t forget to look at ratemyprofessor.com if you see more than one section of the same course. There is a fair amount of information on the Furman faculty and our kids have used it each semester.</p>
<p>By the looks of reading this, it seems that I have signed myself up for failure for my first semester at Furman. I want to major in pre-med/bio, and I did the course selection. It recommended that I take 2 science courses, so I signed up for Bio 110, Chem 111, and Spanish (getting my language requirement out of the way, instead of math to give me a bit of a break). My fourth class would be a Seminar. But now I’m worried that I won’t be able to handle both Bio and Chem. Science and Math are my strongest subjects though. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Well you should have a good base for both classes, but they will be difficult. Ratemyprofessors.com will give you a good indication on how hard the classes are/how are the professors are.</p>
<p>Bio and Chem in your first semester might be brutal. I would pick only one of those and throw in a non-science related GER like Wellness Concepts, or a course that will satisfy your Visual Arts requirement. The first semester is a tough transition in general so I would not make it harder on yourself. There is a good chance when you sit down with your Academic Advisor during O-Week you will get this same advice.</p>