<p>I know that in the past, Rice has had a "shopping period" at the beginning of each semester--is that still the case?</p>
<p>Rice still has a shopping period even though it's not officially designated in the General Announcements. Also, as a freshman, you are allowed to drop a course on the last day -- but only during the first semester.</p>
<p>Thanks. How long does the shopping period last, and do many students take advantage of the opportunity? Has it been helpful in deciding which courses to take?</p>
<p>I don't think my class schedule has ever been the same a couple weeks into the semester as it was at the beginning. So yes, I do take advantage of the shopping period. I usually sign up for more courses than I intend to take, then drop and add as needed.</p>
<p>We don't have a shopping period in the way that most schools do in that you still have to register for courses before the semester begins, but we do have a period in which you can drop/add freely, and then another couple weeks in which you can drop with a (very) small fee.</p>
<p>You have until the 2nd week of classes to add without a fee. After that you have until the 4th week to drop without a fee. After that, you have until the 10th week to drop a class with a fee ($10, I think?). For incoming students, they can drop a class up until the last day of classes (though the fee goes up to about $50, I believe).</p>
<p>There's a lot of flexibility in choosing classes. Unfortunately, they're making it so that you can no longer for two classes that have the same time (without special registration), which means you won't be able to sign up for two classes, go to a few classes, and drop one of them. </p>
<p>Even with that, course-shopping won't be too difficult, since for many classes you wouldn't have to be registered to sit in on it for a period (for smaller classes you might have to talk to the professor to get special registration, but for larger classes that you're wondering about, it wouldn't be very hard at all).</p>