Hey everyone! Sorry for the long story. I’m starting my freshman year in the Fall and am majoring in musical theater. At orientation (June 12-13), I was specifically put into a major-only Acting I class. However, I was also accepted into a freshman leadership program yesterday. The program is highly selective (only 20-25 students are accepted each year and this is the school’s largest incoming freshman class which I assume means a very large pool of applicants) and aims to help shape freshman into good leaders who can one day take on leadership positions at the school. It’s something I’m very excited about doing, but as a part of the group, I have to take two classes that are specifically for members of the group. One of the classes conflicted with my scheduled Acting I class, but I was told to clear my schedule to be put into the leadership class. When registering for orientation, I didn’t really plan on applying for the leadership program, so I didn’t worry about making sure my schedule was cleared. Anyways, I dropped the conflicting major-only Acting I class and the only other Acting I classes available were open to non-majors. I’d really like to take the major-only class because the chair of the department mentioned the differences in atmosphere and work ethic among non-major classes and major-only classes at orientation. I have added the non-major class to my schedule at the moment. Should I email the department chair (it’s a relatively small and informal department, he said to feel free to email us with any questions) and ask to be put into the major-only class? The class only capped at 16, so I figured one more wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but I don’t know if this is for a specific reason. Is this something that I just have to sacrifice to be in the leadership program?
Yes, you can ask if you can be added or put on the waitlist for the filled class and explain the conflicts. Better to ask for what you want and present why you needed to drop the original class. The worst they can say is no and as long as you are respectful rather than demanding no one will hold it against you for asking.