My daughter was working on her Pre-Registration Questionnaire Worksheet today when she noticed that CourseSearch didn’t show any SOSC core sections that were actually open. All say “Closed” (Section Enrollment 10/10) and with five course options at anywhere from 11 - 29 sections per course, that’s 910 spaces apparently already filled!! (I would assume with second years?) Is it truly the case that the SOSC sequence is closed to first year students this year??? That doesn’t sound right given what she’s been reading on the orientation webpage - taking SOSC during the first year seems to be a pretty standard thing to do, especially for a social science major. She did fire off a quick e-mail to Summer Advising but I thought I’d check here as well - has anyone else followed up on this? Are they planning to add more sections? Or is CourseSearch not populating with the correct information? She doesn’t have this issue on any of her other choices - HUM, for instance, is wide open (which makes sense).
If enrollment says 10/10 more will open up later - the real cap is 19
OK - thanks @HydeSnark! Was wondering about that! Also, just found the following under “Creating A Schedule - What Do I Need to Consider When Selecting Sections?” (Orientation page) which is consistent with what you are saying:
“Be aware that while the class schedule may currently show that many SOSC sections are full, we reserve some seats in each section for 1st year students. This is an unusual case where you can still plan to request the course even if it appears to be unavailable over the summer.”
So it looks like she can just go ahead and rank her SOSC courses and sections and expect at least some of those to be available once she pre-registers.
Yep
This afternoon D17 got something from Summer Advising confirming the above. Thank goodness!
You can never be introduced too soon to Max Weber and company!
My daughter is opting for Aquinas and Machiavelli as a first choice, but maybe Max Weber will figure in at some point.
I was shocked to see 900 SOSC spots taken already (out of 1600 or so rising 2nd years) - even assuming some re-shuffling during the first couple weeks, those are most likely all 2nd years who need to complete the sequence. Is it really the case that most do NOT take SOSC first year - even social science majors? Quite possible that a good chunk are planning STEM/pre-med and so completed some pre-reqs during first year. But there must also be a healthy representation of econ. majors in those 900 or so kids.
That’s a pretty good tag-team - a saint and a guy who became a by-word for wickedness. Pretty interesting to read them together. She’s in for a great experience!
Yes, most people don’t take sosc first year. As per the recommendation of most advisors.
@marlowe1 to be honest I was kind of hoping she’d list Social Science Inquiry as her first choice. I hadn’t looked through the course content till just recently and at first had dismissed this option as sounding “boring” but it’s actually a thorough study on how to conduct social science research, culminating in a substantial student-originated research project in the third quarter. Sounds perfect for aspiring social scientists and perhaps a welcome contrast to the heavy-duty reading and writing requirements of HUM. Well, maybe she’ll end up with this option anyway - Classics is a pretty popular sequence and she’s not exactly signing up for the 8 am sections! LOL.
@HydeSnark at #8: the pre-registration materials offered to the class of 2021 suggest that it can go either way - for instance, if you are a social science major you might want the background, whereas if you are STEM/bio/pre-med you might not be able to fit it in till second year. Also, while these aren’t going to be representative for every student, the materials also include several first quarter “sample” schedules under a variety of majors and all the non-STEM ones show HUM and SOSC together. Is that different advice from when you all were registering for first year?
Yes, they told us that taking Sosc first year is unusual and will be a lot of work. Both of those are true.
@HydeSnark - they made a blanket statement for all the majors? Interesting. I wonder what changed between your year and Class of 2021.
Here’s what the pre-registration website says:
"Should I take a SOSC sequence in my first year?
Students interested in Humanities & Social Science majors often take their SOSC sequence in their 1st year, simultaneous with Humanities. This isn’t required - they can choose to take SOSC in 2nd year instead - but these students may want the background in SOSC before exploring major options in 2nd year and are often more comfortable taking on two reading- and writing-focused sequences in their 1st year.
Students interested in Physical & Biological Science majors or pre-med usually take their SOSC sequence in 2nd year. These students typically have multiple foundational sequences they need to take in 1st year for their major and simply aren’t able to fit in another year-long sequence. If that applies to you, you don’t need to request any SOSC courses for this Autumn.
For reference, see the disciplinary planning chart and a list of majors divided by collegiate division."
Here’s the planning chart by division. As a result, my daughter was planning to take Calc, SOSC and PHSC in addition to HUM. Now I’m wondering if she should put off SOSC till 2nd year.
She’s also been in contact with college advising and hasn’t gotten any indication that SOSC was unusual first year. Maybe it’s a major-specific thing? Given that 700 first years DID just take SOSC, it can’t be all that unusual anymore.
I don’t see how anything you’ve quoted here says that taking Sosc your first year is not unusual.
I haven’t noticed much of a difference by major, but I wasn’t paying attention. Across the whole school, most people definitely do not take Sosc their first year. The text you quoted indicats that most STEM majors don’t take it their first year and not every Humanities and Social Science major takes it their first year. That sounds about right to me, and it means that most people aren’t taking Sosc their first year.
So nothing has changed from last year to this year except that no one is telling you all this stuff in person. They are still telling people that most people don’t take Sosc their first year and that it will be difficult.
@HydeSnark - ok I see what you are saying. Obviously most didn’t take it last year if 910 have signed up for it already this year. I was interpreting your statement of “unusual” to mean a relatively small number or only under special circumstances or something. I believe they are opening up as many as 800 some-odd additional spaces for the first years and D was told they will fill very quickly and to specify a few choices. The reason she checked with college advising in the first place was because she was worried that it was closed off to first years entirely and fortunately that is anything but the case.
I can see how all the STEM/Bio/Pre-Med would hold off till 2nd year (may be about 25% of majors) but that means another 30% are doing so as well (Econ and then a smattering of other majors? Not sure). No one in advising has said it’s more work than other courses but she hasn’t asked that question and I’ve been going off what you’ve been saying about the time commitment. Frankly, she’s very much looking forward to this sequence but that has more to do with her interests than anything else. She’s excited about HUM as well but figures she’ll lose that thrill by the time spring registration kicks off 
For what it’s worth, in my year ('20) and my specific adviser group, students majoring in a social science were advised to take SOSC as first-years.
At risk of sounding like a broken record, I am a big proponent of Classics. Even as a first-year juggling the course with HUM and other responsibilities, with a professor who was demanding at best and downright relentless at times, I have never in my life taken a more rewarding class than Winter Quarter Classics. Spring Quarter is a close second, and Fall Quarter is nothing to sneeze at. There are worse things than ending up in that class.
@DunBoyer Classics is my D’s first choice! 
If a student has already taken a sosc sequence in first year, and then wants to take a different one in second year, would the student get lower priority for the class?
There’s a lot of overlap between the various SOSC classes. You need to check to see whether you would be permitted to take SOSC twice. It would be very, very unusual to do that. If there’s a focus to one class that you like, you would probably do better taking an introductory survey course in that area than in re-taking SOSC.
You can take sosc twice. Why wouldn’t you be able to?