Do students who register for STAR in June (as opposed to July) have a higher chance of getting the classes they need, or is there no difference?
There is no difference. They release seats to classes for each STAR session.
Plus, you aren’t really registering for your courses at STAR per se. You meet with your advisor and plan out the schedule. Your advisor will make sure you have back up classes for electives. You then input all that information into your student account. In late July, (I think it was late July, could have been early August), you’ll get your official schedule with the days/times.
Purdue basically says you’ll get all the classes you need for your major, but you can’t specify time preference until 2nd semester. If there is a problem with the schedule, there is a window to try to change it and reconnect with your advisor.
D found the process to be fairly seamless. (She registered the second to last STAR day in July).
I believe that used to be true but my understanding is that within the last year or two that changed. Now the schedules are run after all STAR dates are complete, so an earlier STAR doesn’t make a difference. What DOES make a difference is your classification. If you get your AP and Dual Credit classes loaded before the program runs and you are classified as a sophomore you will have higher priority. BTW - status also determines whether or not you can get a parking pass on campus. My son came in classified as a sophomore due to AP and dual credit and had his car parked in a garage right by his dorm right from the start.
Caveat - all of this is true as far as I know unless something has changed since last year. To be 100% sure the best bet is to call Purdue.
Registration is done by classification, and each semester is 15 credits. So if you bring in 20-some AP/dual enrollment credits, it won’t help for 2nd semester, but when registering for Sophomore classes you register a few days earlier, with the Sophomore class. (My D brought in 20-some, plus 16 from 1st semester > 30 = sophomore).
If you come in with >30 then you can register early for 2nd semester Freshman.
Maybe it’s changed, but she registered on campus during STAR so no amount of credits would have helped Freshman first semester.
She was in an early STAR session and some classes were full for her. They must have freed up more for later sessions. And she checked in over the summer and was able to make changes late.
(Not that it’s perfect - she recently registered for Jr. classes with Jr. status and a required Math class (PDEs?) was full. She had to talk to her advisor, who has to contact the Math department to open more slots/classes. Everyone with Soph status still had to register)