I forgot to add my daughter. She started at one Lac and transferred as a junior to another Lac. One school 1800 students and the second one like 1300 students. Never had an issue. First one was a BFA program and second is not. Her classes are very small and the way she likes it.
“I can understand the college giving priority in courses to students for whom the courses are required for their majors (and that is what colleges should do generally). But that seems odd to give specific majors priority in out-of-major courses.”
Engineering course load is often so lockstep with 4 of 5 classes being a specific required course often with only one section held that the engineering students have almost no choice to fulfill their humanities requirement. Literally only one section of one class will work in the schedule so that’s why they are given priority.
At what college would an engineering major find that exactly one section of one humanities or social studies course will fit into his/her schedule? Seems like that could only possibly happen at a college with a very heavily specified core curriculum where specific courses (rather than a choice of humanities or social studies courses) must be taken, but that does not describe the majority of colleges with engineering.
@Brantley. At my daughters school the required classes including labs left very few openings in her schedule. Everyone was in lockstep who had the same double engineering major. There was one,…one of the required writing classes that would fit the schedule. There were only two possible sections ( in two possible classes ) to fit in the required humanities another semester. But there were so few requirements outside of engineering ( I think 2 classes in addition to writing ) that these kids were hardly doing a lot to take up room needed by humanities majors. They technically didn’t have priority but they could get an override. I could see why a school might give engineering kids priority.
I think OOS students shouldn’t have to pay 200% more than IS…
I have no problem paying more as the parent of an OOS student. We could have made use of our own state’s system.
All of these special registration categories remind me of airline special statuses. "First we’ll board our merit college students, then our athletes, then our majors, then our upperclassmen, then our kids with a gazillion AP’s, then those of you who’ll be seated, without your carry-on, directly in front of the bathrooms. ?
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Mine above was also Purdue. She’s had to wait for the Math dept to open up Linear and DiffEq sections, but they did relatively quickly. She has to take FY Engineering Chem and Physics in the reverse order of her friends, but not a big deal.
She came in with enough credits that she registers with the year ahead of her, a week early, so that probably helps. But I haven’t heard of broader issues. Engineering at Purdue is pretty large scale, so I’m not surprised they’re in pretty good shape.
IMO, applicants should place higher priority on the ease of registering for desired classes when comparing colleges. My S substantially planned out the courses he wished to take in all four years with my inputs. He’s certainly prepared to make changes along the way, but he can’t afford to make substantial changes with his ambitious program of studies. We evaluated the ease of registering for classes in great details. He ended up at a college that places no restrictions on class registration at all. It doesn’t even enforce class prerequisites. In his Freshman year, he was able to take very popular classes designed for sophomores and juniors with zero problem.
I think that the problem at D19’s college is the capping of the number of students to a class, and, at least partially, because of the mid-year cohort of students. This adds another 100 first years to the mix. The fact that the same number are graduating helps later years, but it doesn’t relieve the pressure on the first year courses. That may be why it is a common issue for spring term first years, but it doesn’t seem to repeat during later years.
They also over-enrolled in 2017 and 2018, which is when this problem seems to have popped up. Since first years have the lowest priority for classes, that is where the crunch happens. Since there was no over-enrollment this year, they may not have this problem next spring.
Sometimes colleges are victims of their own success, as happens when yield is higher than expected…
However, it can be hard to make meaningful comparisons because it is likely that all one has is a small number of anecdotes that may or may not be similar to your potential situation.
Amherst (LAC) - D had no problems getting any of the classes/profs/sections desired, ever.
One semester, after registration ended and she had a schedule, she changed her mind and wanted to get into one that was full. Her adviser emailed her the next day that someone dropped and to jump in quickly, which she did.
The only required course at Amherst, first semester writing/reading seminar, is handled separately from registration for everything else. They’re asked to rank choices before they get to the college and are placed in those before they arrive. That group forms their orientation group, as I recall. They register for the other 3 classes around that.
I notice most classes list a “priority if full” in the notes, and that varies - sometimes first years get priority, or majors, or non-majors, or sophomores, etc.
Back in my day at Vassar, scheduling was a terrible issue. I don’t think I got one first choice class my first semester, it was awful. Of course back then we lined up at tables to sign up for classes. I didn’t know a lot about how to do that strategically, maybe. I got more classes I wanted at the CUNY I transferred to, but usually had to petition the professor to do that.
DS (LAC) has gotten every class he requested freshman and senior year. He also got every class requested in his major sophomore and junior year. He did not get every elective outside his major those 2 middle years because seniors and students in that major had priority. But he will graduate with all the classes he wanted. He also said that had he had a compelling reason for a class he didn’t get (outside his major), they would have made it work. So in his case, no problems.
At some large state schools, like UC’s and CalPoly, also Auburn and CU-Boulder and more, it is common to take summer courses at a community college, or in some cases online to stay on track for graduation.
I would find that really annoying since anything over 13 credits is “free” at the 4 year schools around here. I’d essentially have to pay for the class twice.
A couple of the schools DS applied to had 4-year graduation guarantees. If you couldn’t finish in 8 semesters due to not being able to get into a course, they would waive the course, allow a substitute or pay for the tuition to come back. Of course, the tuition would only be a small part of the cost of adding another semester…
Many CSUs in California have that.
But their four year graduation rates are still low, for student related reasons. The 4-year pledge programs require that the student not need remedial courses, take full course loads following the course plan for their majors, and not fail anything. Not surprisingly, many students do not do that, so they need more than 8 semesters.
When I went to college, the 4-year graduation rate was under 40%. But I had no trouble getting required and elective courses and finishing in 8 semesters. I did choose tactically to take requirements and prerequisites to other courses early, giving more freedom of choice later. But it seemed that many other students did not plan well, or voluntarily took light loads.
Be sure you check with your school in advance to ensure they will accept the credit from the summer college you attend. I know Auburn did not accept Chemistry at a Georgia regional college but Georgia Tech would accept them…go figure.
It can be more than a few anecdotes. For example, potential applicants can infer from the general procedures of registering for classes, and the specific ones for certain subsets of classes. They can also ask about class size limits, prioritization, waiting lists, etc. for specific classes during college visits.
Re: #77 @1NJParent
It can still be hard to tell in some cases. If a school has a relatively simple registration priority system (e.g. one phase by class standing with no reservations for majors who require the class), does it mean that majors finding required classes full has never been a problem (so there is no need to go to a more complex system to address it), or that there is a problem, but nothing is being done to address it (or it is addressed in an ad hoc manner by begging the instructor for an override)?
Mostly an excuse to stay in college longer on the parents’ dime and/or avoiding Friday morning classes at 8 am. Don’t forget that UC and Cal State are extremely generous with AP/IB credits.
OTOH, class scheduling can be a real issue for those that change majors late in college career.