UIUC Summer Registration Question

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>Hello, I have a question about the summer registration:</p>

<ol>
<li> Is in-person registration better than online in terms of getting the classes one wants?</li>
</ol>

<p>I'm asking because I checked UIUC's site ( Admitted Checklist, U</a> of I Admissions: Summer Registration Freshman Dates 2012 ) and for their Engineering Section most registration sessions are in June while checking out the dates for the online sessions, most are in July. So would this delay affect my chances of getting the classes I want?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>I would definitely say in-person registration is better. It’s first-come-first-serve with regard to classes. Some of them fill up in the first day and many times the “better” times and “better” instructor ones are the first to go. When you go in for registration you do meet one-on-one with your counselor but then you basically sit off to the side and do your own registration while sitting there. The whole process took a little over an hour but her assigned counselor was running late (really annoying!).</p>

<p>Last year my D had a second week registration date (she went in DGS) and there were many conflicts already at that time (couldn’t get class times to work, etc.). If at all possible, I’d say go in and sign up for the earliest date. Why risk it?</p>

<p>Also, this might be obvious but talk to some current students and find out opinions of who the “better” instructors and what the “better” classes are. My D was pretty much blind to it all and learned a few hard lessons. You know, the classic. “OMG You have THAT teacher?” oh and “why in the world did you take that class if you didn’t have to do so?” LOL. She now knows better and Fall 2012 registration went much better . All these lessons will certainly help D#2 on her course registration.</p>

3

<p>What they do, in order to avoid the rush of everyone signing up for the early summer registration sessions to get the “best” schedule is to open up new sections of a course and/or increase the available spots in a particular course throughout the summer, so there will always be room for freshman with a summer registration date later in the summer. Same would apply for online registration for those who can’t make it down in person. That’s the official line anyway, but my son opted, at my suggestion, for the first date available.</p>

<p>As for getting opinions about choosing the"better" instructor, there are two problems. Many courses don’t have instructors assigned yet, so all you get is TBA, especially earlier in the summer. Most importantly, talking to students about who’s a good instructor is very subjective. My son, for example, was told that his prof in Thermodynamics was a tyrant, but he has enjoyed his teaching style immensely, and learned a lot in the process. Everyone he talked to was certain he was screwed. That didn’t turn out to be the case.</p>

<p>As for sitting off to the side to do your own registration, be aware that there is a hold placed on your account that is only lifted after you meet with your counselor, and then only for that day, until being removed on the first day of classes. At least thats how it was for the engineering incoming freshman.</p>

<p>Part of your homework is to look over the course sections for the upcoming fall quarter, and build your schedule. Your counselor can help you correct whatever mistakes you might have made, but you need to learn how to do course scheduling, because you’ll be doing the physical scheduling on your own for subsequent terms (you’ll meet with your advisor, so he/she can evaluate whether you’re on track and moving towards completing the requirements of your degree). Part of knowing what to take is knowing what AP credit you’ve got towards meeting your gen eds, and don’t forget about your ACT english subscore being used to place you out of RHET 105, if it’s high enough. I believe it was 33, or better. Only then can you determine what courses to take to keep you on track towards obtaining your degree.</p>

<p>Additionally, please note that if you’re attempting to sign up for courses that are more advanced for freshman (ie having gotten a lot of AP credit), those sections may well be full, since continuing students have all already registered for the upcoming fall quarter.</p>

4

<p>I have signed up for online registration. I know I need to take a Math assesment test. I have done four years of Spanish. I am not transfering AP credits. </p>

<p>Where do I start? will they assign me an advisor - before my registration date with whom i can exchange emails. I would like to be prepared to have an intelligent discussion about what my options are. </p>

<p>Where can I find course descriptions etc? are they available now?</p>

5

<p>Start with the program that you were admitted to, or that you would like to transfer into. Go to that program’s website. They list suggested study programs for the degree that you would like to attain. Sometimes they list recommended schedules. The courses at UIUC for Fall 2012 are listed here:</p>

<p><a href=“https://courses.illinois.edu/cisapp/dispatcher/catalog/2012/fall[/url]”>https://courses.illinois.edu/cisapp/dispatcher/catalog/2012/fall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>General Education Requirements are here. They must be completed to receive a degree too:</p>

<p><a href=“https://courses.illinois.edu/cisapp/dispatcher/gened/2012/fall[/url]”>https://courses.illinois.edu/cisapp/dispatcher/gened/2012/fall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Once you have the courses you’d like to take (based on credits you already have, plus looking at the program of study, and suggested courses on the major website, try to create a schedule that doesn’t put you in two places at one time, and allows adequete travel time between classes. Have a campus map handy. You don’t want to have to travel from a course on the south quad to a course on the engineering quad in 10 minutes.</p>

<p>Also, be aware that certain general education courses fulfill more than one gen ed requirement.</p>

6

<p>I have an appointment for June 13 and I wanted to know when we find out about the time within the day that my appointment will be. Do you think it would be better to contact the admissions office for this, or should will I be told soon? I just want to know because I have to book the flight and coordinate the return flight time.</p>

7

<p>Each Summer Registration day is a planned event. All meet in a general session in the AM at the Illini Union, unless that’s recently changed. Drusba can correct me, if I’m wrong here. After the General Session, you split into your respective college groups, and walk over to a room nearby where the college will provide you with information specific to that college. Your parents can accompany you to this lecture too. After that, the students split and head off for additional information, while the parents head back to the Illini Union for some additional information. The students are assigned an advisor time (at least that’s how it worked for the College of Engineering) some time in the early afternoon. Prior to the advising appointment, the students head back to the Illini Union, link up with their parents, and head upstairs to lunch.</p>

<p>After lunch, and until your advisor appointment you can informally tour the campus, hang out on the quad, etc. Remember though, that at some point you need to head over across the street to the Illini Union Bookstore where the ID Office is located, take your picture, and obtain your student ID. Don’t lose it. It’s gonna cost you to replace it, if you do. Additionally, while obtaining your ID, conveniently (for them) located right in the bookstore is a branch of TCF bank. They’ll be there to facilitate you signing up for a student account. They are conveniently located, but other banks have ATMs on campus to. If you’ve made other plans for your banking, just say thanks, but no thanks. If you do decide to go with TCF, or any bank for that matter, be aware of their “benefit” of overdraft protection. If your funds reach zero, with overdraft protection, “no problem” that coffee purchase will go through when you use your debit card, but you’ll also be hit with an overdraft “fee” for each overdraft purchase which makes that cup of overdraft coffee a bit steep in terms of its cost.</p>

<p>Personally, I’d rather have them let my son know that his account is low, and it’s time to hit Dad up for some more cash, sooner, rather than after the fees have been accessed.</p>

<p>Back to advising…You will meet with your advisor, who will look over your “homework”, and evaluate what courses you should sign up for, starting either from your homework schedule, or from scratch, if need be. The registration hold will be lifted, and you’ll head over to a computer to register online using the call numbers (course section and time numbers) agreed upon by you and your advisor. After that, you’re done. Tour campus, head to campustown for a bite to eat, or head back to Illini Union for a campus services event where tables are set up with various campus organization reps.</p>

<p>Good luck. Congratulations on getting into an outstanding institution. Enjoy the rest of your summer, and head back in August.</p>

8

<p>Can you make changes to your schedule once you get home?</p>

9

<p>For engineering, and I’m assuming for the other colleges as well, the hold is reimposed after your initial registration, and it is not removed until the first day of classes.</p>

10

<p>I’m pretty sure a hold is placed at midnight on your registration day. You have until midnight to change things if you wish.</p>

11

<p>Midnight is what I understand to be the case too, however it’s usually not wise to change your schedule, even if you can squeeze the change in, after settling on a schedule with your advisor in the afternoon.</p>

12

<p>Yeah but there’s always exceptions. My D set up her Fall 2011 class schedule (DGS) with mostly science/chemistry classes then around the mid July she totally freaked out and decided that wasn’t the direction she was headed. She contacted her counselor via email and he opened up her registration again for her to rework her schedule completely (nothing with chemistry/science/math). She ended up with mostly gen ed classes but was able to get all the classes/times she wanted.</p>

<p>My point is, the counselors will work with you the best they can. Now if you’re looking engineering or business I’m sure schedule changes are way more challenging!</p>

13

how are summer glasses at uiuc? Has anybody taken any summer classses there?
what’s campus like over the summer? Do most people leave, or are a lot of students still on campus, and do the student orgs still host events and are there still club activities and meetings and info sessions and programming contests, etc or does campus essentially die down over the summer?

what’s the summer uiuc experience like?