<p>Why do some classes have openings but there is a waitlist? Also what is the process when students are selected manually by department? What determines which students are chosen?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If someone wants one particular discussion section that is full, they are waitlisted for that but ALSO automatically waitlisted on the main/lecture section even if it has openings. </p></li>
<li><p>Some courses have openings by category, rather than a single availability open to everyone. If at least one of the categories still has openings, the course overall has openings, but a student who matches to a full category will be waitlisted for the class, whlie a student who matches an open category will get right in.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Since classes with discussions or other secondary sections will force anyone waitlisted for a secondary section to be waitlisted on the primary (lecture/lab) section even if there is an opening in the primary for them. If another section opens a slot, the student who is waitlisted on a different filled section will not be cleared from the waitlist, even though they may be first on the list for the primary section (which is how bearfacts lists your waitlist position). If you are first on the primary section but your secondary section never clears you from the waitlist, you will see all the people behind you jump over you and get cleared into the class (because their sections cleared them from the waitlist). </p>
<p>Even with automatic waitlist clearing, the next on the list is not always who gets the open slot. The automatic clearing is done at a fixed time (if I remember right, it is the weekend sometime), but students can drop the class at any time during the week. If someone drops the class, there is an opening. Anybody who logs onto telebears and qualifies for that category can register themselves into the class, unless special effort is taken to block any ‘direct’ registration into the class. They can hop over the line and get right into the section as soon as the opening is available. When the automatic run takes place that week, the list is processed in sequence for any openings that now exist (still matching each waitlisted person to the category rules). </p>
<p>Manual waitlists are cleared in various ways - there is no standard method. For some classes, the gsi or professor will manually clear. They may move in people who have spoken with them first, or prefer people in the same major, or bias it towards seniors that need the class, or base it on the background and past experiences with the student, or they might pull strictly by sequence on the waitlist. Some courses have administrators in the department who process the waitlist (Bio 1A and Bio 1AL is a well documented instance of this, with the administrator and the policy for handling the waitlist outlined on the bio web site and in the course catalog entry for the classes). for any manual waitlist, if you can figure out (you can just ask the department or professor too) who does the waitlist processing, you can lobby for a high priority or at least understand how your situation will be affected.</p>
<p>Is it smart to email the professor and tell them that you’re really interested in the class? In the email not sound pushy like " I hope you pick me" but ask a question or two about the course so they can see that you are really interested. Or is that too cliche?</p>
<p>When a class has manual waitlists, rather than automatic waitlists, it is usually to allow the professor or department to implement some kind of prioritization. </p>
<p>Your email shouldn’t just be “I really really really want this” or “pick me”, but some reasons why. Either why this is not just a convenient course choice for you, but is important to you or key for your degree/graduation. If you might be a very passionate participant because of a deep interest in the subject or someone who might follow up on ideas the professor will share in the class, that can certainly motivate them. </p>
<p>It could be personal, if this is an area that has long been of interest to you and you can talk about when you first began reading or studying the topic, books that particularly affected you, activities you participated in about the subject, mention it. </p>
<p>It could be situational, if the class is key to the schedule for your major that you and your advisor built, or if you are near graduation and this is the last chance you will have to take this class that you have wanted to fit in but never got the chance in past semesters, or even if this is a pre-req to some other class that is a high passion for you and taking this course now is pretty key to being able to get into that future class when you need to. </p>
<p>They are not going to be very interested in someone who wants the class because it seems to be an easy A, has a good time that fits well into their schedule, or was picked out of a hat from among the choices that satisfy a random breadth requirement this semester. </p>
<p>However, even if all you can say is that this is important to you and that you hope that room opens up to get in, it is better than nothing. They are not going to be interested in clearing a student who then drops the class because they got into a more desired class instead. Or dealing with someone so bored that they skip most lectures and never interact.</p>