<p>As I mentioned on a previous thread, many classes were filled. So my son waitlisted for 3 - 2 are film classes. </p>
<p>One he is number 15 on the waitlist, one number 7 on the list (reserved for FIGS), and one he is number 1</p>
<p>First, do waitlisted students ever get into the class? Can you be number 1 on the list and not make the cut? </p>
<p>If he gets off the waitlist on all classes he will have to drop one as he will be over the 17 credits (he will not take more than 17 and I agree)</p>
<p>My question to current students (and parents like Calcruzer) is do you drop the classes if they get off the waitlist and also, they charge a fee for every class you drop or can you change and drop everything for one fee (which I thought is the case)</p>
<p>Therefore, is it a good idea to load up your schedule with some nice classes that you are waitlisted on then if you happily get into one of them, just drop the others so you wont have overloaded yourself with credits?</p>
<p>Yes, it is very possible to get in off the waitlist. If your son is #1 on a waitlist there is a very good chance he will get in. The bigger the class and the higher on the waitlist he is, the better the chance. Of course, there is always a chance you won’t get into the class.</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation; I’m pretty high up on 4 different waitlists (I only need to get into one of the 4 classes, and once I get into one I will drop the other 3), but unfortunately all of the classes have class sizes of under 45.</p>
<p>I know if you drop a class after the first week of school they charge a fee; I think (not sure), that if you do it within the first week it’s free.</p>
<p>Thank you Max, I sorta figured that may be the way to go.
Still, if you drop a class that you are waitlisted on and never got in will they charge for that? Or will the computer just drop the class for you eventually.</p>
<p>You’ll stay on the waitlist until the end of the add/drop period (approx halfway through the semester), unless you remove yourself, at the end of the add/drop period the waitlist is removed.</p>
<p>There is no fee before the first day of classes. I was charged $8.50 for dropping one class and adding another during the first week, and I believe it is around $25 after the first week. However, I do not know if the fee is per class or per transaction (I added and dropped in the same transaction last year).</p>
<p>Like the other guy said, he will probably get into larger classes, even if he is 15th. However, make sure he either attends the classes he is on the waitlist for (especially where he is first), or is up to date on assignments and/or class information. I would recommend attending all the classes he is serious about taking. If the one he is lowest on the waitlist for, he really wants to get into the class, I would suggest attending the class and meeting with the professor, showing that he wants to be in the class and asking him if he can help or has any information that will help him get into the class. Professors can help student who have expressed interest in the class get into it before others on the waitlist.</p>
<p>Also, I would recommend signing up for more classes and dropping later if necessary. At a large school like IU, it is much harder to add classes than drop, so you want to make sure you are enrolled at orientation in all the classes you are interested in and having room to drop later. You may have to incur a fee, but in my experience it is better to be able to drop a class that you hate or is too challenging and still have a back up plan. If you get into a class and don’t like the syllabus or teacher, and still have a cushion of credit hours, you may be able to drop that class.</p>
<p>Another strategy is to sign up for a second eight weeks class if you are taking a sixteen weeks class that you may think you have a possibility of dropping, like a math or econ class with huge sections that has a lot of W’s and WX’s. You would sign up before the semester starts for a second eight weeks class that counts toward the distribution option. If you drop a tough semester long class, say, in the seventh or eighth week, you will have the second eight weeks class to fall back on to get a distribution option class out of the way, or to maintain a twelve hour schedule for financial aid or scholarship purposes after dropping a class. Of course, taking a three credit class in eight weeks can be tough as it will be squeezed into eight weeks and you will spend twice as much time in class as a semester-long class during that eight week period. The advantage of signing up early for the second eight weeks class is that you know you will get in; the second eight week classes that meet distribution option requirements generally fill up long before they start, as people drop semester-long classes and add the eight weeks classes as the semester progresses. By the eighth week of classes, during which and shortly after which most of the drops occur, there probably won’t many-- if any-- second eight weeks distribution classes left to sign up for. Of course, if all goes well, if you don’t drop any sixteen weeks classes, which is the best situation, then you just drop the second eight weeks class sometime before the Friday of the the ninth week of the semester so that it won’t show up on your transcript.</p>
<p>Here is a list of second eight weeks classes:
[Special</a> Course Listing](<a href=“http://registrar.indiana.edu/specialcourse/wwwsess_falls.html]Special”>http://registrar.indiana.edu/specialcourse/wwwsess_falls.html)</p>