<p>Hi, I'm attending the last Orientation session (this Thursday/Friday). I'm excited, but a little nervous, too. I am pretty lost when it comes to thinking about what classes I want to take. I'm in the scholars program/honors college (which is it called?) and I'll be living in a Learning Community, so I already have two fall courses picked out through that. I guess it's easier knowing I only have to decide on two or possibly three more classes, but I'm still kind of apprehensive. I don't know what to think about fulfilling requirements, and I'm still a little confused about what seperate requirements there are for the scholars program/honors college. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any advice? What exactly is registration like at Orientation? Are there advisers available to help you figure this kind of stuff out?</p>
<p>Thanks! Any other advice anyone has about Orientation would be most appreciated. :)</p>
<p>5) be sure to check how many openings are available for the courses you are interested in so you have an idea as to how easy it will be to get in -- as a scholar, you get to register early which will help in that regard, but still come prepared with alternatives.</p>
<p>6) when you decide what courses you want, have their "CRN" -- its the specific number for the given course - ie, not Psych 111 , but the 5 digit number that represents the exact section of whatever class you want -- it will make registering much faster. (if a course requires a lecture and a discussion or a lab, they will each have their own CRN -- so for one course, you may need more than one CRN to register for the lecture and the discussion section -- depends on the class - some are just lecture, some just discussion, some both, some have labs too).</p>
<p>7) they will go over the nuts and bolts of how to register with you. your OA (orientation adviser - an upperclassman) will be there to help -- don't be afraid to ask questions -- everyone is in the same situation.</p>
<p>8) also remember -- you will have a chance at the beginning of the semester to make changes.</p>
<p>9) also remember -- its just the first semester -- by the time you register for the second semester you'll have a much better feel for things (including requirements) -- so don't be afraid to use the first semester to get familiar with things and try out courses.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks...lol, this kind of has me feeling more overwhelmed than before, but I keep telling myself that nothing will be set in stone, even after Orientation.</p>
<p>As a follow-up question, is there anything specific I'm supposed to come prepared with to Orientation? I have an email that says I should fill out this sheet about what I've done in terms of foreign language and american history up to this point-- are there any other forms like that I should be aware of?</p>
<p>Thanks, I already took care of the health forms, but I didn't know about the ID. I was really asking more in terms of course registration, like those preparatory forms/checklists. I guess I'm still a little confused as to what they're expecting us to be prepared with when we get there.</p>
<p>Canjet, I just got back from orientation a few days ago...
So, make sure that your health forms are taken care of. Have a photo ID. Try to look over gen eds/the course catalog to get a feel of what you MAY want to take. But by no means feel the need to come up with a complete schedule. The advisors do a good job of informing you, so that what you hypothesize to take will vary greatly from what your actual schedule looks like. At least, that's how it was for me. </p>
<p>You may want to remember to bring a small fan to keep the room cool if it's too hot, just as a random bit... Perhaps a bag of some sort to put all the forms/papers they give you. But other than that, just be ready for a long two days.</p>
<p>Cool, thanks a lot. I think I'll relax a little bit, lol, and just wait until I get there to figure all that out. It sounds like there are a lot of people there to help you.</p>
<p>If anyone can help, I have one more question: I heard there was a separate Orientation for the Scholars Program-- how do I find out when/where this is?</p>
<p>For Perfectedxchaos and other students who've already been through Binghamton's orientation: For your class registration, how easy or difficult was it for you to get into the courses that you needed? Did you run into much of a problem with courses being closed? This seemed to be an issue for incoming Freshmen at another school that my daughter is interested in and I was wondering about Binghamton's variety of class sections. Thank you.</p>
<p>Orientation overall was a great experience. I was able to meet new people (and some that I had "met" via facebook... and it made me even more excited to attend this fall.</p>
<p>As far as your question is concerned, momonthehill, the classes that are "biggies" for freshman, such at intro to chemistry or biology classes, there are enough openings to begin with that those who want to take the classes, should be able to get into it... As far as some of the more advanced/interesting/obscure classes, it may be hard. I know that for my anth 280B class (sex & evolution) there was approximately eight seats left, and I managed to snag one... I registered for that one first. </p>
<p>As one Orientation Advisor told me, "It has the word sex in it, so people will want to take it". </p>
<p>The important thing is to have alternatives, to prioritize what courses you NEED to take (and should consequently register for first) and those that you simply WANT to take. Perhaps for the ones you get "closed out of" you can schedule to take them later, when you have more seniority over your courses. Or, there is an equally interesting alternative on your list with more openings.</p>
<p>So for me, I didn't have a problem. But keep in mind, I registered for intro to bio, intro to chem, a "freshman" english class (eng 115 with a MILLION openings), anth280B (explain previously) and HDev 105 (an only freshman course, it's a first year experience course about the transition into college).</p>
<p>I'm sorry for the rant, but I hope I was informative, momonthehill.</p>
<p>^You were helpful, thank you very much.:) Assuming that you were not the first orientation group, it's reassuring to know that you got into the classes that you needed. I was reading a thread at the U. Pittsburgh forum where it seemed like a number of incoming Freshmen were getting closed out of classes left and right. So it's also good to know that Binghamton has sufficient class sections for required courses.</p>
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Assuming that you were not the first orientation group,
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<p>one thing binghamton does that is "fair" -- they hold back seats and make some available at each orientation registration session. so that if you were at the first orientation session, it may have told you that there were X number of total possible seats in Psych 111 of which Y were still available; but if,for example, you went to the third orientation session, you would see that there were a total of X+? possible seats in Psych 111, and then whatever was available as of that orientation session.</p>
<p>it was nice once you figured this out -- i know people who freaked out thinking a course was closed when in fact there were openings when they went for orientation since more seats were made available. you just always have to check the latest stats.</p>
<p>also realize -- that even though there may be plenty of overall seats -- sometimes you can run in to the issue of whether there are seats in the discussion section that you prefer -- so you do need to remain flexible and consider various schedule options.</p>
<p>^iamhere, thanks for the additional feedback. That's really good that Binghamton "reserves" some class sections for the later orientation groups.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how many colleges do that, but I know that when I was planning when to go for orientation, that was a HUGE concern of mine.</p>
<p>Additionally, it is important to know that no matter where you go, as a freshman you do not have priority over anything, unless you're a "scholar"/athlete really...</p>