Scheduling, withdrawals, and trying to waitlist/overload popular classes

[latetothegame]

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In planning my school schedule, I've come to learn that three of the lower-level classes I need have a habit of filling very fast every time they are offered. As a freshman, I have the lowest priority registration group, though this will get better with time. I've exchanged emails with both the math and biology department, and it's been suggested that even if a class fills, to attend the first week in hopes of dropouts or a professor being kind enough to agree to overload the class.

My problem is that I don't want a too-full or too-empty school schedule. If I pin my hopes on getting into a popular class on a waitlist/overload, and don't get in, then I'll be taking fewer credit hours than I wanted. Or, if I get into a popular class while also registered for "fallback" classes, then I would have more on my plate than I want.

There are three classes where I think I'll need to deploy the waitlist/overload strategy. If I get in, I'd want to then withdraw from another class during that first week to balance my schedule. If I have some withdrawals on my transcript, do adcomms let you explain why you have them? I'm wondering if other pre-vet students have faced this same scheduling/registration issue, and how you've dealt with it.

 

[Trematode]

Am I the only one who makes a mock schedule when the course list comes out and gets up at the crack of dawn on registration day to sign up for courses? 😉.

 

[latetothegame]

The issue is that as a freshman, I get very last dibs on registration. It doesn't matter how early I wake up in the morning if students older than me have already taken all the spots because they could register the previous week.

 

[Trematode]

That sucks.
Also... do you seriously get a W if you register for a class and drop it within the first week? We have a grace period (which is a month or something like that) where you can drop a course with no academic penalty.

 

[latetothegame]

As far as I can tell from reading the school's web site, there is no mention of a grace period with first-week withdrawals. I will call after the holidays and check with someone in person, though. Good idea, it never hurts to ask.

(Sidenote: I feel stupid accidentally referring to college sophomores-seniors as "older." I'm almost decade older than them! As an adult who didn't do the traditional college thing in the first place, there's some part of my brain that will always classify "college student" as "people older than me.")

 

[Wycolo]

What school are you attending?

 

[LetItSnow]

As far as I can tell from reading the school's web site, there is no mention of a grace period with first-week withdrawals. I will call after the holidays and check with someone in person, though. Good idea, it never hurts to ask.

I think schools usually have a distinction between a 'drop' and a 'withdraw'. The former doesn't show up on your transcript and is what you're wanting.... I can't claim to be an expert, but every school I've been at has always had an add/drop window that runs about a week into the semester (after which if you want out of a class you have to take a withdraw, which shows up on your transcript).

You could probably just look at the academic calendar for your school and see if it has something like a 'last day for add/drop' or whatnot.

 

[latetothegame]

I'd rather not disclose my school or location, because you never know who reads this forum and how I may someday inadvertently offend someone in admissions at my dream school.

I don't know how drops/withdrawals work since I've never done so. The school's calendar only says the last date to drop/change/withdraw and still be able to get a full tuition refund (sixth weekday). It doesn't say whether you get a W on your transcript, so I'd assumed that any withdrawal results in a W. I'll call them and see if this is true.

 

[Coquette22]

I don't know how drops/withdrawals work since I've never done so. The school's calendar only says the last date to drop/change/withdraw and still be able to get a full tuition refund (sixth weekday).

I can't speak for your school, obviously, but I'd be really really surprised if you get a W while still getting a full tuition refund. I'm 99.9% certain that if you're getting a refund, it's just a drop, and won't appear on your transcript.

 

[TigerWillow]

I can't speak for your school, obviously, but I'd be really really surprised if you get a W while still getting a full tuition refund. I'm 99.9% certain that if you're getting a refund, it's just a drop, and won't appear on your transcript.

Usually schools will have "last day to drop without a W" and "last day to drop with a W." I went to two different schools and this was the case at both of them. But as you are doing, wouldn't hurt to call to make sure.

 

[Emiloo4]

I can't speak for your school, obviously, but I'd be really really surprised if you get a W while still getting a full tuition refund. I'm 99.9% certain that if you're getting a refund, it's just a drop, and won't appear on your transcript.

I know where I went to school, even past the tuition refund date, you could still drop without a W and just not get your refund. I believe a W didn't come into play until the 7th week of classes... always best to ask though... good luck!

 

[libster06]

Am I the only one who makes a mock schedule when the course list comes out and gets up at the crack of dawn on registration day to sign up for courses? 😉.

Not every school has free-for-all sign up.... in undergrad, not only did it go Seniors --> Freshman (last, obv.) but they also had times... if you were assigned 8:00 am or later, you would not be able to sign into the scheduler and register until the clock turned 8. You could have as late as 10 or 11 as well.

The issue is that as a freshman, I get very last dibs on registration. It doesn't matter how early I wake up in the morning if students older than me have already taken all the spots because they could register the previous week.

Because you're a freshman, you may not get to take a class you want (obviously). Once you get to upper classes (junior, senior), the school saves certain spots in certain required classes for upper level classmen. I say this because I tried to get an override once for an English class and the lady said, while they did have seats available, they were being saved for students who were soon to graduate and needed the class.

 

[orcagirl]

In planning my school schedule, I've come to learn that three of the lower-level classes I need have a habit of filling very fast every time they are offered. As a freshman, I have the lowest priority registration group, though this will get better with time. I've exchanged emails with both the math and biology department, and it's been suggested that even if a class fills, to attend the first week in hopes of dropouts or a professor being kind enough to agree to overload the class.

My problem is that I don't want a too-full or too-empty school schedule. If I pin my hopes on getting into a popular class on a waitlist/overload, and don't get in, then I'll be taking fewer credit hours than I wanted. Or, if I get into a popular class while also registered for "fallback" classes, then I would have more on my plate than I want.

There are three classes where I think I'll need to deploy the waitlist/overload strategy. If I get in, I'd want to then withdraw from another class during that first week to balance my schedule. If I have some withdrawals on my transcript, do adcomms let you explain why you have them? I'm wondering if other pre-vet students have faced this same scheduling/registration issue, and how you've dealt with it.

Check your school's policy, but I know at mine you can withdraw from a class until about a month into the semester without it showing on your transcript. I know lots of people who have utilized this. You should be fine.

 

[Trematode]

Not every school has free-for-all sign up.... in undergrad, not only did it go Seniors --> Freshman (last, obv.) but they also had times... if you were assigned 8:00 am or later, you would not be able to sign into the scheduler and register until the clock turned 8. You could have as late as 10 or 11 as well.

I had no idea that some schools functioned like that. I went to a teeny tiny undergrad. One year, I registered 8 hours after it opened and could not get into two of the courses I wanted because they apparently filled up before 9am. Then again, most of the upper year courses have a cap of 14-30 students. .

 

[kakurubird]

Once you get to upper classes (junior, senior), the school saves certain spots in certain required classes for upper level classmen. I say this because I tried to get an override once for an English class and the lady said, while they did have seats available, they were being saved for students who were soon to graduate and needed the class.

This is kind of funny to me (not ahaha funny, but different funny) because at my undergrad the only classes that had seats saved for certain "types" of students were intro level classes with seats saved for freshman--especially fall semester courses that saved seats for freshman that wouldn't get to register until June.

My undergrad also did different hour time slots for registration--something like 9 per class. Don't know how but I always lucked into getting one of the first two or three for my year, so I never had any problems getting into a class. Though that never stopped me from stressing out and coming up with like four or five alternative schedules.

 

[libster06]

This is kind of funny to me (not ahaha funny, but different funny) because at my undergrad the only classes that had seats saved for certain "types" of students were intro level classes with seats saved for freshman--especially fall semester courses that saved seats for freshman that wouldn't get to register until June.
.

I'm sorry, I was thinking about it and the class I wanted to get in was English III (don't ask why..) and I never could and was told the seats were saved for upper classmen.

I don't know about any freshman seats being saved at my undergrad... in my experience, as far as I was concerned, if you didn't get the class you wanted, that was just tough **** and you moved on to a different route. I never failed to get hysterical with my advisor every time registration came. SO glad our classes are now picked for us and I don't have to deal with registering anymore..

 

[latetothegame]

Thanks for the replies! Having not dropped a class before (or tried to overload or waitlist), I've been operating on the assumption that any withdrawals are reflected on your record. I'll have to clarify that policy next week, because three of the foundation classes I need are in very high demand. That's so crazy to think of college classes of just 14-30 students. Most of the classes I need are in large auditoriums, and they still fill. (Labs are broken into smaller groups, of course.)

 

[Trematode]

With the way your school works, it would not make any sense at all to give Ws for every single class you dropped out of it. By the sounds of it, most people would graduate with a handful of them (and don't Ws bring down your GPA?) I would not stress about it. Just find out the date when you are allowed to withdraw without academic penalty. It is that simple.

My undergrad had 3000 students. My program had ~35 in my year. My undergrad had a single auditorium (which seats 150) and I used it for two of my intro classes (first one had 123, second one had ~50). All of my other classes were held in classrooms (like in grade school). Just one of the perks of going to a small university. 😀.

 

[Minnerbelle]

With the way your school works, it would not make any sense at all to give Ws for every single class you dropped out of it. By the sounds of it, most people would graduate with a handful of them (and don't Ws bring down your GPA?) I would not stress about it. Just find out the date when you are allowed to withdraw without academic penalty. It is that simple.

Yep. And seriously, even IF your school was funky enough to give you Ws for classes you dropped during the add/drop period, there's a place on the apps to say that. No biggie. And if it were that prevalent, there would most likely be a note about that somewhere on your transcript.

My undergrad had 3000 students. My program had ~35 in my year. My undergrad had a single auditorium (which seats 150) and I used it for two of my intro classes (first one had 123, second one had ~50). All of my other classes were held in classrooms (like in grade school). Just one of the perks of going to a small university. 😀.

Similar for me too, with around ~2500 students with biology being like the BIGGEST science major with like 30-40 students. I think chemistry, physics, and computer science all had like under 10 students in the department for my graduating year. I loved the courses that had very small class sizes, but when there's only 6-12 people in a class it makes you look really really really bad when you haven't done the reading ahead of time, or if you didn't do your assignment. And it's really stressful when you're the least qualified person in the class and you feel really stupid.

 

[Megascops Asio]

In planning my school schedule, I've come to learn that three of the lower-level classes I need have a habit of filling very fast every time they are offered. As a freshman, I have the lowest priority registration group, though this will get better with time. I've exchanged emails with both the math and biology department, and it's been suggested that even if a class fills, to attend the first week in hopes of dropouts or a professor being kind enough to agree to overload the class.

My problem is that I don't want a too-full or too-empty school schedule. If I pin my hopes on getting into a popular class on a waitlist/overload, and don't get in, then I'll be taking fewer credit hours than I wanted. Or, if I get into a popular class while also registered for "fallback" classes, then I would have more on my plate than I want.

There are three classes where I think I'll need to deploy the waitlist/overload strategy. If I get in, I'd want to then withdraw from another class during that first week to balance my schedule. If I have some withdrawals on my transcript, do adcomms let you explain why you have them? I'm wondering if other pre-vet students have faced this same scheduling/registration issue, and how you've dealt with it.

When you say you exchanged emails with the math and bio departments, did you specifically email the professors teaching the exact classes you want to take? Or did you just email a department head or someone else? It might be worth talking with the specific teacher if you haven't.

When I was finally able to sign up for my classes for this upcoming semester one of the classes I needed (the only one that fit around my work schedule) was already full. I immediately emailed the teacher of that course section to see if there was anything that could be done. She told me, like you were told, that my best bet was to sign up for a different section and hope for someone to drop during the first week. So, I signed up for a different section, alerted my boss to the possible schedule conflict, and put myself on the waitlist for the section I needed to take. About two weeks later while I was on campus, I went to the teacher's office and spoke with her about my situation. I told her that I was rather desperate to get into the waitlisted section due to my job. She told me that she would switch me into the section I needed. Problem solved.🙂

Its worth asking.

 

[latetothegame]

When you say you exchanged emails with the math and bio departments, did you specifically email the professors teaching the exact classes you want to take? Or did you just email a department head or someone else? It might be worth talking with the specific teacher if you haven't.

I emailed the biology teacher directly, but only made a general inquiry with the math department. Both told me pretty much the same thing: show up and hope others drop out during the first week. Also, if possible, to show up for as many timeslots as I can, in hopes that one of them will have an opening, even if it's not my ideal. I can now look forward to taking the first week of pre-calculus over and over and over, perhaps in a single day. Whee!

 

[latetothegame]

Update to close the topic: Drops made very early don't reflect on your record - the tuition refund grace period is also the no-W grace period. It would be nice if the school put that on their web site somewhere, but perhaps everyone else just assumes this is true. Poor senile me, pushing 30, all confused by undergrad university culture.