raider dad

My daughter is starting the course selection process for her freshman year. Can any current students provide any suggestions for freshmen seminars she should consider?

jrpar

Last year someone on CC advised my son to pick his freshman seminar by the professor rather than the subject matter of the seminar. Ratemyprofessor.com is a pretty good guide to Colgate professors. Your freshman seminar professor will be your advisor for your first two years at Colgate.

mhc48

Jrpar's suggestion is a good one, but you might find a a lot professors with very high ratings and friendly helpful personalities on RMP.com. So I'd suggest first narrowing down the Fsems that seem interesting to her and THEN going to Ratemyprofessor.com to narrow it further.

Also, most of the Fsems will be very interesting and rewarding but don't put too much faith in the catchy titles: read between the lines of the descriptions, check out the prof on RMP and you might also google the profs to see their special areas or writings. Check out course readings for a more realistic idea of what will be covered.

raider dad

Thanks for the great tips! RMP is a very helpful website. Now, my next question. My daughter got a bad break with her last name, and will be registering in the second to last group. What are her chances of getting her first choice for FSEM?

mhc48

Well, there are a lot of FSems, so it depends on what one she chose and how popular it is. But the good news is that if she gets a bad draw this time, it will get better later. My daughter got first draw when she registered in the fall of her freshman year, but got only one or two of her choices so far first semester second year.

The better news is that she is not much concerned and says most people wind up getting most of their choices. Apparently if you attend the first few classes and express an interest, then in the add drop period you will more than likely get in. Last semester she told me a number of professors sent her e-mails telling her of openings in classes she was waitlisted for.