fiesta of fire

I got scared 'cause I saw a guy on Facebook telling me how he had his schedule down for CalSO down to the dates and whatnot. I forget whether he was a freshy or older, but I got a bit nervous.

All I've done is the L&S academic orienteering class... is this enough for a Freshman, or should I look up my possible schedules as well?


Thanks in advance.

88888888

nah. what major are you intended.

masterhammy

I still have to do my academic orienteering, but I don't think it's that big of a deal.

fiesta of fire

PEIS.

Political Economy of Industrial Societies.

rider730

It really helps to have worked through the classes you think you will register for. You have limited time online with TeleBears during CalSO to do this, and you don't want to waste big chunks discovering that the open slots of desired classes conflict in time, or that the classes you think yoiu want are full.

Put down your candidates ahead of time. Look at schedule.berkeley.edu to see which are still open for freshman registration.

Remember to click the small link at the bottom of each section entry - "Click here for current enrollment information and course restrictions" - to see the up to the minute status of each, since that gives you the realtime status but the numbers that show in the regular entry of schedule.berkeley.edu are last night's not current. Also pay attention to any segmentation and restrictions, because a class may have openings by number but the categories that apply to you like "open" and "freshman" are all full.

You have probably already prioritized your classes, having at least figured out which you want in phase I, but go further and decide the priority within phase I. That way you can plan and register in the right order. If there is a conflict in times, the more important class will get the timeslot.

Work out a set of the open sections of all your classes that work together. If a high priority class has only one choice left, that timeslot is unavailable for anything else.

Don't, don't, don't just build a plan ignoring the current status of the classes. It is easy to overplan, ignoring the reality of what has openings, and put together a thing of beauty with perfect time alignments, the best professors and the minimum distances between buildings, but find that it can't be implemented.

Also, don't just build a plan of the courses yoiu want without investigating times of the possible sections you will take, as there are clusters of times that many lectures share - such as M, W and F in the morning, which mean that you will have more time conflicts than if times were truly randomly distributed. Discussion sessions and labs are more evenly distributed, but the lecture sections are less random.

If you worked out a decent list of candidate classes, prioritized, used the current enrollment to see what is still possible, and worked out an idea of the timing interrelationship, you should be able to get close to your desired schedule during CalSO, instead of being in a panic as you find course after course and section after section full or conflicting.

One last tip - check the final exam group for each lecture section you are considering, as these can't conflict either. Most professors are not willing to give you an alternate time to take the final exam simply because you picked two classes with identical times.

SoCaliii

Do you get a chance to meet with your advisers at CalSO before you sign up for classes so that they can look over your schedule?

Spontaneity

In short, yes.

truucharms

just one question, do discussion courses come with the lecture courses? thus during phase I we can only register for 2 or 3 classes right? ( each is about 4 units)

Agneisse

Yes, you can only register for 2-3 courses and you sign up for the discussion section when you register for the lecture. Highly advisable to look up CCNs and plan out schedule before CalSO starts since you don't get much computer time (45 minutes to sign up. there's an option to go use computers the night before but it's a loooooooong wait)

fiesta of fire

if there's a wait list, what do I do for that? I know most of my classes are near full with people on the waiting list. Do they save room for freshmen?

rider730

No, no special room saved for freshmen. if they wanted to do that, they would have registration in multiple categories, for example in a class of 100, setting up 80 sets as 'soph/junior/senior' and 20 seats for 'incoming/freshman' could guarantee that 20 seats would be available just for freshman. Usually when there are categories, the motivation is to give students in that major preference or to target particular grades if it a seminar designed say for sophomores.

The general rule of thumb for wait lists is that about 10% of the overall class limit will get in from the waitlist since that percentage will drop the class. However, some classes have much lower rates. Further, the wait list might not clear until weeks into the semester, since people have 2 or 5 weeks to drop a class without penalty depending on class type.

Some classes have limits on the number that can be on the waitlist, meaning you might not even be allowed to waitlist. Similarly for classes where you must get into one of the discussion sections before being allowed to register for the lecture section, even if the lecture has open slots.

Sometimes you won't get into a class in a particular semester. You have to prioritize, both which classes are most important to get in because they are pre-reqs for something you need later, and which are usually filled rapidly. As you get more seniority over the years, you are assigned earlier telebears times which improves your shot at even the most oversubscribed classes. First semester or two, you learn flexibility. Have an idea of multiple classes you COULD take, prioritize them for phase I, and then be practical about what you CAN get into when the registration day rolls around.

Even after you register, know your options if space opens in a more desired class. Watch the courses and when an opening appears, log in during the right times on telebears and make the change. Also be willing to make a switch even during the semester if your prized class suddenly opens because the waitlist is flushed out. To do this, you may have to invest your time attending the class on speculation in case an opening happens a few weeks later, including keeping up with the homework and studies and of course buying the perhaps expensive textbooks. As a final note, some of the waitlists are not cleared automatically but by the professor or department. That is an opportunity to 'jump the line' if you can convince the professor or department that you really want and deserve the opening. Look for those that clear manually or that reserve spots for individual CCNs disbursed by the professor.

abbccc

I just went to CalSO but I forgot to ask: When and how do we find out our phase II appointments? Will they email us?

abbccc

^Nevermind... I found it on BearFacts.