<p>In another thread, there was a claim that students are randomly assigned classes, rather than choosing their own within the usual constraints of space availability, avoiding time conflicts, prerequisite completion, placement testing, following the degree requirements for their major, etc…</p>
<p>However, the service academies (and other schools with specialized curricula) do not really fit the description of “universities often used as safeties (directionals or flagships)” that the claim was mainly applied to.</p>
<p>It was the opposite for my kids. D1 attended a top public and selected her fr seminar; D2 attends a highly selective LAC, she ranked her top 3 fr seminar choices and didn’t get any of them (she didn’t like the one she got :(( ).</p>
<p>Would the student be able to swap courses after their schedule was assigned? Perhaps the schools populate courses before the term starts, but let students make adjustments as needed/desired? </p>
<p>At the school my daughter will attend, about half the students are engineers. The freshmen engineers have no electives and their courses are dictated by their specialties. All freshmen take Eng Comp and Eng Lit. I think all freshmen schedules are assigned and I don’t think any freshmen pick their sections. I have no idea if they get to swap sections if they don’t like the time or professor assigned.</p>
<p>My other daughter is going to a large OOS. Her courses will be chosen by her adviser, and I don’t know how much input she’ll have. I know 3 courses will be in her department, and there might be 2 sections of each, so maybe they ask them if they are morning people or afternoon people, I don’t know.</p>
<p>It actually seems a little easier than in the olden days when I had to build my own schedule and remember running around to different departments getting punch cards with the courses, turning them in to the admin office to ‘run’ through the computer, and then returning to the departments during the drop/add period to make changes, pick up new cards, etc.</p>
<p>A friend’s D attends Wake Forest. She did not get to pick all of her freshman year courses; she picked some, they assigned some. I think she got to provide some input on preferences for courses that were assigned. I have no idea what the rationale was, and I think for sophomore year she picked all her classes herself. My D goes to a state flagship and picks all her own classes.</p>
<p>^ 1- that wouldn’t apply to freshmen. It would apply to sophomores and above for a very select group of students who choose that particular course of study.
2- if it’s only for Ross BBA courses then it leaves open elective courses. It looks like 32.5 credits are required to be taken in the section assigned. </p>
<p>Both of these make it different than the OP so I stick by what I said. </p>
<p>Hmmm at my son’s engineering class there is a 4 year plan of recommended courses that is prescribed, but the students still go into the registration system and pick their classes, they an chose to follow the prescribed class traks or not and they can choose their sections/professors…or they can choose not to follow the track so they have choice. But to “place” kids in actual classes and make the schedules for the students - I’ve not encountered that. I know for my oldest’s college he registered on the phone with his adviser so his adviser actually pushed the computer buttons for registration, but again, it was during a phone conversation the summer before he started and my son picked his classes based on recommendations from the adviser. </p>
<p>It is my impression that at research universities (both private and flagship) , students are generally given the option of coming up to campus at some point during the summer to meet with an advisor and register for classes. (Sometimes placement tests are also involved.) There is often a concern that if students choose to wait until they show up for fall semester, the desired sections will already be full. Nowadays, students can access Rate My Professor or ask about various options on sites such as this one ahead of time, so the student who just shows up to register before classes begin could be at a relative disadvantage.</p>
<p>My S at RIT was sent a first quarter schedule based on his major - it was something like math/physics/computer class and one humanities elective. He could have changed the elective once he got to campus but didn’t bother. 30+ years ago I was sent a schedule based on my major and achievement test scores. Again, I could change it once I got to campus. After the first term we picked all our own though.</p>
<p>Music performance at Boston University…freshmen students are given a schedule that has their required courses already filled in (theory, aural skills, class piano, instrument lessons, large ensembles, instrument class). The students get to fit their elective courses around these.</p>
<p>In my experience that’s called orientation and isn’t optional and isn’t just at research universities but I don’t how all schools do it. </p>
<p>I can see some things being prescribed and assigned in some of the more narrow majors like engineering or business at schools that primarily focus on these areas.</p>
<p>But in general liberal arts schools which would include most research Us, I don’t think this is the case. What do the undecideds do? I remember the punch cards too, fortunately things have improved.</p>
<p>Some schools give students a choice between coming up for a few days during the summer, or waiting until just before classes begin.</p>
<p>D entered as “undecided” but with several strong interests. After choosing her STEM classes, she needed to decide whether to take gen eds that might be taken by majors or serve as prerequisite for classes taken by majors, or those typically chosen by non-majors to fulfill distribution requirements. </p>
<p>Of course, at schools where new students register during orientation sessions during the summer, it can be advantageous to choose the earliest possible date to get the best choice of classes before the most popular ones fill up.</p>