Hi all , not sure if this is the right place to post this but my child will be a freshman at UMich (LSA) this fall.
I guess it is our fault - we were not fully prepared for the problems of a large school but she has so far had a terrible experience trying to register for classes. I expected some problems but not to the extent we are seeing .
Pretty much all the “useful” ones are full . The “advising” has not been helpful so far .
I have heard from some to keep checking the wait list etc etc but it seems like a crapshoot at this point . How on earth do others manage to graduate in 4 years if they have to fight for required classes like this ! ? Please tell me it gets easier 
Any other advice on how to deal with this will be much appreciated .
I am beyond annoyed that this semester is going to be a wash and really reconsidering our decision at this point.
1 Like
At some big schools additional sections are opened based on the number of students on the waitlist.
For example, the university might only list two sections of Math 101 offering one at 8am, and another 10am and wait to see how many students waitlist for those sections before creating the additional classes to meet the demand.
So the student advice is usually to waitlist to the preferred time slot, increasing the waitlist and therefore the number of sections that will be offered at that time to meet the demand. That’s how waitlists can move by the hundreds at big schools.
It is anxiety inducing though for first time schedulers when they see a 200+ waitlist and think 200 people have to drop the class. They don’t. The university just needs to allocate another instructor and they will. They want the students done in four years, too.
12 Likes
As students gain seniority, it gets easier to register for preferred classes.
Small LACs also have registration frustrations - it is rare for any student, at any school to be perfectly happy with each semester’s schedule.
Sometimes the classes you ‘have’ to take because they are the only ones left that fit your schedule end up happy accidents.
Almost every student takes at least a few classes not on their initial list over the course of their time at college.
Good luck, and yes keep checking those waitlists! 
8 Likes
I’ve had kids at large schools, it works out, waitlists, added classes, incoming freshmen have the least amount of priority credits. I’ve seen similar complaints on every college Facebook page I’ve been on (6).
3 Likes
I don’t have experience with U Michigan, but can share some lessons learned in my house :). First, flexibility is key: you said that “pretty much all ‘useful’ classes” are full. Are there classes available that will satisfy GE requirements, even if they’re not your student’s favorite option? Is she on waitlists, to the extent permitted? The rule of thumb I heard at my student’s school is that if your place on the waitlist is within 10% of the class size, you’ll probably get in (so up to 20 in a class if 200). Are there sections with shorter or no waitlists (even if the time is inconvenient)? Second, there may be tips specific to UM (classes that add sections, great classes that may not sound great, etc) - it’s harder to know before you get there, but parent FB groups may have info. As far as I know, all big schools allocate registration times by seniority, so it will get easier as she progresses.
4 Likes
A parallel problem exists at small schools- courses that exist in theory, but when a freshman tries to register, the kid discovers that the professor is on parental leave and so the course won’t be taught until next year. Or a popular seminar gives preferential registration to juniors and seniors- and enrollment is capped at 20, but it’s a pre-req for ANOTHER course the kid wants to take, so he/she won’t be able to take THAT course until senior year.
Add in a kid who wants to do a semester abroad without having to add a year and it gets complicated really quickly.
Michigan is very good at getting kids out on time in their major. I’m not sure how you are defining useful, but at a university that big there are likely substitutes which will work.
And those waitlists are real. Kids withdraw for all sorts of reasons (taking a semester off; switching majors, waitlisted for a program overseas and finally gets in, etc.) and those spots will open up.
10 Likes
I had not realized how big an issue this really was at some schools, especially smaller ones. It was one reason cited why some kids don’t complete their degrees. When applying to a smaller school and into a niche program, a student really has to ask the hard questions about course availability and needs a commitment from the school.
Usually, if a class is filled up and the course is a pre-requisite and a must for a student, contacting the department head or program head will usually get results. It is a simple click of a mouse to override a “limit” in the system. In other words, ask and communicate.
3 Likes
I will say, having one child at a very large (Power 10) school, and two children at small LACs, that there is no question that course selection, getting into courses, and actually having professors (as opposed to TAs) teaching them, has been significantly better at LACs. Now, LACs courses can fill quickly as well, but my two at those schools have gotten into all the courses they needed by writing to the professor, sitting in on class, etc. Ultimately they have gotten into every course they needed. Much more difficult for my son at the large school.
I’m not saying that it should necessarily make or break a decision, but something to consider…I will say that for my son at the large school, it offered something that he couldn’t get elsewhere, so it was worth it, and he has had a positive experience overall.
1 Like
I don’t think people can make sweeping generalizations because it can be school specific. My D never had a problem getting the classes she wanted at a big flagship, even when they stopped give priority to honors students. She may not have gotten the exact timing she wanted, but she got the class with no jumping through hoops.
And all her courses were taught by professors, not TAs.
We have family at smaller schools that had more difficulty with scheduling.
5 Likes
It does get easier as they gain more credits because most schools register by seniority. For your specific school sometimes its worth posting on their Reddit page to ask about how likely you are to get off a specific courses’s waitlist at number whatever because those pages are full of students. And you can game plan from there.
But in general you want to map out your sequential courses and just focus on getting those when needed. Use the advisor, email the professor to ask for an add, etc. when its really essential that you take a course at a certain time. For the rest, you just have to be flexible and not have expectations that you’re going to always be able to dictate that you can take this with that, etc.
I’m not familiar with UofM registration but am a prof at a large public and here extra seats are added close to the beginning of the semester. Students are told to keep checking. If I were your daughter, I’d ask on the UofM subreddit whether the difficulties are likely to resolve close to the start of the semester, or if she needs to plan that she will not get into some of her desired courses. Also at my large public, a student who requires a course for their major and cannot get in through general registration by the start of the semester can get a permit from an advisor during Add/Drop. I don’t know if that is an option at UofM, but since many students have navigated these difficulties, the university subReddit is often a good source of information.
2 Likes
School-specific and major-specific. Both kids went to large publics. Older D went to a “public ivy” and had a terrible time registering for what she needed the first 2 years (until she was accepted into her major program) - she’s super tenacious though and doesn’t like to take no for an answer. She somehow got what she needed and only had to take one class over the summer. Younger D is at another a large public and has had the complete opposite experience despite pursuing two degrees. I had expected things to be similar for younger D but she hasn’t had any problems in the 3 years she’s been there.
Force add and Course Pickle are your friends.
2 Likes
My son had some frustrations while registering. He would call me with the what do I do emergency the first couple of semesters. He was trying to finish in 3 years so it was tough. I had made a list of all the courses he needed and their pre requisites and had mapped them into semesters. I had alternates to his desired humanities listed off to the side. This showed what he had to have vs what could move. I’m a planner. I asked when he left if he wanted it. After 2 panics he took it and did it all himself finishing in 3 years. He had to take physics way earlier than he wanted, different humanities, and an english class on line in the summer. Those all worked out! It will be ok but your student has to have a map so he can see what can change.
At least some colleges have departments reserve seats in some classes for students who need them the most. For example, introductory courses may have reserved seats for frosh in the major(s) that need them or are undeclared, so that juniors and seniors looking for general education electives do not fill them up.
1 Like
During the add/drop period, your child should be able to “fix” most of the issues with their schedule. This problem is common at all kinds of colleges, not just big universities. Admittedly, there is probably more scrambling around at a bigger college and your child will have to be vigilant.
I think nearly every semester until my son was well into junior year (different university), he had to stay on top of things during the add/drop period, but it always ended up working out. And remember that your child might be deliberately avoiding choosing the 8 a.m./p.m. class. She wouldn’t be the first one. At some point, both of my kids, even the one who attended the small LAC, had to take classes at times they really didn’t want to. It’s part of going to college.
2 Likes
She could also download the Coursicle app. It shows the openings per course/section, and you can set up notifications for seat openings.
3 Likes
When spouse and I were at Clemson years ago we were told that if you stayed on schedule for your degree, they guaranteed that there would be space for you in the courses that you needed so that you could graduate in 4 years. It may not be at the time you wanted and you may have electives that you didn’t like, but you could graduate on time. I don’t know if they still offer the same guarantee. But, our kid who is starting in the fall had the unusual situation of having completed all freshman courses (except for a university-specific freshman engineering class that kid is doing over the summer) and so was needing to register for sophomore classes. Their advisor told them that if there was an issue to let him know - the classes might be full since sophomores had already registered, but they would overfill or open new sections if needed, depending on demand. Kid was able to get all required classes but not a ‘nice to get out of the way’ gen ed class. After the first semester, kid will register with the other sophomores, and since they seem to have the policy of having space for all kids who are taking the expected classes for their year I don’t expect it to be a problem, other than the usual preference for later spots or struggle to get one of the limited spaces in a highly-desired seminar. When we visited Rose-Hulman one of their selling points was that they always opened up new sections as needed. As with Clemson, I assume that only applies to required sequence classes - I can’t imagine that any school would see a waiting list for art appreciation and open up new sections when students could take music appreciation to fulfill a gen ed requirement instead, for instance.
1 Like
My D22 will be a junior in the COE at the University of Michigan this fall and I absolutely get your frustration! When it came time for her to register for fall semester of freshman year, I was ready to have her withdraw before she started … her schedule was a mess.
As it turns out, first semester was the WORST and it’s gotten progressively better each semester. There have been waitlists and back up plans and settling for less than ideal class times and poorly rated professors, but she’s been able to get everything she needs and will graduate in 4 years without a problem. Next fall, she actually got every class she wanted during her first or second choice times … night and day from fall of freshman year.
1 Like