<p>Is it possible to take GPP 115 as a freshman or are the spots reserved for upperclassmen?</p>
<p>Its easy to tell - go to schedule.berkeley.edu, go for Search fall listings, bring up the class. </p>
<p>You see this for the class (some lines removed for clarity):</p>
<p>Course: GLOBAL POVERTY AND PRACTICE 115 P 001 LEC
. . .
Restrictions: BY CATEGORY</p>
<p>Enrollment on 06/02/11: Limit:475 Enrolled:165 Waitlist:0 Avail Seats:310
Click here for current enrollment information and course restrictions</p>
<p>You see from the line “Restrictions” where some are listed, things like Freshmen and Sophomores only or None. In this case, when it mentions By Category, you then click on the link for current enrollment info and restrictions, where you will see:</p>
<p>This course has no restrictions at the coursewide level.</p>
<p>Seats have been reserved for:</p>
<pre><code>Instructor Approval; a Class Entry Code is required to enroll in these seats. (Open)
Open seating (Open)
</code></pre>
<p>Restrictions might be that it is available only to declared majors or certain grade levels, but often it is the categories that implement restrictions. Basically, telebears (the system you use to register) will look through the categories, and the first that you match is the category of seat you can pick. If that category is full, even if the “Open seating” category has plenty of open seats, you can’t register. </p>
<p>The way this typically works is that the department is saving spaces for certain categories of students who they think would otherwise not get into a class they really need to graduate. </p>
<p>Often you will see a class with slots reserved for new and junior students. That gives transfer students a shot at classes that are critical to them finishing their major in the two years they will spend at Cal. </p>
<p>You will also see majors listed for some classes, usually if a class is one of the key choices that many take as part of the upper division requirements of the major. </p>
<p>There is often a category of Instructor Approval - Class entry code, usually first on the list, which is used so that they can hold a certain number of seats open and decide who gets them based on the situation. For example, they might let someone in if it is their last semester and the class is key to them graduating on time, while someone who is not in the major and who still has years to go might not get in this semester. </p>
<p>If the last category is open seating, then anyone who does not match the earlier categories can get a seat that is open here. That is a way to let students jump into classes that are not in their major, just something intellectually interesting to them. They can control the impact on the students in the major, because they only put a subset of the total seats into this category. </p>
<p>Another way that admissions is controlled is by when they open up seats. A class may have a main lecture and a number of smaller discussion section, but the total open seats in the discussion sections sums to less than the main lecture availability. If you can’t get into a discussion, you are not able to get a seat in the lecture by itself. Sometimes, only a few discussion sections have open seats, the rest are not open. This way, the department can open some more later in the telebears phase. Some may not open until phase II. By adjusting that, they can influence the mix of seniors down to freshmen. Since seniors tend to have registration first in a phase, with freshman picking courses at the end of the phase, holding sections to open when the time comes for juniors or sophs or freshmen in the phase.</p>
<p>you can try but the earliest ive seen people get in is sophomores who are declared GPP minors or upperclassmen.</p>