<p>After going through the time schedules and course offerings, I wanted to know how the course allocation works. </p>
<p>When choosing a course, do you also get to choose or give preference to a particular teacher? (Eg: There are several teachers/classes for a humanities sequence)</p>
<p>When it comes to intro and typical first quarter courses, is it likely that i’ll get all my first preference courses?
(Eg: Suppose I want to do Media Aesthetics, is it possible/likely I won’t get it?)</p>
<p>Also, is taking 4 classes for the first quarter manageable/recommendable?</p>
<p>I’m a 2010 grad, so my information may change, but as far as I know (and from context clues on facebook and such) things are pretty much the same since I graduated.</p>
<p>First quarter first year registration is slightly different from registration at any other time. During first quarter first year, students have a series of meetings to build their schedule and register for courses with an advisor, who can make sure that the student is adequately prepared to take on the proposed schedule. I remember it being a little maddening, because registration happens throughout O-Week, but I also remember being told that courses randomly close and open, so the student registering at 9am Monday has no distinct advantage over the student registering at 4:30pm on Friday.</p>
<p>Every other quarter, students rank up to 6 classes and a magical lottery spits back results. And then students start adding/dropping courses madly. There are some hugely popular courses (Tolkein, Psychology of Decision-Making, any Steven Levitt class) but overall I think students can be happy with their schedules. Media Aesthetics should have room.</p>
<p>As for 4 classes, it depends on who you are and what classes you’re choosing. For example, you may want to spend more time your first quarter making friends, socializing, and trying out student organizations.</p>
<p>I’m not the world’s biggest expert (and I have never been a student there), but I have not heard any stories about students being frozen out of the Hum or Sosc class they want. And note that I said “class”, not “section”. All of the classes have multiple sections, although some have a lot more than others, and which section you get into seems in part to be a function of the rest of your schedule and in part a function of pure luck (that’s the sections opening and closing at random times during O-week part). What’s more, in many courses the teacher of a single section changes quarter to quarter, so you can have a great teacher one quarter and a terrible one the next, and vice versa. I think the Core gods try to even it out to some extent, but I’m sure they don’t achieve complete parity.</p>
<p>Often when famous professors teach in the Core, they will teach one quarter of a sequence, not three. I think there are some courses where traditionally there is a better chance of getting a top-quality teacher, because there are fewer sections and a high degree of top-quality teacher interest in the course. I am thinking of Greek Thought and Philosophical Perspectives. But that is probably subject to change, too.</p>
<p>goodwood8, while this usually isn’t the case, I have had friends who told me they were locked out of an entire hum sequence and had to take a section out of their second choice. This is because the registration system first quarter randomly locks sections throughout the week. On the other hand, I was able to get my second choice of section for GTL. I’d recommend picking out 3 HUM/SOSC sequences and then ranking your top sections within those.</p>
<p>Also, as for taking 4 courses, a lot of people tell you not to, but I would say if you feel confident, to start out in 4 and then drop down to 3 if it feels overwhelming by 3rd week.</p>
<p>This is not, in my experience. I had a Friday afternoon registration meeting, and there were something like two sections each left of my 3rd and 4th choice HUMA sequences, not at especially convenient times. It worked out alright, though; I ended up pretty happy with my HUMA section and extremely happy with my schedule. Realistically, if you end up with a late registration meeting, you may not get the HUMA sequence you want, but you’ll still likely end up in something you’ll enjoy.</p>
<p>Some classes (huma, sosc, and maybe civ), have slots open in each section twice per day (when registration for the day begins and then again during the afternoon – maybe lunch). Other classes (math, for example), have all their slots open at the beginning.</p>
<p>You typically can get into the sequence you want, but getting a specific professor tends to be the luck of the draw. There are exceptions to this, of course. However, in SOSC and Civ, they allow one to pink slip into a class which means you can probably get into the sequence you want even if you don’t get into it from day one. Huma can be more frustrating…</p>