Multiple First Year Seminars in one Semester?

ILoveBrown
Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:23:57 +0000

Yup. First semester last year, I wanted to take SP60 (Spanish – Advanced Composition). Since each section was limited to 18, I didn’t get the section I wanted. After going through the priorities (preregistered seniors all the way down to unpreregistered freshmen), there were about 12 of us who wanted the 1 remaining slot, and when the instructor held a lottery, my name wasn’t pulled, so I had to move to the next section. It wasn’t a big deal – I still got to take the class, and it was only an hour later than the hour I wanted, with a different instructor.

Also, last semester for PS/PP105 (Ethics and Public Policy), the professor told us on the first day of class that anyone who wasn’t preregistered should just give up and leave, because there wouldn’t be enough space in the class. I was not preregistered, but I decided to stick around anyway because I really wanted to take the class. Turned out the guy was completely wrong – he scared enough people away on the first day that anybody who stuck around ended up getting into the class. Then again, this was this prof’s first semester as a guest lecturer from Princeton, so he didn’t know anything about our system… more experienced profs tend to give you a better estimate of whether or not you’ll stand a chance.