Questions about courses/exchanges

[welles10]

<p>I agree with advantagious, but I’ll add in my two cents as well.</p>

<p>

1. First of all, is course registration for first-years a on a first-come, first-serve basis? Are chances high that you might not get into some of the courses that you picked?

</p>

<p>First come, first serve – registration is online and all first years register at the same time, the morning of the Friday of Orientation. Getting the class you want depends on how many people are already signed up for the course. The registrar has enrollment figures; look at those to see how many spots are still open. Have back up courses!! Have a few writing courses for sure (those always fill up the fastest) and backups for your other course picks as well. </p>

<p>Some departments will pretty much let you in, even if courses are full. The math department is generally really flexible, and intro sciences (esp. bio and chem) really depend on the lab – so make sure at least one of the lab times fits. Physics is pretty flexible as well, I would say a bit more so than bio/chem.</p>

<p>

2. Some courses require permission from the instructor, do you have a chance to sort that out during orientation week before registration?

If in the course catalog, it says you need a certain prereq or permission from the instructor, you can register online – just make sure you have the prereq done!</p>

<p>

3. Some courses have times listed like this: MTh 8:30 - 9:40 W-ALT1. What does that ALT1 mean? If there’s no time listed right now, does that mean one will be added later?

ALT 1 and ALT 2 are alternate Wednesdays, meaning they happen every other week – dates are on the registrar’s site. Some professors use all their ALTs, others barely use them at all – depends on the prof and the class.</p>

<p>If it’s like you specified: “MTh 8:30 - 9:40 W-ALT1” that means the ALT1 is at the same time, 8:30-9:40. </p>

<p>

4. Some courses say that there will be 3 meetings in the course description, but they only have 2 times listed in the schedule, does that mean a third one will be added later?

Generally the schedule is correct, but that does seem a bit weird. What course(s) were you looking at like that?</p>

<p>

5. If I want to go on a foreign exchange program for a year, do I need to plan out everything in my first year? If I want to major and minor? It seems like there’re a lot of courses that I have to take and, if I go on an exchange, very little time to do it.</p>

<ol>
<li>Does anyone know much about the Wellesley-in-Aix exchange? I read on the website that all courses were taught in French. Does anyone know if that’s very challenging to someone who’s just beginning her French at Wellesley?

Woah. Ok. Planning ahead!!</li>
</ol>

<p>You don’t have to plan everything out first-year, but it’s good to start thinking about what courses you need to take to prepare you for it. This is especially true if you are thinking about being pre-med, but it is still definitely possible to go abroad and be pre-med or any other science major (I say science major because those seem to be more difficult in fitting all the classes in because of labs and such).</p>

<p>If you’re interested in Aix, that means you definitely want to take French starting your first-year. I think WendyMouse or someone else posted a bit about Aix in another thread… search for it if you can. There will be a study abroad fair the second or third week of classes that is directed mostly at sophomores, but you could look around and get an idea for all the programs that are offered.</p>

<p>Useful Links
First Year Registration: <a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/FYRegoverview.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/FYRegoverview.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Alt 1, Alt 2 Dates: <a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/ALT1-ALT2fall09.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/ALT1-ALT2fall09.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Enrollment Figures (as of 8/4): <a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/rptenrollment200909.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/rptenrollment200909.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;