UVA also has this. I’m not sure I’d call what most colleges do the same as the shopping period Yale has. D (grad school) hates it there - doesn’t love waiting til the last minute to register especially for classes she has to request to get in (grad school, so some seminars). Often at Yale she has run up on not being able to get to a meeting of a class before deadline because lots of grad classes only meet once a week. A pain not knowing your fall schedule over the summer.
Whatever system your school has, be sure you understand drop/add dates and dates to change to pass/fail and when you can do this. A friend’s child at small LAC realized after a bad semester with language that he could have done it pass/fail (didn’t think he could with a requirement). Needed another semester but courses were considered together and couldn’t do the second on pass/fail if didn’t so it for first semester. Language not his thing - tanked his GPA.