<p>D tells me that there are rumors that shopping period is being eliminated. She’s upset about it. What do you all know?</p>
<p>Have not heard that. D is planning to shop a different section of a class to see which prof she likes. She does see peers get very stressed about shopping. She has mostly had her classes planned out ahead of time. It seems to work best to have a plan for most classes, and just shop one or two.</p>
<p>Perhaps it deals with one of the Blue Book servers being shut down?
[Yale</a> shuts down Yale Bluebook+ | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/01/14/yale-shuts-down-yale-bluebook/]Yale”>Yale shuts down Yale Bluebook+ - Yale Daily News)</p>
<p>Yale Bluebook+ was a non-official application site developed a few years ago by students, it seems.</p>
<p>It hasn’t been “shut down” but Yale is blocking the website from it’s internal network including access via the Yale student wifi service. Students should be able to access from their cel phones.</p>
<p>See [url=<a href=“http://ybbplus.com/]CourseTable[/url”>http://ybbplus.com/]CourseTable[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s accessible at all, since the developers had to e-mail worksheets to those who were using it. The timing was bad, but the information the site provided is still available from other sources.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to an article in the YDN about plans to curtail shopping period in the fall 2014 semester: </p>
<p><a href=“http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/09/05/shoppingperiodrulestoberevamped/[/url]”>http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/09/05/shoppingperiodrulestoberevamped/</a></p>
<p>That article–and an earlier one I found–is still a bit vague to me as to exactly how shopping period will work. Students will have to file a preliminary nonbinding schedule before classes start–and at some point there will be a period of five days in which they can add or drop one class. But is there still an open shopping period in between? There wasn’t a lot of reaction to the YDN story–I suspect the whole thing may be readdressed when it’s more clearly explained.</p>
<p>It’s really unclear how the new rules will make anything better. My son had a difficult shopping week this week. He needed a science class this semester and was turned down for one after another for space reasons. He finally seems to have one and that is only because he took to emailing many professors to try to get a spot in a class. Something is not right with this system. Many classes have applications to be filled out and there is a constant sense that you need to prove your worth simply to get into a class.</p>
<p>Nice article about New Haven in the Washington Post:
[New</a> Haven, Conn., makes the transition from crime to coffee shops - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/new-haven-conn-makes-the-transition-from-crime-to-coffee-shops/2014/01/16/144f3ea4-77e9-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html]New”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/new-haven-conn-makes-the-transition-from-crime-to-coffee-shops/2014/01/16/144f3ea4-77e9-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html)</p>
<p>Some of the new rules make sense - getting a preliminary course list from students would allow the school to better determine how big of a room and/or how many sections of a class they might need. For example, last year they apparently offered a new general biology sequence and had many more people sign up for it than expected. They had to move it to the law school and the overall learning experience was not what it should have been. If they had known hundreds of kids were going to sign up for that one class, they could have broken it into three or four smaller sections and had a more pleasant learning environment for everyone.</p>
<p>That being said, I know when I was an undergrad at UCLA some people essentially “shopped” for classes by signing up for as many as they could, visiting other classes during the first week, and then dropping and adding to make their schedule what they wanted. Yale’s method is more honest, but it can certainly be done with the other, more rigid, system.</p>
<p>It may help for things like biology classes. But there are a ton of classes that are either seminar classes or classes where the professor gets to select the students and cap the class. My son filled out a lot of “applications” for classes with no pre-req this week. Yesterday he showed up to a class with eighty people for twelve spots. So what happens when eighty people put that down on their preliminary course list, but there is still only one section of the class offered because it’s a course only one professor teaches? That’s where I think the proposed system is flawed. You’ll still have eighty people putting it down and showing up and the professor choosing twelve and the other students flailing about trying to find a class. This may be more of a problem in the humanities classes, many of which are seminars taught by particular professors, than in subjects with more lecture-based courses.</p>
<p>D had one of those oversubscribed classes this semester. Everyone had to send a email to the prof answering some seniority questions and the algorithm for choosing students was know ahead of time. She did get in, but from the wait list.</p>
<p>Nice commentary on the YBB+ issue in YDN:</p>
<p>[LITT:</a> Past the YBB+ debate | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/01/23/litt-past-the-ybb-debate/]LITT:”>LITT: Past the YBB+ debate - Yale Daily News)</p>
<p>I’m so worried about my D. Everyone is grouping up for suites next year and she doesn’t have anybody to room with. What do they do with kids who can’t find a group to join? Broom closet somewhere?</p>
<p>I’m sure she’ll be fine; there’s still plenty of time, as the housing lottery happens around Spring Break.</p>
<p>Momsville - it must feel to her like everyone is grouping up, but last I talked to my D, her suite had not discussed it yet, and she was not yet looking into the available configurations. She was caught up in shopping period and getting books. Is your D in any ECs with anyone she might like to room with?</p>
<p>musicmerit - no ECs to speak of except a science group with all guys! No roomies there! I’ve been pestering her to broaden her horizons, but she is a laser-focused kind of kid. Thanks for the idea. She says “everyone” is all set and really can’t figure out why she’s out in the cold. I wonder if they have an “island of misfit toys” suite?</p>
<p>Momsville – I was worried about D around this time last year, but remember that rooming groups NEED people. It all worked out OK by spring break.</p>
<p>Momsville – and kids can switch colleges if they need to. My freshmen son and his six, current, suite-mates will be together next year plus another new friend from different college to make the required eight.</p>
<p>Wow, no one has posted on here since the end of January! Is that when we transitioned to the new format?
I hope everyone has a great spring break with their students, or like me can enjoy living vicariously through their travels!
I still have not heard about rooming for next year, so either she has it figured out or is not concerned about it yet. I did find an old article about one college’s room draw system.</p>
<p><a href=“In housing, the luck of the draw - Yale Daily News”>http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2010/04/05/in-housing-the-luck-of-the-draw/</a></p>