Freshman course registration

[teachermom2834]

The college my ds will attend preregisters the students for classes and it gets confirmed when they meet with an advisor at orientation. We can go into his online student portal and see his schedule as as he is added to classes. The first three classes looked good and we were even able to research the profs on ratemyprofessor. Then they added his Comp 1 class. It is at 8:00am. I'm worried about that. It is a large campus and he'll have to be up really early to get there. I know he is a big kid and capable but I also remember that first semester of college. Getting to an 8:00 am is just tough and he'll have a hike to get there. I would hate to have him get off to a rough start by missing or being late to that class. He gets up pretty well and his 9:00 class doesn't worry me. But 8:00 is early for college students and I would like to see him set up for success his first semester.

He said he will try to get it changed when he is down for orientation in July. I kind of think he should call and talk to someone now about the possiblity of change. I won't make him, but I do advise and make suggestions ?

Thoughts? I'm not familiar with this sort of registration process. He does not have a specific advisor assigned but there is a note that new students can contact the orientation office for schedule assistance.

 

[regentrude]

He can try to change it if there are multiple sections with open seats  and it's possible to do that online. If not, I doubt calling now will produce results; with the default preregister and then meet your advisor at orientation, the registrar is probably not going to make scheduling adjustments by hand for all the students calling in the meantime. (ETA: I am advisor and do freshman pre-orientation advising; we are strongly told not to permit any changes after a student has been signed up for a workable schedule, because the first priority is to get ALL freshmen into some kind of class schedule.)

In the long term, however, I think he needs to get used to 8am classes, because it is entirely possible that some classes will only be offered at 8am.  Having a schedule devoid of 8am classes may be not possible.

How far from campus does your DS live that he has a hike to class?

[teachermom2834]

I absolutely agree that an 8:00 am class will likely be needed at some point and getting used to it is good. But I also don't particularly like to see those challenges first semester if it can be avoided. Of course, that's if it can be avoided. Obviously it can't always be and he should certainly be responsible enough to get to class at any time. But it is Comp 1 and surely there are many, many other sections.

His campus is huge-one of the 25 biggest in the country and his dorm is at one end of it. I don't know exactly how far the walk to the class is but likely 15-20 minutes. So it isn't as if he can roll out of bed and be in class (my oldest son is at a tiny college and get get out of bed and walk out the door and practically be in class). 

It isn't a deal breaker and if I didn't have confidence he could handle it, he wouldn't be going off to college there at all. But, if it is possible to switch to something an hour later I definitely would support him trying to do that. He had a 9:10 dual enrollment class this semester and he had to leave 20 minutes early to get there. He did fine but there were probably two or three times that he would have slept through his alarm if I didn't hear it and go in and get him. And our home is far quieter and more boring at night than a dorm. I don't think it hurts for him to see if it is possible to change.

[klmama]

Once he has officially registered, he may be able to go online and change to another section.  My dc was able to do that before both freshman semesters, and since registering for next fall dc has already rearranged the original sophomore schedule to get better times and/or professors.  Dc says it's important to check every day for those better options, as usually only one slot will open up at a time.   However, there will likely be more openings soon once final grades are out and some people officially withdraw from school for fall. 

[easypeasy]

My rule of thumb is to avoid 8 am classes whenever possible. Yeah, they are probably a necessary evil and he will have to see it at some point... but for a basic Gen Ed like Comp? There have got to be other options available at a better time. I'd only do an 8 am class for a major-specific class that's only offered at 8 am by a genius professor (or if the later professor was an Evil Dictator type with a low score and lots of angry faces on ratemyprofessor). ? Other than that, I'd look for any other option.

(I really don't like mornings...) ?

[Julie of KY]

I would think that there is some other option other than 8am for him, however it might be very restricted to when he can change his schedule - like maybe not until August. I've heard all sorts of weird ways that colleges sign up freshmen and many do not make sense to me.

I agree that sometime you might not have a choice about an 8am class (and it might be now), but I would do everything I could to set him up for success for his first semester.

 

[teachermom2834]

Thanks. He will talk to someone at orientation when the schedule gets finalized. He actually has two advisors, one in his major and one in the honors college, that he will see at orientation. I did look at the schedule myself and while there are many comp 1 options, they have them by department. He is a business major so he is limited to a smaller number of comp 1 sections. 

I am going to encourage him to speak up and offer alternatives. Of all the schools we have visited for older ds and this one, we have not encountered one that seems as focused on student support and success. They are pushing hard to get the students graduated on time. I suspect if he tells his honors advisor that he thinks the 8:00 am is going to really be a problem, she might help him out. 

He is going in with 36 de hours all counting toward his major and he already has Comp 2. So he had a ton of wiggle room and even if he didn't get into another Comp 1 it shouldn't throw him way off. I will not attend orientation with him but we'll look at the course schedules before hand together so he will be able to suggest some alternatives and see what can be done. 

As an aside one of the more annoying issues we have run into with de is that the course my kids have placed into for de at the local university (by ACT) is actually Comp 2. So then they have Comp 2 transferred in but still need Comp 1. Not a huge deal. I figure they can use an easier course that first semester and that course often familiarizes students with writing and research resources at the specific college. But not when they put you in an 8:00 am ?

[gstharr]

18 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

I But, if it is possible to switch to something an hour later I definitely would support him trying to do that. He had a 9:10 dual enrollment class this semester and he had to leave 20 minutes early to get there. He did fine but there were probably two or three times that he would have slept through his alarm if I didn't hear it and go in and get him. And our home is far quieter and more boring at night than a dorm. I don't think it hurts for him to see if it is possible to change.

Maybe, you can have all his classes start after 10 while you are at it, since he still might sleep through an 8:30 alarm. 

[SanDiegoMom]

If it's a large student population, then freshman often get stuck with the 8 a.m. classes. But I agree, if it's just a Gen Ed, I would try to fix it.  My dd had an 8 am last quarter, but is was for her major so she just did her best. She did sleep through a couple (or more) of them, but the lecture was recorded since it was such a large class so she just watched the recording later. 

She didn't think 8 am was that bad since she did public school and it started at 7:30. It's all in perspective! My youngers, on the other hand, start homeschool at 10 am every day so I know they will be in for a rude awakening when they get back to school!

 

[Chris in VA]

I'll bet there's a campus bus he can take if he lives that far

I wouldn't micromanage this at all. He'll learn. 

[teachermom2834]

27 minutes ago, Chris in VA said:

I'll bet there's a campus bus he can take if he lives that far

I wouldn't micromanage this at all. He'll learn. 

I agree.  He was the one who mentioned trying to change it and I was really just seeking experiences with this sort of registration process. If he can change it, I support that but if he can’t I expect him to manage it. It’s not a deal breaker. I know he will figure it out. But I don’t mind helping him navigate the process. I don’t consider that micromanaging. 

Yes, campus bus. Still will take a good bit of time. 

Im a pretty early riser and getting somewhere by 8:00 can still be a challenge some days. I remember an 8:00 am class my first semester. I did not always make it. I also survived. 

[Corraleno]

DS will be getting up at 6:30 AM, five days/week and occasionally on weekends, to catch a 7:15 bus to get to an 8:00 practice. I've already bought him an alarm clock called the Sonic Bomb, but he's even slept through that a few times. I'm guessing the reason they insist that all freshmen on the team must room with a teammate, is the hope that at least one of the two will wake up and make sure the other one gets up as well. I suspect it's going to be quite a painful transition!

[MerryAtHope]

13 hours ago, Corraleno said:

DS will be getting up at 6:30 AM, five days/week and occasionally on weekends, to catch a 7:15 bus to get to an 8:00 practice. I've already bought him an alarm clock called the Sonic Bomb, but he's even slept through that a few times. I'm guessing the reason they insist that all freshmen on the team must room with a teammate, is the hope that at least one of the two will wake up and make sure the other one gets up as well. I suspect it's going to be quite a painful transition!

 

LOL, my 21 year-old can sleep through a really loud alarm if he's tired. I might have to look into something called a sonic bomb!

[Corraleno]

29 minutes ago, MerryAtHope said:

LOL, my 21 year-old can sleep through a really loud alarm if he's tired. I might have to look into something called a sonic bomb!

Sonic Bomb Alarm with Bed Shaker

One of the reviews says he often wakes up before the alarm goes off — out of fear. LOL

[obsidian]

19 hours ago, Corraleno said:

DS will be getting up at 6:30 AM, five days/week and occasionally on weekends, to catch a 7:15 bus to get to an 8:00 practice. I've already bought him an alarm clock called the Sonic Bomb, but he's even slept through that a few times. I'm guessing the reason they insist that all freshmen on the team must room with a teammate, is the hope that at least one of the two will wake up and make sure the other one gets up as well. I suspect it's going to be quite a painful transition!

 

I usually have multiple alarms. He might look at the Alarmy app for his phone too. It's one of the few things that nearly always wakes me up, lol.

[Hilltopmom]

Ds just his info about registration & orientation too- they will register him for a generic freshman schedule, but since he’s coming in with a lot of DE he will be able to make changes at orientation.

he already has comp 1, and the first courses for his major, plus other gen Ed’s- do he will likely need to change everything they put him in.

interestingly enough we just looked at the fall class schedule and his school has only a handful of 8 AM classes! And all of the comp sci classes are afternoon or evening classes.

He’s thrilled because he is not a morning person at all, more of a stay up all night programming or gaming type. So hopefully that schedule will work better for him. Changing his sleep schedule after years of getting up late will be hard