A Class I Want Is Full: What Do I Do?
One of the most aggravating experiences for a college student is finding the perfect class that fits their schedule only to find out that it is full. It is even more annoying when that class is one you desperately need to fulfill a requirement for your major. It is a helpless feeling that the majority of students will experience at least once during their college years. On the bright side, there are some steps you can take to get into that class. Be forewarned: it’s not an easy process, but one that can end with you in that elusive course.
The first step is to go and talk to the professor of the course in person. It is not enough to send an email or leave a voicemail. By going in person, you are showing the professor how much you want to get into his or her course. You can better express your feelings in person. You are also making a personal connection to the professor, which will benefit you if are able to get into the class. The professor may not be able to take on any more students for a variety of reasons. However, if he or she can override some students into the course, they are more likely to choose a student with whom they have met before. Be sure to passionately plead your case without coming off as too overbearing.
Another avenue to consider is going to the registrar’s office. An individual in that office should be able to tell you if the university is able to add more students to the course’s roster. Class sizes are determined by many different factors. Sometimes, the class can take on more students, such as in a lecture-type course. However, you must resign yourself to the fact that certain courses must be capped.
It is a good idea to sign up for another course in the case that you don’t end up in the one that is already at its capacity. Find your second choice – the next class that best suits your needs – and sign up for that one. If you wind up getting registered in the course that was capped, you can always drop the other class. Otherwise, you are at least ensuring that you can get into your second choice. The worst case scenario would be if you couldn’t get into your first choice, and, by the time you found this out, your second choice was also filled up.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
