As You Think About SLACs...Limited Number of Courses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This must be school dependent. My daughter is also at a SLAC - she meets with her adviser before pre-registration, goes over the classes she is interested in and, together, they come up with her schedule. She then pre-registers - if a class is overenrolled, she reaches out directly to the professor and, so far, things have always worked out - once they added an extra section for the extra students. One time she took a class a semester later than she originally intended, but then she was able to choose a course she really loved instead. Another time, she was supposed to take a level 1 course in one department, but was able to substitute something else by writing to the department head. Her friends at larger schools regularly complain about getting shut out of classes, but the difference at her very small school seems to be the access to professors and department heads, and the school's flexibility. While I agree there are issues with some schools and the oversubscribing of certain majors (eg, Pomona and CS), overall I can say her experience at a SLAC has been excellent and she has yet to hit a brick wall with faculty or administration - it seems like everyone there is very willing to help resolve any issues.

This is exactly dc’s experience at Pomona. Way less space issues due to the 5 colleges there, but she has to meet with her advisor to get approved for course schedules and her advisor has emailed a prof to defend her getting into a class, without the pre reps. This is all school dependent.

[Anonymous]

I’m OP. I will never get the weird hostility on this site. My kid is happy at her school. But getting the right classes at the right times is definitely an issue. I didn’t write to complain or solve the problem. I only wrote because this is something I never thought about and i thought it would be helpful to parents of juniors and seniors. People are free to have other experiences. I would love to helicopter but she cut that out quick. This is a different issue that really could not be resolved easily. When you need a required class that is a prerequisite for other classes but the one section is at the same time as another course you need for a requirement (like language) it can be an issue. We are making it work but it can be frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be school dependent. My daughter is also at a SLAC - she meets with her adviser before pre-registration, goes over the classes she is interested in and, together, they come up with her schedule. She then pre-registers - if a class is overenrolled, she reaches out directly to the professor and, so far, things have always worked out - once they added an extra section for the extra students. One time she took a class a semester later than she originally intended, but then she was able to choose a course she really loved instead. Another time, she was supposed to take a level 1 course in one department, but was able to substitute something else by writing to the department head. Her friends at larger schools regularly complain about getting shut out of classes, but the difference at her very small school seems to be the access to professors and department heads, and the school's flexibility. While I agree there are issues with some schools and the oversubscribing of certain majors (eg, Pomona and CS), overall I can say her experience at a SLAC has been excellent and she has yet to hit a brick wall with faculty or administration - it seems like everyone there is very willing to help resolve any issues.

This is exactly dc’s experience at Pomona. Way less space issues due to the 5 colleges there, but she has to meet with her advisor to get approved for course schedules and her advisor has emailed a prof to defend her getting into a class, without the pre reps. This is all school dependent.

From what I’ve heard, the Claremont colleges aren’t a liberal arts college- just a university that doesn’t like being called so.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I’m OP. I will never get the weird hostility on this site. My kid is happy at her school. But getting the right classes at the right times is definitely an issue. I didn’t write to complain or solve the problem. I only wrote because this is something I never thought about and i thought it would be helpful to parents of juniors and seniors. People are free to have other experiences. I would love to helicopter but she cut that out quick. This is a different issue that really could not be resolved easily. When you need a required class that is a prerequisite for other classes but the one section is at the same time as another course you need for a requirement (like language) it can be an issue. We are making it work but it can be frustrating. [/quote]
OP it would’ve been more helpful if you named the college. Otherwise, there’s not much people can respond to but their own experiences at various liberal arts colleges where this may or may not be an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be school dependent. My daughter is also at a SLAC - she meets with her adviser before pre-registration, goes over the classes she is interested in and, together, they come up with her schedule. She then pre-registers - if a class is overenrolled, she reaches out directly to the professor and, so far, things have always worked out - once they added an extra section for the extra students. One time she took a class a semester later than she originally intended, but then she was able to choose a course she really loved instead. Another time, she was supposed to take a level 1 course in one department, but was able to substitute something else by writing to the department head. Her friends at larger schools regularly complain about getting shut out of classes, but the difference at her very small school seems to be the access to professors and department heads, and the school's flexibility. While I agree there are issues with some schools and the oversubscribing of certain majors (eg, Pomona and CS), overall I can say her experience at a SLAC has been excellent and she has yet to hit a brick wall with faculty or administration - it seems like everyone there is very willing to help resolve any issues.

This is exactly dc’s experience at Pomona. Way less space issues due to the 5 colleges there, but she has to meet with her advisor to get approved for course schedules and her advisor has emailed a prof to defend her getting into a class, without the pre reps. This is all school dependent.

From what I’ve heard, the Claremont colleges aren’t a liberal arts college- just a university that doesn’t like being called so.

No, they are true LACs. There are a couple grad schools there but they mostly have separate faculty and facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why anyone choose a school with so few students, so few professors, so few classes, so few options. And they are usually in the middle of the woods. And it's typically cold. Four years of that. And people choose this. Baffling.

If you know, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm not here for a judgement on my parenting. She does talk to her advisor, but I am telling you that they are very hands off. The college has a lot more people majoring in the humanities than STEM, so I think it is easier for them to get the courses they need because a lot of them are very broad.

I'm not interested in a critique of my parenting. This is literally just a heads up to parents considering small colleges.

Also, 18 and 19 year olds are not always very savvy about understanding the best way to maximize their courses to meet college requirements and their majors and other interests they have. My daughter didn't understand that she could "double dip" on two requirements and meet both through taking one class and the school didn't make that clear to her. Doing that leaves another course open in her schedule down the line for a class she really wants to take that isn't just to meet college requirements.

We don’t need this kind of advice from you or anyone else. We’re not idiots. Smaller schools mean fewer course offering. Duh. Last I checked the four year graduation rates at SLACs were generally higher than larger schools, so the students are obviously managing to get the classes they need.

No reason to treat educated adults like idiots, and no reason to helicopter over your own kid so damned much either.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, OP. I appreciate your post. I, similarly, do not understand the weird hostility on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, OP. I appreciate your post. I, similarly, do not understand the weird hostility on DCUM.

Look, it’s a silly post. I have never heard of a college large or small where every student can register for any class that they want whenever they want. No college has infinite resources of course offerings. OP isn’t telling anyone anything new. What’s weird is that she’s so involved in her kid’s course registration. I’ve never heard of any parent doing THAT before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, OP. I appreciate your post. I, similarly, do not understand the weird hostility on DCUM.

Look, it’s a silly post. I have never heard of a college large or small where every student can register for any class that they want whenever they want. No college has infinite resources of course offerings. OP isn’t telling anyone anything new. What’s weird is that she’s so involved in her kid’s course registration. I’ve never heard of any parent doing THAT before.

DP. Even if all that is true, I think OP intended to help. Maybe just skip threads that you don’t find useful? The tone was a bit much.

[Anonymous]

My kid is doing two majors and one minor in a SLAC now. They never ran into any problem with selecting courses. The advisors and professors always made it possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is doing two majors and one minor in a SLAC now. They never ran into any problem with selecting courses. The advisors and professors always made it possible.

Congrats! That’s great. Others may have a different experience.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP - totally on your side. Thanks for trying to flag something you hadn’t thought about until getting to the other side. Judgy people suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m OP. I will never get the weird hostility on this site. My kid is happy at her school. But getting the right classes at the right times is definitely an issue. I didn’t write to complain or solve the problem. I only wrote because this is something I never thought about and i thought it would be helpful to parents of juniors and seniors. People are free to have other experiences. I would love to helicopter but she cut that out quick. This is a different issue that really could not be resolved easily. When you need a required class that is a prerequisite for other classes but the one section is at the same time as another course you need for a requirement (like language) it can be an issue. We are making it work but it can be frustrating.

Thanks for sharing your perspective, OP. I found it helpful to consider. Quick question - can anyone access a college’s course catalogue? I tried once for a particular school and it required a school ID. But maybe I didn’t try hard enough to find it another way?

As for the hostility on this site, my best advice is to tap out of this thread. You shared information you would have liked to have when evaluating schools, and I and others appreciate it! But beyond that, the more you try to explain yourself, the more you feed the trolls and the more we continue to hear from them ….

[Anonymous]

Instead of making a generalization about SLACs, OP should just name the school DD attends. That would be helpful