Hey everyone! I'm Cooper from Wayne, Pennsylvania, which is right outside of Philadelphia. I am a '28 here at Dartmouth, and plan on studying Quantitative Social Science and Cognitive Science. In my free time, I love getting food with friends, playing pickleball, watching sitcoms (personal favorite is Modern Family), and going on walks. I am super excited to be here and cannot wait to take you along my journey at Dartmouth!
I remember hearing the horror stories of my older brothers having to wake up at the crack of dawn to choose all of their courses. That certainly scared me for my eventual course election, as I did not want to be stressed out over the first come, first serve election that my brothers had. But luckily, this is not the case at Dartmouth! Let me explain what course election is like and why it is super easy and overall very low-stress.
Step 1: Choosing Courses to Elect
When it comes to selecting courses, I highly recommend, especially in your first-year fall, to take classes that simply interest you! There is ample time to take classes that are specific to your major, but take the fall to dive into topics that grab your attention. For example, although I do not plan on studying Philosophy, I took the Philosophy of Time and Time Traveljust because it seemed super interesting (and it was!). You can only enter three courses to elect, so have your top 3 as well as some back-ups in case you do not get your top choices. Then, it is time to elect!
What students click on in their student portals to register for courses!
Step 2: Electing Courses
At Dartmouth, electing courses is NOT first come, first serve—it is algorithmic. Because of this, electing courses is super simple and not stressful at all, which is another reason why I love Dartmouth's academics. You have more than a week to elect these courses and can change them at any time within this period! Having this much time allows you to email professors for syllabi, ask other students their thoughts, and meet with your advisers for help. Luckily, waking up early is not necessary when it comes to electing courses, as you have all the time you need to do so!
Step 3: Add/Drop Courses
After course schedules are released, there is an "add/drop" period soon thereafter. If you do not get all three courses after step 2, you can see what courses still have openings and enroll in them! It is possible to reach out to professors to see if you can join courses even if they are full. Now, this period is—in fact—first come, first serve, but it should only take about 5 minutes if you have your backup courses prepared. As someone who got zero courses for the winter term (after step 2), I can confidently say that I was able to get into three courses that are still of interest to me! If you are interested in taking four courses in a term, you have to wait until the start of the term to elect a fourth.
Step 4: Relax, You're Done!
After the add/drop period is over, there is nothing else to do, so celebrate being done with your course election! You will do this during the middle of each term, so make sure to prepare to make course selection as easy as possible.
And that's it! Course selection at Dartmouth is very straightforward and stress-free!
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