Hello there, friend! My name is Love and I am a '23. Aside from being on the pre-med track, I'm currently interested in studying math and public policy. I have a penchant for old things, learning languages, and the arts. I also love personality tests, irrespective of their actual validity—in case you're curious, I'm an INFJ, Scorpio, dragon, and type 2w1.
How frequently are students able to enroll in the classes they want?
A:
Great question! I'd say that most students definitely get into all of the classes that they want with varying degrees of success. Most are able to get into at least one they're really hoping for. Depending on your major and the types of classes that you're interested in, you may have more or less success (math classes often don't have caps, but econonmics and government do and are super popular). As an undeclared freshman, I'm definitely lowest on the totem pole when it comes to any sort of algorithm that Dartmouth uses in sorting students, and having just finished course selection for winter, I can tell you that I only got one *perfect* class out of three. But there is more to the story than meets the eye!
The class that I did get was my first-year seminar, which I am incredibly grateful for since there is a cap of 16 students. One of my other classes was General Chemistry I, which I did get but got a time slot that I wasn't all too happy with (class starts at 8:50AM and my four-hour lab starts at 8AM). This is one example of a course selection mishap. And lastly, I wasn't able to get into Introduction to Public Policy, which is an incredibly popular course for first years looking to do the First-Year Fellows internship or those who want to minor in Public Policy. However, I have emailed the professor and he emailed back (on a weekend, which was so amazing and kind!) saying to go to the first day of class and hopefully they will be able to accommodate everyone.
While it may be hard for students to get into the classes they want at certain points in their academic journey (upperclassmen, for example, will get priority over others if they need a class for a major), the good thing about Dartmouth is that the small size and tight-knit community makes it so that students generally aren't too worried about getting their classes. All of the upperclassmen I've talked to about my predicament with Public Policy advised me to not worry and simply email the professor, which is something that they've all done and had success with. Professors are usually more than willing to open up their classes. In the meantime, I have signed up for Linear Algebra as my third class, which is something that I'm actually pretty excited for!
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