Registration for new students was held yesterday and today. First year students could select up to half their classes on Monday, and the 2nd half today. Their registration times are assigned at random, and if you got an early time on Monday, you had a later time on Tuesday. This is done for reasons of fairness, so that the lucky students who register first can’t get all their “A list” classes and those with late times have worse luck.
Observing the new students – both my advisees and those of other advisors – there were certainly some jitters about getting the classes they wanted (at the time they wanted, with the professor they wanted), but this class seems to be doing a good job of selecting their courses and making sound choices.
This is an exciting time, particularly for those students who are unsure of what they might wish to major in. The first two years at Wake Forest are meant to be a kind of smorgasbord, where students sample classes from all areas of human knowledge. As time goes by, and as they experience more subject areas, they will be better able to determine their likes and dislikes and help move toward selecting a major (which happens 2nd semester sophomore year).
As an adviser, I love to watch a student try a course they never had in high school – maybe anthropology, or philosophy, or Russian – and fall in love with it. When a student is passionate about a subject, they dedicate themselves to their studies with great gusto. That makes for great connections with the faculty (who love to find students excited about their subject area).
