Learn to shop around for Yale's best classes

Should you let your roommate sleep in the bottom bunk, despite your fear of heights? Try the suspicious-looking shrimp stir fry at the dining hall? Admit to the singing group commandos forming a gauntlet at Frosh Bazaar that yes, you sing? The beginning of freshman year abounds with choices. But when the Frisbees stop flying and the snow starts, will you be gleefully reading ahead in your Astronomy text, or cursing yourself and your incomprehensible philosophy TA? Yale is a college, not a summer camp, and the most important choices you will make freshman year involve your classes.

In the course selection game, you have an ally: your Blue Book. Officially known as The Yale College Programs of Study, this sacred tome will arrive in your mailbox in August, listing between 1,500 and 2,000 courses, most of which are open to you. Somehow you will have to winnow down your choices--from thousands down to four or five. There's no one right way to select your courses, but many Yalies consciously choose the path of least resistance. Gimmicks abound for those who want to use them, as well as tried and true tactics :

Strategy 1: Take only classes that are known to upperclassmen by the first or last name of the instructor [see p. 27]. You'll have to share the professor with 300 to 400 other students, but the classes are packed for a good reason.

Strategy 2: Take only classes you have already taken in high school. Try some low-numbered math classes or introductory language courses (maybe even in the language you speak at home--English doesn't count).

Strategy 3: Avoid the shopping rush completely and just register for things that sound good. Then spend the next two weeks sleeping in and visiting every room on Old Campus. But remember, these courses that looked so good on paper could turn out to be incredibly boring. You may find out the hard way that you can't possibly sit through 75 minutes of the driest speaker in the world, even if the topic is sexual deviance in college students.

Strategy 4: Sign up for five classes and drop the worst one. This scenario implies one of two things--either the class sucks, or you suck at the class.

Strategy 5: Get off your butt, check out the classes, find ones that interest you, and be on top of your semester.

Shopping Period

Shopping period is a Yale luxury--10 days at the start of the semester in which you can go to as many classes as you can handle. These two low-key weeks give you the freedom to test classes and professors. It is not uncommon for people to shop five classes a day just to find two classes they like.

If you decide to take a large lecture course that splits off into smaller discussion sections, be sure to shop these smaller groups. You'll probably interact more often with the teaching assistant leading your section than with the professor of the course.

A word to the wise: some teachers don't seem to have heard of shopping period, and may start assigning massive amounts of reading from day one. It's easy to fall behind, so don't take your shopping too lightly.

Try not to rely on what other people say about classes; just because your roommate enjoyed Math 230 doesn't mean that you will necessarily love theoretical calculus.

Also, don't choose a class based solely on its first lecture. Professors usually use the first class just to talk about the requirements of the course and then to pass out a syllabus. Attend several lectures before you make up your mind for sure, or you may be duped into taking a really boring class. Remember that, in many cases, the professor makes the course. A biology professor who is more interested in his research than in teaching will make a class unbearable.

At the same time, don't forget that these classes require books. A trip to the bookstore is worthwhile to check out the quality of the books you will have to somehow suffer through.

You can get a head start on shopping period by pre-registering for some of the bigger freshman classes. In the first few days of school, you must pre-register for the most popular intro classes, such as English, chemistry, and freshmen-only economics. Make sure you show up for pre-registration early, or you may end up in a section that screws up the rest of your schedule.

An introductory class can mean many different things, depending on what subject it concerns. Some are "guts" [see p. 32], while others could end up being your most difficult courses. Generally, an intro is 100-level, taught in a large lecture format or in small sections headed by TAs. Often, intro courses are prerequisites for upper-level classes and majors [see p. 27].

Blue book parties

At the beginning of your first semester, your freshman counselor will probably hold a `blue book party.' You will sit down and devour chips, soda and your frosh counselor's sage advice. This will be a perfect chance to find people interested in taking the same classes as you.

CR/D/F

Many people do use this option. It is helpful, especially freshman year, when you are not too sure what kind of grade you are going to get writing ethics papers because you've never taken a philosophy course before. Taking a class Credit/D/Fail lets you try a course that's wild and exciting, without the fear that it will damage your GPA. It also lets you stress a little less and gives you time to do other things. Just remember: you do have to do some work to avoid a D, so don't think that you can ignore all of the reading.

You can sign up for a maximum of four courses CR/D/F during your entire Yale career, and one per distributional group.Since this is your first semester, don't hesitate to do it.. Consider enrolling in a class CR/D/F even if you plan to take it for a grade, since you can always switch to a letter grade when you have a better idea of how well you are doing. If you are doing unexpectedly well in a course, it is possible to change from CR/D/F to a grade until the midterm, but you can never change a letter grade to CR/D/F.

Advisors

You need to have your advisor and your freshman counselor sign your schedule before you turn it in to your college Dean (which must happen by the end of shopping period). Otherwise, you'll be fined $35, and you forfeit the option of taking any classes CR/D/F. Many faculty advisors are tough to get in touch with, so set up an appointment several days before the deadline. Even if you know for sure that you're going to be a biology major and your advisor teaches French, he or she will have a good idea of the general requirements you're going to have to meet your freshman year. They can help you avoid a scare in April when you realize you might not have enough credits to become a sophomore.

Distributional requirements

The Blue Book's description of these requirements is convoluted, but all you need to know is that in your first year, you must take two courses in Group I or II (language and humanities) and two courses in Group III or IV (social and hard sciences). You have to take at least eight courses this first year, so it shouldn't be a problem to fulfill these vague requirements. By the end of sophomore year you must have two credits in each of the four groups, and by the time you graduate you must have taken 12 courses outside the distributional group of your major. This includes at least three credits in each group, with two natural sciences in Group IV.

Foreign language requirement

Many shiver at the thought of facing the foreign language requirement. You must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language--equivalent to two years of study at the college level. If you received a 4 or 5 on a foreign language AP, you're excused. You can also opt to take the proficiency exam, administered before classes start, to try to "pass out" of the requirement or to place into a higher-level course. You should probably take the test even if you're out of practice. It can't hurt you and if you're lucky and do well, you get out of two years of early morning language classes, which meet five days a week and generally require attendance. There's always the choice of taking intensive language classes. Covering a whole year's work in a semester, they move extremely fast and have a large workload. These classes give you two credits per semester, so they also put a limit on what other classes you can take.

Finals

Don't forget to check the final exam schedule for your classes. To see when each final takes place, look in your Blue Book and check the number in parentheses next to the course title. Cross-check it with the chart in the front of the book that lists the exam schedule and make sure that you don't have five exams in three days, or three exams at the same time. Studying for two finals at once can be unbelievably stressful. If you want to take two classes that have finals at the same time, however, don't panic and abandon all of your dreams of taking the classes--just be aware of the potential for serious stress.

Last Words

The first days of shopping are hectic, but don't worry--it all works out in the end. You have two weeks to finalize your schedule, and somehow, miraculously, by the second Monday of classes, everything manages to fall into place. Then it's just a matter of doing the work.

Graphic by Matthew Wiegle

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