Due to the economic downturn, many community colleges across the country have seen an increase in enrollment, and as a result, many classes are overflowing with desperate college students trying to fulfill their degree requirements as quickly as possible. This means that it will be much more difficult for you to enroll in the general education courses you will need to take to satisfy your school's transfer requirements.
Many general education classes, such as, introductory english, general mathematics, history, etc. will be over flowing with students trying to fulfill their general education requirements. Typically, on the first day of classes many students will try to "crash" a course, which means that students who have not yet enrolled in the course, show up on the first day of classes to try to add the class.
Crashing a course is not always the worst option depending on the circumstance. Perhaps a personal experience will shed more light on this topic...
When I was registering for my first semester of classes I found that all the classes I was "planning" on enrolling into were full. Not just that the class was full, but the waiting-list was full as well. I couldn't even add to the wait-list to possibly be admitted when spots opened up.
Usually, a course will have a wait-list with up to ten spots for people to occupy when they are "waiting" to be admitted into the course. Depending on the class size, the wait-list can be small, or large. It is not uncommon to have a fifty person wait-list for a larger course. There is a general rule of thumb when trying to determine your chances of being enrolled into a course from the wait-list: Take the total number of available seats, not including the wait-list (ex.100 available seats) and assume that 10% of that number will come from the wait-list. So, if you are number 1-10 on the wait-list of 100 available seats, your chances of being enrolled in the course are quite good. If, you are number 23, or 40 on the wait-list for a course that has only 100 seats, the chances are fairly bleak you will be added.
When I found that I would be number 54 on the wait-list of a course that had only 80 available seats, I was very depressed and outraged. It was worse when I discovered that for some courses, I couldn't even add to the wait-list because it was full. This is what I would do to ensure I would get into a class I really needed:
1. Be sure to go to the first class meeting. You will be sure to encounter many other students that are in the same boat as you. Send the professor a brief e-mail explaining that you MUST take their course. Explain that you are a diligent student and will surely enjoy his/her course.
2. Go and talk with the professor face to face. Depending on the professor, he/she may work with you on getting you into the course even if you are 83 on the wait-list.
3. Even if the professor turns you down in front of everyone on the first day of class, go and visit them during their office hours. Having privacy with the professor may make them a bit more sympathetic towards your situation. I have found when professors are bombarded with students who need, need, need, they are far less likely to help you out.
4. Keep following up with the professor. Even if you are continually told no, you will be surprised when the professor gets tired of hearing from you each day during office hours and agrees to add you into the course.
5. If you have an upper-hand, such as being a senior, or a declared major, use that. Many times a professor will give seniors and declared majors priority on the wait-list.
If none of this works, you may want to contact the dean of your college. If you are one class away from graduating, I am sure your school will be able to make room for you in a course you desperately need. However, if you simply think it would be cool to take underwater basket weaving and many others have enrolled before you and filled up all the available spots, you may want to enroll in that course earlier the following semester.
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