During his sophomore fall, Dan Robinson '05 didn't get into an economics class until two weeks into the term. He struggled to catch up for the next five weeks only to give up and eventually drop the class.
A year and a half later, Robinson, in search of the "perfect combination of classes," still never sets his schedule before the term gets going -- and he still suffers.
On the other hand, many students lack the energy or commitment to shop around and don't bother to switch in and out of classes when they find themselves enrolled in a boring or impossible lecture. Missing the first day of a class, not to mention the first two weeks, is simply too much for many students to make up. Likewise, few students are willing to sit through the first week of every class they are considering taking.
"In my experience, if you miss more than the first two classes, it gets a bit tougher to make up. Joining in the second week and after, it really starts to get hard," Robinson said.
The Office of the Registrar keeps options open for students for the first part of the term. During the first week of class students can make most schedule changes online without any permission. During the second week all course additions must be made at the Registrar with a signed permission card from the course's professor. After the second week, students must fill out a petition with the approval of their professor to join a class.
Students also need to go into the office of the registrar if they want to join a course with different sections, because the registrar needs to balance numbers in the different sections. Permission is always required to join classes that have been closed.
For many students, however, early course shopping is not worthwhile.
"It's too hard to shop because professors assign readings the first day of class or even before the class meets," Sarah Myers '07 said.
"I think upperclassmen don't need to shop as much because they already know what departments they're interested in and what professors in that department are good," Myers continued.
Lillian King '07 also criticized shopping, noting that "people who shop are the reason more decisive people can't get into the class they really want."
Comparative literature professor Laurence Davies said he has learned to deal with losing up to 20 percent of his students and with accepting new students well into the term. Davies recognized that course-shopping period is difficult in a quarter system, but said motivated students generally get by when they enter his classes late. "I try to meet with late entries in private and talk to them about what they missed. If a student is motivated then they can generally catch up," Davies said.
The two-week shopping period at Dartmouth is fairly similar to shopping periods at other Ivy League schools. Brown University allows course changes without charge for two weeks and then with a $15 fee during the third and fourth weeks of a term. Still, there are nearly 3,000 course additions each term during the third and fourth weeks, according to Brown assistant registrar Michael Pesta.
"It's kind of a dilemma because students need some time to have flexibility, but we're here to teach and we can't waste the first two weeks of a term messing around," Pesta said.
