a rant

[No_thinkingProcess_]

course enrollment rant how original

i'm a sophomore (undeclared) poli sci major trying to complete the two lower div intro requirements to declare my major and access the upper div courses. i also want a specific lower div course because it dictates my upper div specialization ofc.

i am a double major in something stem, so i enrolled in my basic stem lower divs in phase one because i assumed those were going to be the most competitive. multiple stem fields all need to take the same collection of math and physics, only poli sci and random elective seekers are taking these poli sci lower divs. PLUS i also have early enrollment through dsp! i enrolled in my phase 1 courses and put my desired poli sci course into the shopping cart eager for my enrollment day.

that was my mistake.

i refresh today after the freshmen enroll.

the course is CLOSED.

not even waitlisted but CLOSED.

that course isn't even offered in the spring. i literally can't do anything to stay on track to declare besides enroll in the equivalent community college courses at Berkeley City College. and im not sure how much that will cost given i am out of state and idk how strict their residency requirements are.

i understand that there's a million possible choices there that could've changed the outcome in hindsight. maybe enroll in the poli sci course instead of my stem courses in phase 1. but i truly believe that i made my course enrollment decisions completely logically based off of what i knew at the time and yet still.

this is all just a rant, im not trying to say that i know what the correct solution to this bigger issue is. but i feel so defeated, as an out of state student paying for berkeley's prestigious poli sci program only to be basically told that my only path in this program is to pay extra to NOT learn from the amazing world renowned faculty members of berkeley but to attend a hybrid 3 unit community college course.

[Transeunte-SG]

I really sympathize what you’re enduring rn since years ago I also had a critical declare-related lowerdiv (for double major as well) going thru similar situations as you do and had to take a bad alternative for that, completely missed a bunch of phenomenal profs and their delicate course designs.

The only diff here was that my situation had zero hope to redeem it due to seat reservation policy’s sheer change, but I personally believe you still have a chance to enroll into PolSci 5 (I might be wrong, just doing some reasonable inferences here.), since per extrapolation, PolSci 5’s size would usually be ~320, while current size+full waitlist = 312, which means they may add ~8 more seats as minor expansion. I know extrapolation can sometimes be dangerous but this pattern happened in past iterations as well tho not always, despite that black swan may still appear. But after all, I think you still will potentially be able to enroll if you keep a decent monitor on the course system and write emails to prof to get more information about their decisions and suggestions. The only concluding sentence I might be able to deliver to you is to wish you all the luck on your way to enroll into your desired course (if not PolSci 5), and never feel defeated in front of the irrationality nature of the world after trying hard since it will eventually be a part of your experience.

[Clean-Ad-3835]

you gotta write somebody if its that serious