Waiting

[cjsmith]

I'm still ninth on the waiting list for chem and sixth for bio. It's not looking particularly hopeful. A few of those will probably flunk fall quarter chem or bio and be pulled off the list, but still I'd better come up with a plan B. Anybody need a mobile phone coder for ten to twelve weeks?

What irks me a bit is knowing that within two weeks of the start of classes, at least that many people will have dropped out of these highly desirable classes. I'm amazed at how many people drop classes here! But by that time it will be far too late for anyone new to join. (Sitting in on lecture is one thing, but seats in lab are precisely numbered; I can't stay and watch.) I wish I could somehow petition to get some kind of better status for any student who will actually take the class.

I've heard that the huge influx of students is, in part, from four-year schools whose budget cuts meant fewer classes. I had wondered how I could possibly have gotten in to all my first-quarter classes -- when I must have had lower priority than I did this time -- if there was this much competition. After all, anyone taking chem 1B had to have needed chem 1A first, right? Answer: yes they did, and a large number of them took it elsewhere.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

We're hiring, and our toolchains work on mobile-phone processors. I know the job description is for a full-time permanant position, but I'm pretty sure we'd be willing to be flexible if there's stuff you could usefully do for us in a shorter timeframe (and I expect there would be).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh interesting! Yes, perhaps I could be useful in a shorter timeframe, and as a short-time employee, I wouldn't be picky about my title or about whether the work was helping me grow my career. If you need stuff done and I can do it, that'd be enough. I'm still hoping to do something useful with school, but this is a good idea to keep in mind. Thanks!

[brooksmoses]

You're welcome. If it comes to this, let me know and I'll let the relevant people know I'm referring you. :)

And "not being picky about titles" is perhaps useful -- I once joked to Mark that we have a stealth org chart, because we all have the official title of "Sourcerer". (Well, okay, he's "Chief Sourcerer", and occasionally we have a student "Apprentice Sourcerer", but other than that, I have the same title as my manager does.)

[eichin.livejournal.com]

Hah, small world - codesourcery wrote QMTest, which is what led to me (and my company) switching whole-heartedly over to python :-) (thanks!)

[ken_r]

Maybe they should start the term making room for a few extra people for labs and such, in anticipation of losing some portion of them and getting down to the number of students they actually want -- though maybe they're already doing that with the current class enrollment limits.

Still, it probably couldn't hurt to talk to the prof about it, and see if he could make an exception (or six, or nine) and find a way to get a few more people into the lab, with the understanding that you'd get the boot if N students don't actually drop out in the first couple of weeks. Maybe an extra lab session, only run for the first couple of weeks, would be practical, and then you all switch into the regular lab session(s) if spaces are available? It would obviously cost the school a little in extra lab supplies, though, as well as prof/TA time.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I suspect they're doing that to the extent they can. There are only so many lab benches, and when they're full, they're full.

It would be up to the dean or maybe even the college administration to do anything differently, especially an extra lab session. (One of the constraints, as I understand it, is rooms.) Me, I'd be willing to pay for the extra lab supplies and all, but... eh well.

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

How big is the class? If you're that high up the waiting list, I would say sit in on the lectures anyway, and make arrangements to make up early labs if you get in.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm ninth (and sixth) for one specific lab section for each class, and I think for chem the labs are capped at 24. I'm totally going to sit in on the lectures until they kick me out. (The kicking out happens on the second or third class session.)

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Wow, what an annoying situation. I'm sorry for all your frustration. I had a couple of similar situations, but Temple was pretty good about arranging enough sections to handle everybody. Or maybe I was just lucky in the first couple of years when it would be an issue. :) But I think you're probably right on that the influx of four year students doesn't help, plus two year schools likely struggle with this more than four year schools anyway, if students don't bother to declare concentrations and just take the classes they need.

None of that helps, of course, so I hope you are able to work something out. It would stink to take a semester off, though luckily you have skills that would probably fit in well somewhere.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It would indeed stink to take a semester off, though if I'm brutally honest, the concept of completing all this in two years was quite ambitious anyway and I knew that going in. I can legitimately be surprised that things are so different for winter quarter than they were for fall, but I can't whine that this glitch costs me a year. I likely would have needed the extra year no matter what.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

You may safely whine as far as *I* am concerned. :) It is reasonable to add time to your studies for reasons like classes not being offered or completely full or not doing well or whatever. But to have to add time because the various departments all scheduled their classes in conflict with each other is rather silly and disappointing. :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, true. I dislike inefficiency, especially preventable inefficiency. But when all's said and done, I'm taking charity here (people who pay tons of money for their schooling don't have these problems) and you know what they say about who can't be choosers. I'll make it work out. :-)