Course Selection Dates

Okay so i cannot find this anywhereee (i seriously hate mac online stuff!!), but when do we pick courses? I read somewhere it started June 7th (today) but someone told me that it's different depending what faculty or program or whatever your in so I'm not sure when we can pick them. I can't even get onto mugsi to check right now b/c too many ppl are on it...

oops definetely posted this under the wrong section... oh well this is where there is the most activity nowadays haha

Check:
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthread.php/solar-registration-dates-28077.html?t=28077

For level 2 Science, it is June 14
For level 1 Science, it is June 27

how come all the locations on the timetable are mdcl, hh and bsb? i thought all our classes were in thode?
and i know that we pick one of the two lab sessions, but do we register for all the core and tutorials listed?

just wrote out my timetable, we have 30 hours of class a week? i thought it was supposed to be 24.
and i only picked one of the two lab sessions

sorry, it's 28, not 30.
but thats still more than 24?

good math, you do have 28-30 hours of class a week depending on your electives (it's usually about 3 less because the wednesday lab day is often just either in the morinng or afternoon; and look on the bright side that's 28 hours of attention isci profs are giving you guys).
The locations aren't the real locations which will be listed online and may vary by week but a timetable should be provided at least a month prior to the actual class.
You can register for the core/tutorials/labs but it doesnt' really matter for isci, but make sure you do register fora core/tutorial/lab for your electives.
there's also an "edit" post button .

firstly, i'd encourage you to sign up on account if you're an iSci 2014 student!

secondly, the "official mac timetable" serves mainly as a placeholder.. just for admin. all room assignments will be given to you on a week basis (for example on wednesday one week you'll be in Thode, the next maybe in a lab at BSB, the next maybe it's a field trip)... the rooms that appear are only there so that iSci can opt to use that room if necessary that day.

Also with times, your actual schedules will be dynamic on a weekly basis too, depending on the content presented, professor availability, etc. Through our experience some weeks, entire timeslots were freed up, sometimes classes were shortened, but sometimes it fills up (they give us adequate preparation on the timetable). Just try to organize your electives around the Mac master timetable and you'll be fine for next year!

How close can you get concerning timing? As in if an elective ends at 10:20 and the iSci portion starts at 10:30 could/should I still take that elective?

sure, that's definitely fine!

personally I like "blocking classes" together, that way I accumulate my free time in larger intervals, instead of shorter choppier 1 hour intervals.

When trying to plan your schedule, think about days where you might want to sleep in a bit, and time for lunch... also you may want to not plan a class right before a lab, in case your class ends up being on a different side of campus than your lab, you may have difficulty reaching in time.

Otherwise the 10 minutes is usually sufficient (and classes tend to end early), so it turns to 15-20 minutes. So don't worry about "blocking classes"

It says on the master timetable that there's...6 hours of labs every Friday? Is that for real? Or will that time slot vary somewhat?

Last year, we had labs booked all day Wednesday. As it turned out, we often had labs for only half the day, with half of isci students doing it in the morning and the other half doing the same lab in the afternoon. Whether you went in the morning depended on which lab section you were in and also your project groups, so changed on a week by week basis. Occasionally we did have labs in both the morning and afternoon. I assume there will be a similar setup for you guys on Friday.

Yeah, that could be it, but didn't Wednesdays have a one-hour break last year between the 2 lab slots?

from my understanding, the mcmaster website says that when you're registering on solar, you pick your courses, but you only pick your "core" course times. then, once solar is reopened in august (the 13th or something), you will have been ASSIGNED your lab and tutorial times.
but since our schedule is so packed already, there is really only ONE time that the elective labs/tutorialswould be taking place, so will they take that into account? or is it just assigned randomly?
because i;ve been thinking a lot about my electives and the ones i have chosen (or hope to choose) only have one lab and one tutorial that will fit with my schedule, if i am assigned a different one from the one i want, i won't be able to take the course at all?
 
or maybe i got this whole thing wrong and they let you pick all the times for everything at once lol. 

To answer some of your questions, I checked the hours for first year iSci, and it's on par with ours in terms of number of hours, so I don't see any mistakes.

As Solomon and Fahim said, we had to be part of both of Wednesday "lab times."

I am uncertain if this is changing for you guys (I would recommend a first year to ask and post it), but for us both Wednesday labs were booked.

Also, the 6 hours on Friday is real.. but yes, the timeslot will vary. It will be used for field trips, perhaps a combination (3 hour lab, 1 hour break, 2 hour lecture), and the day long Project Presentations. Most Friday's you'll be getting a break, don't worry, it won't be so intense. Though I have heard rumours that you'll be getting 4 hour physics labs!

For first years, I'd recommend finding 5 or 6 electives that seem interesting.

I think iSci will soon release "possible electives for first year iSci students" some time soon, and hopefully the ones you like will be on that list. If you want to try to venture around the McMaster course calendar, plan outside both Wednesday lab groups -- just to be safe for now.

do you know when we'll know which of the two labs on wednesday we're doing? i'm pretty sure we just do one of the two (since they're listed as L01 and L02, and i think it says it somewhere else)

We didn't find out until September, but occasionally we did have labs all day or a field trip. Short answer is, I think you have to keep both slots available. You should double check with Sarah Robinson though. I'm not going to post her e-mail address because this is a public forum, but it should be fairly easy to find on the isci website if you don't have it already.

hmm on the mac website, they said something about course registration in June 7th....well I guess its 27th. So that means, on 27th, I can decide all the courses and payment right?? because I really must finish it before 30th...
....and do i choose core/tutorial/lab at the same time????
sorry i am quite confused

and 28 hours??? so it seems like one of them are alternative...do we get to choose?? and which ones are they??? the timetable itself also confuse me...haha
https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca/mtt/spmastdtl.php?s=301&c=1A24&t=3&d=D

also when and where would we find out exactly which electives we can take??

thanks

by the way, we have to register for the introduction for lab and all those kinds of stuff at the same time right?

much easier to read
 
www.science.mcmaster.ca/isci/registered-students/course-timetable?showall=1
 
it also has a list of electives available in each time slot

Thanks for posting that, that's great^^

Any further 1st year questions should be directed to that webpage.

To clarify labs:

"L01/L02 are lab sections. On Wednesdays you only need to attend one of the lab sections (either green or blue) and similarly on Fridays. So, if you have found an elective that occurs during one (but not both) of the lab sections, you will not have a schedule conflict. The Friday afternoon lab is listed as being five hours long, but your lab will not be five hours each week. Normally labs are three hours long, but there is a five hour slot scheduled because some weeks you will go on field trips and some weeks you will have project presentations during this time. You will need to keep this whole slot free every week, if you have an elective during this time, it will be in conflict."

That answers the questions for both Wednesday (choose 1 of 2 based on elective choices/preference) and Friday (will usually be shortened to 3 (likely chem/phys labs) but might be 5 hours if trip/presentations).

thanks for the clarifications Prateek!!
the site saved my life

Just as a clarification, when you pick your courses you don't pick your lab section or your tutorial section in first year. The registrar will put you in a lab/tutorial section that does not conflict with your timetable (as long as there is one). If you find once you get your timetable that your courses conflict, contact Sarah Robinson (her email's on the website) and she'll get you fixed up.

Just out of curiosity, which course were you planning on taking that has a lab section?

hmm what are exactly lab section/tutorial?? is that referring to electives?

i wanted to take kin 1y03, but it conflicts and it wont work out

yeah....i really wanted to take japanese, but the time table didn't work out....(sigh) i guess i have to take it during summer
hmm, as of now, I am thinking of linear algebra and anthro...

Linear Algebra is a great choice especially if you want to pursue further courses in mathematics/statistics and physics/astronomy and perhaps even chemistry (quantum).

Awesome!! well im just taking it because i find it really easy and interesting
did anyone take anthro??

I for sure want to take upper level math courses some of which I believe I need to have taken linear algebra. Especially, if I decide to concentrate in Math but I want to keep my options open for now. Anyways, what if the class is full by the time SOLAR lets me in however late at night/early in the morning that ends up being? Unless it is available online or something like that, taking it in the summer probably wouldn't be an option for me. lol I guess I'm just scared that I won't be able take it because of all this talk of back up electives and SOLAR.

Even though there's lots of talk about SOLAR not letting you take the courses you want because they're all full, don't worry about it too much.
1. Sarah Robinson has your back. She will fight to get you into the courses you need, provided you have made an effort.
2. Up until 2 weeks into the course, people are constantly switching in and out. If you check SOLAR regularly (i.e. multiple times daily) you will eventually get lucky and see that the course is available
3. If you speak to whoever runs the course, they can usually get you in. This was the case for one of my electives last year (economics). I went to the prof and said "I'm not in this class, but I'd really like to be. Is there anything you can do?" and apparently they reserve a few spots for people who say that and it was no trouble at all.
4. Linear algebra didn't even fit in our timetable last year so none of us could take it. Nevertheless, a number of us are pursuing concentrations in math or physics. You guys have so much more selection than we did and everything is so much better organized. Take for instance, the fact that you have a forum on which to address these questions and the fact that iSci has an administrator to manage this sort of thing. It all worked out for us, so I guarantee it will for you too.
Hope this helps assuage some of your fears!

Are any second year kids planning on selling textbooks/midterms/notes?

This is the part of the story where Viktoria becomes rich.

I'm definitely taking anthropology (the 'being human' one) and linear algebra. Very last minute, but I've been looking everything up and I'd really like to have Dr. Nicas. Can you take anthropology in term 1? It looks to me like it conflicts, but the whole thing is sort of confusing me.

im guessing that it keeps locking you out of MUGSI and you just hav to keep trying til you get in? then keep trying once you get into that on SOLAR?

Question: I added all my courses....but do I choose the core parts too? I have the actual core part added. It just doesn't say anything under core, except for Science 1A00.

wow still cant log on to MUGSI...

hey all, please join the chatbox on the bottom of the (main forum homepage) screen for instant talk.... if you are already signed in, simply press the log-in button

These issues have probably been resolved but:

To answer some of the questions above:

Ryan: Don't worry about core, and stuff, etc. if you're signed up for the class you are good!
Make sure it shows up on the page after you press "accept/apply all changes"

Ben: you are correct... first Mugsi, then SOLAR.. Solar's harder than mugsi.

Natalie: Unfortunately I think Anthropology Term 1 conflicts, and it is only possible to take it Term 2. I will confirm this for you.