Woe is Telebears: 5 Tips for Surviving the System

Aug 04, 2010 47 Comments by

Before every semester, some 22,000 undergraduates register for classes at Berkeley. Doing so while maintaining sanity, however, is another matter.

As a student with “sophomoron” standing, my registration appointment was yesterday. Current status: offically enrolled for 10 units and waitlisted for another 7 units, even for a class that I wasn’t sure I wanted to take. (The most popular classes have 0 available seats and a full waitlist.)

In scheduling Telebears appointments, priority goes to athletes and disabled students first, then seniors (they need to graduate!), freshmen (make their first semesters start on a happier note), juniors and sophomores.

Below are some tips for surviving the two-part Telebears:

1. Get your unit count up. This increases your academic standing, which in turn gives you an earlier appointment date. Take college-level classes in high school (and pass the exams), summer classes at a community college, seminars at Berkeley – when the time gets tough, the tough gets going.

2. Declare a major as soon as possible. Many classes will have course restrictions by category, which means that they reserve seating for students of a certain major; for example, reserving seats for Spanish majors for an upper-division Spanish class. Open seating for non-majors always fills up quickly.

3. Sign up for required classes during your Phase I appointment. Use schedule.berkeley.edu, and be sure to “Click here for current enrollment information” at the bottom of the course profile. Unless the professor has received harsh online ratings, core classes such as Economics 1 and English R1B will be full by the time your Phase II appointment rolls around. Save general interest courses and breadth classes for Phase II. It also helps to check enrollment for a class you’ll take in a future semester as a reference point for its phase-II-ability or lack thereof.

4. Email the professor if you’re on the waitlist. Anyone teaching a class is always glad to know that someone is genuinely interested in the course. As waitlists are manual by department, you might just receive an instructor approval code needed for exclusive entry. For classes with discussion sections, choose a relatively “open” discussion early in the morning or late in the day to improve your chances. Discussion usually determines attendance and enrollment more so than lecture.

5. Use your rabbit’s foot. You might get lucky. Once you have a certain academic standing and unit count, you just have to use the law of attraction and hope for the best appointment time.

Campus

About the author

A social sciences major, Jessica attempts to psychoanalyze the guests at Disneyland, where she works during the summer. Likes pineapples and truffles, dislikes pineapple truffles.

47 Responses to “Woe is Telebears: 5 Tips for Surviving the System”

  1. Beau Marolt says:

    But wanna remark that you have a very nice website , I enjoy the design it really stands out.

  2. Dusti Wimes says:

    I liked as much as you’ll obtain performed proper here. The cartoon is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an shakiness over that you would like be delivering the following. ill surely come further before again since exactly the same nearly a lot ceaselessly within case you shield this hike.

  3. lesson plan says:

    Thank you for using the time and effort to write something which is invokinThank you for using the time and effort to write something so interesting.

  4. Joseph Jaggers says:

    Hey, found your site by accident doing a search on Google but I’ll definitely be coming back. – I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up. – Mark Twain 1835 – 1910

  5. Laurie Tabisola says:

    This is a great blog! Keep posting!

  6. The signs and symptoms of Hemorrhoids says:

    Hello!, I am visiting your site for the second time to see more of your updates. I found this very interesting and just had to com­ment a appreciative thank you for all your effort. Please continue the great work your doing!

  7. Nicholas Patterson says:

    Good site, thanks. I really love it.

  8. Kim Kardashian video says:

    i bookmarked this! looking for updates…

  9. Link Building says:

    Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!

  10. Gregory Despain says:

    Is it my browser or the website, but I can only see part the post. How should I response this?

  11. Luigi Fulk says:

    The source seems to be not working, does anyone have a backup or mirror url I can use. Thanks, oh I got your link ok.

  12. Rob Rasmussen says:

    wow thousand of naked celeb pics and celebrity sex tapes

  13. dating affiliate says:

    nice post, will be great to see more like this

  14. womens tahari suit says:

    Actions speak louder than words.

  15. freegames says:

    What a marvelous blogpost.. Thnx for sharing this blog post..

  16. Lynn Parent says:

    Hey I like your site !

  17. mailing list says:

    great job, thanks for keeping us updated

  18. Suzi Chernak says:

    great blog! keep up the great work!

  19. Damion Blesh says:

    i thought this was a really great post to read. i’ll check back for new posts by you!

  20. if you don't mind, where do you host your blog? I am looking for a good host and your blog seams to be fast and up all the time... says:

    it look like you do not have the last word press… think about updating as I am sure you don’t want to have surprises…

  21. Miquel Farbman says:

    I am trying to view this in Netscape but the images are not appearing properly. Is there a fix?

  22. Kelley Wallaert says:

    it will be great if you add a translation widget on your blog…

  23. Free Uniform Sex says:

    I found your site via google thanks for the post. I will bookmark it for future reference.

  24. Marge Gamela says:

    Regards for discuss incredibly wonderful informations. Your online is greatI am impressed by the information and facts that you’ve on this blog. It exhibits how nicely you comprehend this topic. Bookmarked the following page, will arrive back for a lot more. You, my friend, amazing! I found just the data I by now searched everywhere and just can’t find. What a perfect web site. Like this internet site your web site is one of my new favorite.I similar to this data shown and it has provided me some type of motivation to have good results for some reason, so maintain up the good operate!

  25. Marcus Altomare says:

    I like your way of writing! You should post more often…

  26. Tyson F. Gautreaux says:

    Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.

  27. NBA news says:

    I have a basketball fan blog. I will add your blog to the blogroll as I think my visitors will love to read your posts…

  28. Jacquelynn Grimaldo says:

    great post! I used google translation to translate it…

  29. kim video says:

    you have a great blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?

  30. Catherina Rzasa says:

    Thank you for one more fantastic blog.Wherever else could I get this type of info composed in such an incite full way? I’ve a project that I’m just now working on, and i’m certain this can help me a lot..and I have been trying to find such tips because from couple of days….Thanks!!!!!

  31. Kim Kardashian says:

    Is this a custom word press theme? I would like to have a similar one for my blog…

  32. Identity Theft Protection says:

    Hello, Would it be possible to employ this magnificent write-up on my web page? I would needless to say link back to you. Let me find out what you determine to perform.

  33. Ray J says:

    Do you have an RSS feed?

  34. Kim Kardashian tape says:

    Could you please let me know what theme are using on your site?

  35. Damien Dunseith says:

    do you have any update on this?

  36. Alina Mckenize says:

    For some aspects of you might require some professional help.

  37. Luigi Fulk says:

    Lucky i discovered , this amazing site, will make sure to bookmark it so i can come to frequently.

  38. Issac Maez says:

    Thankful i discovered , this website, will be sure to take a note of it so i can check-out regularly.

  39. Product Marketing says:

    I Too Like the Blog here. Keep up all the work. I too love to blog. This is great everyone sharing opinions :)

  40. Online Jobs says:

    I Too Like the Blog here. Keep up all the work. I too love to blog. This is great everyone sharing opinions :)

  41. Work From Home says:

    I Too Like the Blog here. Keep up all the work. I too love to blog. This is great everyone sharing opinions :)

  42. Hattie Carathers says:

    hey there, this might be little offtopic, but i am hosting my site on hostgator and they will suspend my hosting in 4days, so i would like to ask you which hosting do you use or recommend?

  43. Nolan Matterson says:

    hey there, this might be little offtopic, but i am hosting my site on hostgator and they will suspend my hosting in 4days, so i would like to ask you which hosting do you use or recommend?

  44. Laticia Yeakley says:

    Boiler breakdown, boiler repair or replacement in London and Kent. Reach us at http://www.boiler-breakdown-repair-london.co.uk

  45. Backlinks says:

    This is a good blog. Keep up all the work. I too love to blog. This is great everyone sharing opinions :)

Leave a Reply