Scheduling
Scheduling refers to information about class registration.
Registration Phases
Class registration at Georgia Tech occurs over multiple phases. In each phase, eligible students will receive a time ticket, a certain time frame during which students can add and drop classes.[1] Check the Registrar's academic calendar for the exact dates of each registration phase.
Phase 1
Continuing students begin course registration for the next semester in the semester prior.[2] Registration for spring classes occurs in the fall, usually around October and November, and registration for fall and summer classes occurs in the spring, usually around March. Time tickets in phase 1 are assigned based on completed credit hours, with students who have more credit hours receiving earlier time tickets.[1]
Phase 2
Phase 2 is a last chance registration phase for all students, beginning about a week before classes start and ending after the first week of classes. The first week of classes, known as "syllabus week," gives students an opportunity to drop out of courses without a "W" appearing on their transcripts.[2] Typically, professors do not give much work during this week, making this a great time to decide whether to remain in a course based on the syllabus, professor style, etc. As a result, waitlists tend to move a lot during this phase. Students who drop a course after phase 2 registration has ended will receive a "W" on their transcript for that course.[2]
Time tickets in phase 2 are assigned based on completed credit hours, with students who have more credit hours receiving earlier time tickets.[1]
FASET
New students and transfer students begin course registration during their orientation (FASET). Students will register with their FASET group, and FASET leaders, advisors, and the Registrar will be available to help students during class registration. The order in which FASET groups register for classes has not been observed to depend on incoming credits.
Phase "AP"
Incoming students who have not received their AP scores by the time of their FASET session will be given another opportunity to add and drop classes in late July. This allows students to register for courses that have prerequisites satisfied by AP credit. Students may not register for classes without the proper prerequisites, unless given a prerequisite override.[3]
Course Numbers
Course numbers indicate certain information about courses, such as the year that they are typically taken in. Note that the conventions below are general and should not be used as a strict rule. For example, a couple 3000-level classes, such as MATH 3012, are sometimes taken by freshmen despite the convention listed below.
The letters preceding the four digit number indicate which department offers the course. For example, CS 1301 is a course offered by the college of computing.
The first digit indicates which year the class is typically taken in. Course numbers in the form 1XXX are generally freshman classes, 2XXX are generally classes that build on freshman classes, 3XXX classes go into specific major material, and 4XXX classes are generally high level technical classes. Transfer courses on the transfer equivalency table listed as 1XXX, 2XXX, etc. may be used as free electives.
Subsequent digits indicate other information about a course, such as if it is a course reserved for special topics. A more comprehensive guide to course numbering is provided by the registrar.
Additional Information
Linked Courses
A linked course is a course that has both a lecture section and an additional section, such as a lab or studio, and both sections must be registered for simultaneously. This guide made by the ME department provides more information and is applicable to all majors.
Some classes have a shared test period, such as PHYS 2211 and 2212. This shows up in a schedule as a single time block during the week and is usually very late in the day. However, most students will only have 2-5 tests a semester in each class, so in most weeks it will not be of concern.
Resources
DegreeWorks can be accessed by students and is the same software used by academic advisors. DegreeWorks should be used to evaluate prerequisites and classes required for your major.
GT Scheduler, a product of Jinseo Park and Bits of Good, should be used to find optimal combinations of the courses a student intends to take.
Course Critique provides historical data about a professor's GPA in a specific course. In general, a professor with a higher GPA than the course's historical average will be easier.
CIOS Survey Data provides aggregate numerical data from CIOS surveys, which students fill out toward the end of a course each semester to evaluate the quality of a course. To view the survey data, log in when prompted and then click See Results at the bottom of the page. Uniquely, it provides information about how much time the median student spends per week on the course, which can help with understanding how manageable your workload will be—but don't take these numbers completely literally. Other data includes the quality of the course (on a scale from 1 to 5), quality of the professor's teaching, and % of classes attended. The prevalence and incentives surrounding CIOS survey completion could make CIOS a more reliable resource than RateMyProfessor. I know of some people who said they weren't able to view the survey data; this may have been because they were a TA or incoming freshman.
RateMyProfessor is a popular professor rating website. Its findings often track with CIOS data but both should be consulted in creating a schedule.
Oscar Registration Extension allows users to quickly fill in CRNs on the day of registration.
If you are an OMS (Online Master of Science) student, OMSCentral provides ratings and reviews for OMS courses. These are all 6XXX, 7XXX, and 8XXX-level courses.
Trust (but verify) any information provided by an academic advisor. Academic advisors are not often familiar with which professors are more difficult and may not prescribe plans that follow prerequisites.
GT Scheduler Guide
In order to use GT Scheduler, navigate to the GT Scheduler website: https://www.gt-scheduler.org/
Select your desired term in the top left, it should default to the next Spring or Fall term.
Next, enter your course numbers ("XX 0000") in the top left dialogue box. Blocks of time will be filled in the calendar to the right. In between your input course list and calendar, permutations of all input courses will be displayed. This list can be sorted for compactness or by ending time.
The letters next to or for a course number indicate the section (A, B, or C). These indicate the professor/instructor, time of lecture, and duration of lecture. Section A and B might have one professor while section C has another. The qualities might be the same for each section or they might be different, as it depends on the course and the semester. GR stands for grad.
If a class has another part where it has the section letter followed by a number (i.e. A01, B03), then that is a recitation or lab period. For some MATH classes, it is called studio. These are called "sub-sections' for your section. The sub-sections typically differ from each other in TAs and timeframe. If a class has recitations, they are probably required to sign up for, but not to attend. These time blocks can be when you do labs, take tests/quizzes, or ask questions with TAs.
There is also an R section for some classes (i.e. CS 1332 and CS 1332R). This is an additional and typically optional recitation section for the course.
And lastly, always always double check your course selections on OSCAR for additional information. There can be additional restrictions by campus, major, concentration, LLC, etc.
