Tuesday, July 10, 2023

Hello Class of 2027!

This email contains important information about course registration for your Fall 2023 courses. 

Please review the resources that are newly  available today on your Lyceum Summer Resources page. The new tile, “Exploring the Liberal Arts and Academic Opportunities,” includes information on course registration, much of which is summarized in this email.

The Bates mission statement includes the sentence, “Bates College has been dedicated to the emancipating potential of the liberal arts.” To meet this goal, Bates faculty, staff, and your fellow students foster opportunities that encourage development of “the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship” that inspires not only a lifelong love of learning, but also “a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world.”  The new “Exploring the Liberal Arts and Academic Opportunities” tile of your First-Year Experience (FYE) Summer Resources, which opens to you today, highlights how you can access opportunities within and beyond the classroom to discover more about yourself and to prepare for a life of exploration, purposeful work, and community engagement.

This section of your Summer Resources describes in extensive detail both when and how to register for your Fall 2023 classes. It also includes information on what courses you might consider taking by providing information on your general education requirements, placement tests for language, math, and chemistry, recommended entry courses for every field of study, and more. 

How to Navigate the “Exploring the Liberal Arts and Academic Opportunities” 

Please review all of the material and watch the videos in this section of FYE Summer Resources Lyceum Page before registration for First-Year Seminar (FYS) courses opens on July 17 at 10 AM Eastern Time. 

To access Lyceum simply go to the Quad at https://quad.bates.edu/ and click on the bar labeled “Lyceum.” Once at the Lyceum landing page, enter your username and password. Your username is NOT your 9-digit User ID that you use to access the Garnet Gateway. It is usually some combination of your first initial and last name; it is the same combination of first initial and last name that precedes @bates.edu in your Bates email address.

Registration for your Fall 2023 courses will occur in 2 stages. 

First, you are asked to select your preferences only for your required First-Year Seminar or FYS. Registration is NOT first-come, first-serve. You can register for your required FYS at any point between 10 AM on July 17 and 11:59 PM on July 21.

Second, you are asked to register for your 3 other Fall courses (students most often take 4 credits per semester, which is usually 4 courses) between 10 AM Eastern Time on August 2 and 11:59 Eastern Time on August 8, 2023.

As you explore course options and the other resources in this new tile of your Summer Resources, please remember these important dates, which we also communicated to you in an email sent on June 7, 2023:

Monday, July 17, 2023 – First Year Seminar (FYS) Preference Registration Opens at 10 AM Eastern Time. Registration is NOT first-come, first-served. You can register at any time between the opening on July 17 and the closing of the registration period on Friday, July 21 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Be sure to indicate your top choice for your FYS as well as to select no fewer than 8 unranked alternates.

Tuesday, July 18, 2023 – Zoom Webinar on Academic Exploration and Course Registration from 6 to 7:15 PM Eastern Time (Topics: General Education Requirements, Social Sciences, Humanities, Sciences, Math, Interdisciplinary Programs, Languages, the Arts, Engineering, and Pre-Health Professions Coursework). Get your questions answered by a panel of faculty and academic staff. The panel will be recorded so you can re-watch or watch if you cannot attend.  We will send you the Zoom link about 24 to 48 hours before the event.

Friday, July 21, 2023 – First-Year Seminar (FYS) Preference Registration closes at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Be sure to have indicated your top choice and no fewer than 8 unranked alternates.

Friday, July 28, 2023 – What FYS Will I Be Taking? FYS Assignment Notification is available at Garnet Gateway on or near 4 PM Eastern time.

Wednesday, August 2, 2023 – Registration for Fall 2023 courses (all of your other Fall courses beside your First-Year Seminar (FYS)) opens at 10 AM Eastern Time concurrent with registration consultation period. Each student is assigned an August Registration Consultant who will reach out to you on or near August 2 through your Bates email. They are members of the faculty or student affairs staff who are available to assist you in your course selection if you need help. Course registration–just like FYS selection–is NOT first-come, first-served. You may enter your preferences at any time between 10 AM on August 2 and 11:59 PM on August 8. Be sure to enter your 3 top choices and at least 10 unranked alternate courses. 

At Bates, students generally take about 4 credits per semester and most courses count as 1 credit each. So between August 2 and August 8, you register for the courses aside from your FYS that you plan to take. Again, when you select your course preferences, you should note 3 top choices and about 10 unranked alternative courses. When you indicate alternates, do not waste slots by indicating different sections of the same course. The registrar will put you into any available section of a course that works for your schedule. And, finally, pay attention to your Mode of Inquiry requirements (which are discussed in the resources detailing your General Education requirements, which you can also access here) when selecting courses. It is recommended that students complete 1 to 2 MOIs in their first semester and that all MOIs be completed by the end of the sophomore year.

Thanks for taking the time to read this email and for reviewing your “Exploring the Liberal Arts and Academic Opportunities” materials on Lyceum as you prepare for Fall 2023 course registration.

We look forward to working with you throughout the summer and to meeting you during Arrival Day on August 31!

Steve Engel, Professor of Politics and Associate Dean of the Faculty 

Kim Trauceniek, Senior Associate Dean of Students

Meg Hoppe, Coordinator of Residence Life and First-Year Experience