ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REGISTRATION: ​VIPER​ EDITION  

REGISTRATION TIMELINE 
Advance registration:
June 18th - July 13th
This is the time when you choose a preliminary schedule. You’ll register for the optimal courses
in the next couple of weeks and you’ll submit those courses to Penn InTouch. Then the system
will do its thing for about a week and assign each person a preliminary schedule. This process
is not first come first serve but please note that the system gets considerably slower as the
deadline approaches since it is not a very robust system and gets overwhelmed when lots of
freshmen are using it at once.

Course selection period:

July 24th - September 17th
This is the first come first serve time where you sign up for courses as soon as you can. This is
obviously a very long period and lasts well into the start of classes so some of you might be
changing up your schedules up until the third week of classes.

REGISTRATION TIPS 
1. It is important to note that this process might be a little complex since it’s new to you all,
but it is meant to be a stress-free process that makes signing up for courses as easy and
fair as possible. In the end, you will all get the classes that you need, so you should
never freak out if you don’t get the classes that you want right away. With that being
said, these tips are to make this entire process run more seamlessly for you as VIPER
students since you have distinctly different requirements than the rest of the school and
also since there are so few of you.
2. When you are playing around in Penn InTouch, you should be using the mock schedule
tool quite a lot to make sure that the classes you sign up for fit time-wise and are the
correct classes.
a. You can use the course search tool to filter for classes that fit into your schedule
in addition to many other things (departments, etc.). It is also useful to filter based
on sector requirement for the College.
b. Please note that once you make your mock schedule it’s not enough! You have
to physically register for the classes you successfully decided on using your
mock schedule.
3. Classes look like they are entire hours or entire 90 minutes or three entire hours.
However, they will always finish ten minutes before what they say on Penn InTouch. For
example, if you have math lecture from 9-10, then your professor will finish lecturing at
9:50. Likewise, if you have a class from 12-1:30, then class will end at 1:20. So you don’t
need to worry about getting from one point to another.
4. Once you actually have figured out your mock schedule, and you’re ready to register for
classes, there are some things you should pay attention to within the registration system.
 a. The registration screen is a priority list. That is, when you list the classes you
want to register for, the order matters. The first class you sign up for will be
treated by the system as the class you want the most. The last class will be the
one you want the least. Thus, the best rule of thumb to follow is prioritize smaller
classes and seminars closer to the top (things like writing seminar and specific
lab times that you really want). Bigger lectures for math and physics can be
closer to the bottom since you’re pretty much guaranteed to get into those as a
freshman engineering student.
b. There are alternates that you can list for each class-- I wouldn’t use that feature
unless you really think you won’t get into a class and you have a well thought out
back up plan for that. My back up plan is usually just get into the class some
other way like talking to professors in the first week of class.
c. Again, here I’m just giving you the facts and basic advice. You’re not going to die
if you don’t follow this advice. What your actual registration screen looks like in its
finished form will be fine, and you’ll get into the classes you need eventually.
Knowing how the system works right away just makes things easier.
5. Recitations/labs
a. If there’s a recitation required you gotta sign up for it. If the recitations don’t fit in
your schedule, you can’t take the corresponding lecture.
b. When you sign up for recitations, make sure the recitation is for the
corresponding lecture. Especially for big classes like MATH104, 114, 240; certain
recitations are only for one lecture taught by one professor. You can figure out
the correct recitation by clicking on your lecture and looking at the recitations
listed for that lecture. The same goes for chem lab and lab lecture (yes there is a
lab lecture for chem lab).
6. Writing seminar
a. VIPER students are encouraged to take writing seminar right away freshman
year to get it over right away and also to buy you extra time for thinking about
your majors.
b. In case you were wondering, writing sem is the one class that is required for all
Penn students, regardless of your school. They just teach you to write. No
student is exempt from it, even if you think you’re a professional writer (sorry,
buddies). If you are international and feel that you are less fluent in English, you
are permitted to take craft of prose (listed as WRIT002 in Penn InTouch). If you
are fluent in English you probably shouldn’t be taking craft of prose. All writing
seminars are listed under the WRIT code in Penn InTouch. Conversely, the
WRIT department is literally just writing seminars.
c. If you have specific writing seminars that you want to take (especially the fun
ones), those puppies fill up real quick so if you don’t get into them the first time
around during advance registration, you’ll be stuck with a really boring one.
7. Chemistry
 a. Every single one of you should be taking chemistry-- in my experience, it’s the
best idea. You all will be needing the credit, whether you’re majoring in
chemistry/CBE or not.
b. You could be taking CHEM101 or CHEM115-- depends on how comfortable you
are with your chemistry and/or how you did on the AP/IB exam, I think. CHEM115
is the honors version of chemistry. When you talk to Dr. Hughes, this is a
problem you should be developing with her.
c. If you decide on taking CHEM101, note that two of the sections are engineering
sections (sections 004 and 005-- taught by Peter Davies AND Anthony
Pietrovito). Those sections usually have easier curves (no cut-throat pre-med
kids) and are more geared towards engineering applications. If you can’t fit these
in your schedules though don’t worry about it.
8. Physics
a. Physics is required for all engineering majors-- you all should be taking a physics
too. The physics class you take will be either PHYS150 or 151, depending on
what you decide with Dr. Hughes and allegedly how you did on your AP/IB
exams. If you are unsure, plan on taking PHYS150.
b. If you really love physics, PHYS170/171 is also highly recommended to you,
especially if you’re going straight for a physics major in the college. That’s the
honors physics path-- something to figure out with Dr. Hughes.
9. Math
a. Again, something to figure out with Dr. Hughes. Some quick advice though-- if
you can get out of MATH104, it’s in your best interest. This will be decided pretty
much entirely by how you do on your math diagnostic. You should be taking that
thing very soon. For all who want to skip MATH104-- it’s better if you have a 5 on
the AP Calc BC exam.
b. If you know multivariable calculus (plus Green’s + Stokes’ theorems) and you did
well on the math diagnostic, more power to you. Maybe it would be a good idea
to go straight for MATH240.
c. On the other hand, if you are one of the kids who’s going into MATH104
freshman fall, you’ll be in good hands. Robert Ghrist has a great engineering
math section (104 in the fall and 114 in the spring) that will not only ensure you
have a thorough understanding of integral calculus but also leave a not so bitter
taste for math in your mouth.

PLACEMENT TESTS 
All placement tests happen during NSO-- they’re all on the NSO schedule and/or on the
department websites. Placement tests that you would consider taking are for chemistry, physics,
math, and/or languages.

OFFICE HOURS 
This year we’re trying this new thing where each of the engineering orientation peer advisors
(OPAs) will hold office hours aka a designated hour where they will be available online to
answer questions about specific topics. More details will be sent to you about how you can
participate in our VIPER office hours, but for now here is the schedule.

Radhika: June 23rd at 3pm on advance registration in general

Vignesh: July 5th at 2pm on registration using Penn InTouch
Swetha: July 26th at 6pm on welcome to VIPER
Ayush: July 1st at 2pm on chemistry placement exams