I've chosen all my courses, plan on changing just one of them before September. Grads that I've talked to are always telling me to choose my profs carefully etc but so far on SOLAR we've just been able to choose the course and term.

Do first years get to choose their profs and time slots? And if so, when? Is that what the "section" column on SOLAR is?

And what do you guys recommend about sectioning?

the only thing i know for certain is that you'll get to pick your time and profs in august, not sure the exact date tho

where can i find out what times are available for my courses, and the profs that are teaching it?

McMaster Master Timetable:

https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca /mtt/

Depending on the times that the courses are offered at, there may be some conflicts between the times of the courses you would like to take. It's best to compare the times for all the courses you would like to take using the Master Time Table (provided in the post above) before entering into SOLAR to pick your courses.

I've already chosen my courses, and didn't even bother looking at the timetable... :S
The master timetable thing looks so complicated... The notes says that we'll be assigned sections, but we can modify them when SOLAR opens up again. Does the default assignments take into consideration the other courses I have?

I think the system tries to organize it automatically so you have no conflicts or as few conflicts as possible (based on other people and random algorithms that I have no idea about lol).

Then it'll spit you out a schedule and it's up to you whether you decide to keep that or try to change things around (I highly recommend you try changing things around to better suit your wants and needs, the one they give you is almost never very ideal, at least for Science kids)

Originally Posted by logans

I've already chosen my courses, and didn't even bother looking at the timetable... :S
The master timetable thing looks so complicated... The notes says that we'll be assigned sections, but we can modify them when SOLAR opens up again. Does the default assignments take into consideration the other courses I have?

The Registrar tries its best to section all students with conflict free schedules. But obviously it's impossible for the percentage to be 100%. However, not all combinations of courses can be conflict free. That's why the Registrar makes the master timetable. It's so that students can check if they have a chance of having a conflict free schedule.

I think this forum will help you a bit: http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...er+timeta ble

The system does try to slot you into times that will not conflict with each other but it may not be the best schedule according to your own preference. For instance, if you can't wake up in the morning, then 8:30am classes every day of the week will not go well for you. Unless there's no other choice (if the course only has that one core or some other reasons), you may want to check out the Master Time table to see if there's a more desirable timetable suited to your preference. When your timetable is released on the 11th (I think) you will have the opportunity to go back into SOLAR to change cores, labs, and tutorial times (if available).