There are always things we are guilty of doing in SMU that piss people off (even for a while). So do everyone a favor by not committing the 8 unpardonable sins.
1. Use the lift when its just one level up/down and that level is accessible by the escalator
2. Talk crap in class just to get class part. We are not idiots, we know what’s crap even when its confidently and eloquently packaged
3. Print a whole stack of notes when you know a million people are waiting behind you to use that ONE machine
4. Suck up to professors in front of the whole class. Throw in a card and a box of chocolates and you are on the way to exile
5. Book a GSR and have it all to you in the peak period. There’s a word called “share”
6. Book a half hour slot thinking no one will book the other halves before and after. For God’s sake just book that whole 1 and a half hours. Where can you bring the unused hours to after the semester ends?
7. Talk too much or ask too many questions in class. Just move on please
8. Don’t ever, and I really mean EVER be a leach. Do your part and do it well in projects if you still want to have group mates next term
You can probably think of more when school starts! Don’t forget to share it with us!
Part 2
No. 6 What do I have to bid for?
It is important for every student to know what CUs he/she must take to satisfy all the requirements set by the school before he/she can take a secondary degree or secondary major and to graduate.
The first thing to do is to read up on your school’s handbook. Go to Oasis> Study> Advisement & Curriculum> Handbook
There you will find details on what and how many CUs you have to take under each course area to complete the entire curriculum.
If you are still confused, go to Oasis> Study> Advisement & Curriculum> Advisement. Mandatory courses are listed so you can be sure that you would not miss out anything. Be sure to note that this list does not include the mandatory courses you have to take to fulfill your majors, as they are different for each student.
You might find the planned courses function to be useful in helping you keep track of courses you are planning to take up in the future. They also provide a detailed write up for every course to help you understand the gist of the course, course pre-requisites and what course areas you could fulfill by taking the course. Just add the course to your planned courses list and click on “details”. You can delete it from the list later.
No. 7 Make use of the information and features of BOSS
It’s the first time you are bidding and you are not sure how much to bid for a course. You might want to have an anchoring point to decide how much more or less to bid for a course. Go to Oasis> Study> BOSS> View BOSS Past Result for reference sake. You should also check this section out between windows to check how much students bid in the previous window and the number of vacancies left. This is usually where students camp at while strategizing for the next bid.
You would soon find that you have a talent in generating weird numbers. Numbers such as e$19.11, e$20.99, e$20.01 and e$18.88 would soon be familiar to you. Generate the numbers wisely and you should have no problems getting your desired courses.
With the priority system, some students will not get to bid for some courses in the first two windows. Therefore, they run the risk of not getting the courses they wished for. As advised earlier, bid for other courses that can fulfill the same or other requirements as back up. You can bid for up to 5.5 courses (including those you have successfully gotten). Always bid for as many courses as you are allowed, to cushion you against having nothing at all. Here’s an example:
Say Sally is an IS student but she wants to bid for a course called, Financial Accounting 101. As an IS student, she is not allowed to bid for Accountancy (ACC) courses until BOSS 1B starts. She is planning to do 4 courses this term of which 3 are IS courses. What she would do is to bid for that 3 courses first and wait for her turn to bid the ACC course. What I will advise her to do is to bid for 5 courses in the first window so that she would have 2 courses to act as a back up for any failed bids or if the vacancies of the ACC course are filled up even before her turn. If she successfully got all 5 courses, she does not need to drop any until she has successfully gotten her ACC course (Even if it essentially means bidding 6 courses when the max is 5.5). This is the power of a feature in BOSS explained below.
A very useful feature BOSS provides is D.I.C.E (Drop If Course Exceeds)
When a student submits bids for more than 5.5 CUs, BOSS will prompt the student to indicate the course that he/she wishes to drop should all the bids be successful. This is known as DICE - Drop If Course Exceeds. In most instances, if a student is successful in all his/her bids, BOSS will automatically drop the course that had been indicated as “first to be dropped”.
If Sally chose to D.I.C.E an IS elective if her bid for the ACC course is successful, the elective would be dropped automatically and the ACC course would be added to her curriculum. Once she has safely gotten all her desired courses, she can drop all the other back up courses with no penalty.
No. 9 Advices
I truly hope that the above information has helped you in getting better prepared for BOSS. Before I end this entry, I will leave you with a few advices:
· Manage your e$ but don’t be too stingy over a few dollars. It can help you get a much wanted course and a few dollars would not mean much to you by the time your e$ accumulates to hundreds
· The lesser people you bid with, the higher the chance of getting your course. The system fills up vacancies with the higher bidders. If your bid (along with your 5 friends who bid with you) is the next highest but there is only one vacancy left, you will not be offered a place because there are 5 others with the same bid. Also, with more people, you have fewer choices in terms of lesson timings and you might end up having to bid a more popular timing for your friends when you don’t need to. Be practical.
· Always bid for as many courses as you are allowed to and D.I.CE to secure the number of courses you want to do for that term. You do not want to end up having only 2 courses for the entire term.
· Find out about the Professors teaching the same course. Professors make a huge difference to the popularity of classes under the course. If the Professor is too “coveted” by students, you know you would not stand a chance unless you bid high. There are other Professors who are good and hence, spending too much on a “hot” Professor might not be worth it.
· Always think before you bid. Look at the minimum bids in the previous window, the number of vacancies left for classes under the course and the nature of the course itself. Strategize before you bid.
Part 1
So you will ask, “What the hell is BOSS anyway?” Well, it is time you know before you settle to getting bossed around by this whole complex system.
No 1. The definition of BOSS
As students, we have to complete a certain number of courses (CUs) before we graduate. Some are compulsory but we do get to choose the rest from a whole range of available courses.
As easy as that sounds, one thing you will learn in Economics is the idea of demand and supply. This results in the birth of BOSS (Bidding Online SyStem) for students to register courses. Students bid according to the demand and supply of their desired course. The currency used in bidding is known as e-dollars (e$).
No. 2 You might be able to get away with it in your freshmen year
Freshmen are usually pre-assigned 2 to 5 CUs. SMU students typically take up 4 to 5 CUs each term and hence, if you want to do more courses than you were pre-assigned with, you have to bid for them through BOSS.
No. 3 BOSS bidding rounds
You basically have 5 chances to bid and get your courses each Term for Term 1 & 2, and 4 chances for Term 3. If you missed the first 3 windows or failed to get your courses by then, you have to wait for the next two windows to bid for your courses. BOSS windows would be open for bids at specific dates.
No. 4 Be aware of your privileges
Priority given if you are from the school the course is under
If you are a Business student, you are able to bid for Business courses (Business Core and Business Majors such as Marketing and Finance) in all windows (BOSS 1 to BOSS 2A) and this rule applies to all other schools. However, if you are an Economics student, you would not be able to bid for Business courses or courses from other schools in the first 2 windows. You can only bid for other schools’ courses in BOSS 1B, BOSS 2 and BOSS 2A.
Priority given if you are from the major the course is under
If you have declared your majors, you would be able to bid for courses that fulfill the major requirements in the windows BOSS 1A to BOSS 2A. Hence, once you are sure of what you want to major in, declare it before the BOSS windows open. You would not be able declare your majors while BOSS is still running.
For example, if you are a Social Science student majoring in Marketing (declared), you are able to bid for Marketing courses (which are under the Business school) along with the Business students from BOSS 1A onwards. If you did not declare, you can only bid for them in BOSS 1B, BOSS 2 and BOSS 2A.
You might think that there is no big deal because it is only right that you bid for courses under the school/major you are in. However, many popular courses to fulfill other-major related requirements are under the Business and Accountancy schools. It is rather nerve racking to wait for your turn as you watch the vacancies get quickly filled up. Plan carefully and always remember to bid for back-up courses just in case you failed to get what you wanted. Having many alternatives and back up courses provides you with a safety net. You can always drop them later if you do not want to take them.
No. 5 How much will I get?
Unlike Restaurant City on Facebook, you would not be able to purchase extra e$ using real money. You will only get a fixed amount of e$ with the start of every new term. Unused e$ from the previous terms are accumulated in your account. Before the e$ are deposited into your account each new term, you will have to first complete a course feedback form. No worries on that one. At the end of each term, you will receive an email prompting you to complete it. To learn more about how much you will get each term, visit here.
I’m OVERWHELMED and TIRED. Matriculation has started and I’m seeing so many new faces, or rather new schoolmates-to-be. You all would soon be going to all sorts of camps, which means more gossips and happening stuff to share. I have heard so much in this campus and today I will start by debunking one of the myths about SMU life:
We have no life. We are SMUggers.
It is true that there are times we have to stay in school till the sun shines again on the next day. There are also times you’d feel like you are leading an aimless and boring life. With countless projects for every semester, it is undeniably difficult to find time for leisure, what’s more, time for social networking.
But as George Orwell said, ‘Myths which are believed in tend to become true.”
No doubt, we mug a lot. It is also true that we are often so packed with projects that we have little time for ourselves. However, what people do not see is the vibrancy of this campus that lies outside of the library and GSRs. They have not seen the dancers who grooved in the CCA room and the skaters who glided along the SMU Concourse.
Life only goes as far as you bring it.
Located in the city, with places like Timbre Substation, CHIJMES and ICB all in a stone’s throw away, it is even more difficult to not be part of the party.
The future of SMU culture is still yours to shape so choose to believe in the vibrant life I had in SMU and please, don’t be SMUggers because we truly ostracize them here in SMU.
So what do you say, freshmen? Live in the footsteps of the seniors who chose the path they complained about or to create one that is entirely your own?
Freshmen Experience (FE)Seek the truth from someone who's been through SMU.
