I'm a new student and this is my first semester here at UMBC. I'm on a few wait lists and I am wondering how those wait lists work here, and if teachers are very likely to allow wait list students to enroll in classes if nobody drops the course.

We didn't have wait lists at the university where I earned my first bachelors. If a class was full, you simply showed up the first day of classes and most teachers gave you a permission code that would let you enroll immediately. It was rarely a big deal. Is it similar here somehow? If there is a 10-people wait list, could that mean that the professor is willing to allow an extra 10 students to take their class?

Would anyone mind sharing their wait list experience?

Thank you and wishing you a successful semester.