Midterms are over and we are only about one week away from November, meaning registration season is upon us! Some people think I'm crazy, but I absolutely live for registration; maybe it's because I am extremely Type A, but I love picking my classes, making multiple schedules, and getting all the details on my prospective professors. However, registration is not always smooth sailing; it can also be an extremely stressful process from not being able to get in contact with your advisor to not getting the classes you need. Despite having some difficulties along the way, I always manage to get the classes I want with great professors: here are my greatest tips for registration success!
1. Get started early.
Start making your schedule as soon as classes for next semester are available for viewing by students. It might seem like your actual registration day is far off, but with all your current classes, assignments, extracurricular activities, time with friends, and more, those few weeks are going to fly by. Nothing is worse than getting to the week of registration, having nothing done, and scrambling to get it together before your assigned registration time. If you want to get good classes next semester, you have to put in the effort!
2. Make sure you are ready to register NOW.
My biggest registration fear is waking up on the morning of registration day and having a hold on my account (which is probably why I check my holds every day). Even if your registration day is far away, it is better to be safe than sorry: check now to see if there is anything that would prohibit you from registering. To remove my Academic Hold, I have to fill out a Registration Form, make a meeting with my major advisor, meet with her, get her to sign my form, take the signed form to my academic advisor, get her to sign my form, and pick it up from the Dean's Office. Imagine having to do this the day before registration -- you can't, it's nearly impossible. Get all of this done early so that you can register when you're assigned to register. There are also many other types of holds that exist that might be even harder to remove, so make sure you check those out and get them cleared beforehand.
3. Find out which classes you need.
There are many ways to do this, so don't feel hopeless! The best way to do this would be to consult with your advisor; even though I've been lucky enough to have advisors who know what they're doing, I realize not everyone is able to say the same about their own advisors. (Remember that any of your professors or other advisors will be more than happy to help if you just ask!) At my school, we have DegreeWorks which is personalized to each student to show us all of our requirements and whether we have fulfilled them or not. If requirement is not fulfilled, it tells us exactly which classes we need to fulfill it. If your college doesn't have something like this either, then a good place to check is the Course Catalog or Degree Requirements by Major which are both general information and can be found on your college's general website. These generally tell you which courses are required for students in your major and which courses are General Education requirements for your school.
4. Search for professors on Rate My Professors.
I live for looking up professors on Rate My Professors. Former students rate professors on Overall Quality and Level of Difficulty and often leave comments, helping you see if a certain professor will be right for you. Although everyone's relationship with a certain professor is going to be different, Rate My Professors is a good indicator of whether a professor is good, helpful, and (at least) tolerable or terrible. A simple search of your perspective professors now could save you a lot of time and trouble in the future!
5. Make multiple schedules and check class availability frequently.
Unless you have been assigned the earliest registration time at your college, then the probability of you getting into every class you choose is pretty low. To avoid having to hectically search for another class on the morning of registration when classes are filling up left and right, have alternative classes to choose from picked beforehand so you can try for those right away and (hopefully) get into those! Also, if you don't have the earliest registration day, make sure you're constantly checking to see if the classes you want are full; if a class is full, then don't waste your time trying to register for it on the morning of registration! In this case, you can refer to an alternative class you have picked out or, if it's a class you really need, you can speak to your advisor or the professor right away about getting into the class!
6. Register for classes as soon as you can!
Do not sleep through the morning of registration; set 50 alarms or tell your roommate to wake you up because you do not want to miss your first shot at registration! If you've followed the previous steps and you're registering as soon as registration opens up, then you should be good to go! However...
7. If you don't get a class you need, take action right away.
If you don't get into a class you need, put yourself on the waitlist and email the professor and/or your advisor right away to see if there is anything that can be done to get you into the class. Even if they're not checking their emails that early, they will see that you were one of the first students to email them about the class and they might help you out first by signing you into the class. There are plenty of ways to get into a class even it's full!
Good luck registering, everyone!
