As students enter the second half of our semester, many are beginning the registration process for Fall 2023: planning out their future course load, making last-minute meetings with their advisors and setting alarms early in the morning on their registration days.
While registration is an exciting time for students–with many getting excited over what classes are being offered and what their future semester might hold–the timing and the process itself often present a myriad of new stressors that students must face.
Between planning their spring break activities, preparing and finishing midterms and gearing up for the more difficult assignments that are beginning to loom over us, students’ lives can become extremely overwhelming as the second half of the semester takes hold.
With registration also falling near the middle of each semester, students then become easily overloaded as we begin to plan for the fall. Registration often feels like the needle that breaks the camel’s back.
The problems that students face with registration are innumerable. First, while departments work tirelessly to offer courses students will be interested and need, many students find that the courses they want are left untaught or are at times that are less than desirable.
The Registrar’s Office also built a new schedule builder application that was meant to make registering far easier. Features such as saving the schedules you’ve built and making them visualizable and clear is meant to lighten the stress that is associated with registering.
However, many students have struggled to learn the mechanics of the new application and often resort to the old one which students still have access to.
While the new schedule builder offers students many new tools that should theoretically make registering easier, many students face more problems, as they often spend time bouncing back and forth between the two applications.
Moreover, students also find themselves competing with other students to get into the classes they need and the best or more exciting classes are often filled before most students get the opportunity to take them.
Students also complain about the timing of registration–both in terms of the semester at large and on the day they are allowed. In the greater scheme, registration always falls at one of the most stressful times of the semester and many students either have to prioritize their classwork, missing the chance to register for classes they need, or they prioritize registration and fall behind on schooling.
On the smaller scale, registration begins at 7 a.m. for everyone. Due to the competitive nature of registration, students are forced to wake up earlier than they are used to if they want a fighting chance to get the classes they need.
Finally, students also must begin considering their work schedules and other aspects of their fall semester. Registration isn’t only about what classes we need to take, it is also about planning out our lives for five months out of the year.
While we must balance the small-scale assignments, the finals that loom and how our lives will change with summer, we also must now begin to consider something that feels entirely disconnected from our current lives.
As we enter registration, do what you can to be prepared for your day. With enough planning and preparation, registration day often feels far more manageable.
