#course registration

Idk if I am excited or brutally nervous because, from what I heard, it’s like buying tickets to comic con; you have to get in a queue and shit and you have to be super fast otherwise you won’t get into the course you want and idk, that sounds so anxiety inducing to me but like…. yayyyy university… taking big steps forward!

Anyways I’m up at midnight pondering and I really need something to do to distract myself so…

I ran out of options on the thing so if you have any other ideas pls lemme know because I need to distract myself desperately for the time being.

Last Thursday, I registered for my fall 2021 courses. It’s crazy to think that by the time I start those courses I will be a junior and halfway through my time at Smith. Course registration was a bit different this semester as we just transitioned to Workday from BannerWeb. In the old system, you needed a registration code from your advisor and had to manually enter five-digit codes for each course. With the new system, your advisor directly lifts the hold on your account after your advising meeting. You can read more about advising at Smith here. In Workday, you build your planned schedule in advance of registration. When the actual registration window opens, it is as simple and clicking the orange “Start Registration” button under your saved schedule. The new process is super easy and thus didn’t really warrant a whole post.

One aspect of registration that remains the same as in past semesters, but that was new to me was the process of submitting Course Eligibility Waivers (also known as the JOT override form). This form is required for courses that are either full or exclusively do registration by permission/waitlist. Furthermore, the form is necessary in cases where you don’t meet an eligibility requirement (prerequisite, major, class year, etc.), but can justify why you should be allowed to enroll. The form opens on, or just before, the first day of registration and can be found in the academics section of Workday. It’s not clear how much you are supposed to write, but I definitely took the process of outlining my prerequisites and academic/career interests seriously. For my engineering course, which is enrolled by instructor permission only, I was fortunately approved within just a few days. (I submitted the form on Monday and was approved on Thursday). I also submitted an override form for an elective but am still waiting to hear back about it. For some of the more official information about course registration, click here. You can also read about my experience with Five College registration here. 

As for Workday, I honestly don’t really know what it is. For my entire time at Smith, Workday has been used to manage various aspects of being a Smith employee or student worker. Specifically, Workday is where we submit hours, set up direct deposit, and download tax documents. Furthermore, Workday is where on-campus jobs are posted. You can read more about on-campus jobs here. With the new academics section of Workday, you can also view your academic record.

The most fun part of the registration process is looking through the course offerings. While this can be done directly in Workday, I still prefer to use Course Search as it’s much easier to read the course descriptions. On the other hand, Workday allows you to filter classes by meeting pattern (day and time block). I suspect that the course search functionality of Workday will improve in future semesters. 

In addition to looking at course offerings for next semester, it’s often useful to consider past and future semesters. Specifically, if a particular course that you are excited about is only offered every other fall it may be worth prioritizing over a course that is consistently offered every semester. In addition to the aforementioned course search tools, the actual course catalog can be a good resource. Beyond general trends, you can sometimes get more detailed information about what will be offered the following semester. As an example, in the presentation of the engineering major, they shared a list of the planned courses for spring 2022. I know that seems a long way off, but that information played a key role in my course selections for fall 2021. Furthermore, just by asking my advisor, I was able to get a list of spring 2022 computer science electives. 

[31.08.20] ✧

ft my adventures on three different flights in transit to geneva

I am currently taking an intensive french language class monday-friday from 15h-19h and it might be the death of me. It’s also the absolute basics, so it’s stuff I already know, but it is good practice. I hung out with some of my roommate’s friends this past weekend and they spoke french all through dinner, and let’s just say I’m glad that I wasn’t entirely lost!

I feel like I’m finally finding my footing being here in Geneva. I register for classes tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited!! Here are a few on my list:

✧ Social Theory I: Classical and Contemporary Debates (M. Rodgers – ANSO104 (S7)) mar:14h15

✧ Research Methods in Anthropology and Sociology (MMes Grange and Moraes Silva – ANSO081 (S3)) jeu:14h15

✧ Du bien et du mal : Anthropologie de l'éthique et des moralités locales / Of Good and Evil : an Anthropology of Ethics and Local Moralities (MM. Droz et Simoni – ANSO126 (S5)) mar:10h15

✧ Anthropology of Human Rights (Mme Billaud – ANSO118 (S3)) jeu:10h15

✧ Visual Archives of Violence (MM. Austin/Bocco – IA103 (S4)) mar:18h15

I can’t believe how excited I am to be a part of these classes! Hopefully I can get in to all of them though, (and unfortunately I will have to drop one by the second registration, but) we will see how it goes!

ok so i’m struggling through the harrowing bit of nonsense that is course registration right now, and so I’m compiling a list of things I wish people had told me about taking APs whenever I first decided to take 10 of them. This isn’t like “How to succeed in AP classes and ace the tests” there’s more than enough of that out there. This is, “ok so you have a heckaton of transfer credit for whatever reason. Now what?”

Disclaimer: I’m in at one university in the engineering college studying chemical engineering which means my experiences are not universal. I also came in with 34 credits dead set on chemE, so my situation is especially an extreme outlier. I’m writing this in the hopes that it helps someone in even a vaguely similar situation.

Ask Questions Early

Most likely you’ll have to take a stock set of “freshman classes” and you won’t fit into the nice little boxes they have laid out. I sat there like “I need two classes and there’s NO direction on where to go next” so when registration rolled around, I still didn’t know what to do and got stuck with 8ams. Don’t be me. As soon as you know you’re accepted and committed and going to that school, find the head of the department you’re interested in and ask for a meeting to sit down and explain your situation, so that way you’re ready for registration.

Plan Ahead for prereqs

I mean like all 4 years ahead - if you’re set on a major that’s pretty packed with mandatory classes and prerequisites (like engineering or something cross-disciplinary) this will be invaluable so you’re not crying over your schedule every semester during registration. Many colleges only offer classes every other semester in spring/fall, and prereqs mean you need to take them in a certain order, so if you don’t pay careful attention to those, you might be stuck just waiting around to catch up on one major specific class that’s a block on Everything Else even though you could otherwise move ahead.

Look at other options

Co-ops! Internships! Summer classes! A minor! A concentration! Study abroad! You might not be able to graduate a semester or a year early (I’m not even with essentially skipping a year’s worth of geneds) but you probably will have a lot of gaps in your schedule. Semesters that would normally be 18 credits might be 12 or less and you need to fill that time, but that means you have choices! Consider what works well with your future career plans - go to all the info meetings and talk to advisors. They’re there to help you plan around your program’s specific rules and adjust accordingly

Prereqs don’t always mean everything

Sometimes there are prereqs for classes that don’t make any sense: in my business classes everything is a prereq to everything else even though none of the classes are even vaguely related to each other. This is a pain. You have to play by their rules but consider asking for an override if you really need to make things fit.

In engineering, fluids had no prereqs so I took it, but the prof continually references stuff from chE 31 which I was *supposed* to take in the fall if I was following a normal flowchart and I have to tell him to slow down and review. ChE 31 should be a prereq for fluids but it’s not. Anticipate accordingly for similar situations and review with upperclassman friends.

Ask upperclassmen for help

A professor can make/break a class and taking that 8am or 7pm might be worth it. Some classes are graded much more leniently in a specific semester for some random reason. Sometimes taking summer classes is the way to go because of the way the class is set up. Professors will be extremely vague or jump around the chapter and just expect you to connect the dots on your own. You’re likely going to be in classes with upperclassman who have taken those other classes before and can give you that context. 

You can’t always follow that advice though. I’ve heard that taking physics fall semester is way more difficult than spring, but I HAVE to take it in the fall otherwise I can’t move forward with my degree. They can act as a guide but double check with your advisors.

Rehearse your explanatory speech now

In college as a first year, everyone you meet will be brand new, and if you’re at a big university, you’ll be meeting a lot of new people even after your first year, and the first two questions everyone asks are “What year are you?” and “What classes are you taking.” And when you tell someone you are taking thermodynamics or fluids or linear methods as a first year, suddenly everyone wants to know your life story. Prepare a standard schpeal so you can rattle it off quickly and move on with the conversation. Include it in emails to advisors you don’t know yet. Store it in a sticky note and copy/paste.

What I actually almost signed up for: “Sexting through the ages: 2500 years of erotic writing”

Know the earliest time you can register for classes and make sure you have all of your necessary information to register for classes with you. Classes can fill up very quickly, especially if it is a class many people need to take it. Having everything available to schedule as soon as you can and knowing what classes you’ll register for beforehand can help you get into the classes and times you want. 

Try to take a balance of “easy” and “difficult” classes. This will help you not feel overwhelmed and ease the intensity of your coursework and schedule.

Look up reviews of the professors you are considering or ask about the class to other students who have already taken it. It can be super helpful to know other student’s opinions, but also make sure not to let them make the decision for you.

 Most schools or colleges have guidance counselors or advisors to assist you and help you plan out your classes for each school year. Make sure to consult them because they often know a lot of information and can help you make the best decisions for your schooling. 

Plan out your classes loosely beyond the next semester. Some classes may only be offered in the fall or spring semester and its important to know that and take that into account when scheduling.

Register for classes that are during times that you know work best for you. Some people may be most productive in the morning while others prefer afternoon classes and some may also need to consider hours they have to work at a job. 

Most colleges do have a set of classes you need to take to complete your major, but I still recommend trying to take a few classes (if you have the space in your schedule) that are genuinely interesting to you. While it is important to focus on the classes that will pertain to your major and future career, college is supposed to be enjoyable and taking fun or interesting classes can make you more motivated and encouraged to work. 

Your first semester at Smith I’d recommend registering for a first year seminar, two classes in areas you think you might want to major in, and a class in an area that’s completely new. My first semester I decided to register for Intro Jewish Studies since I had never taken a religion class before, and absolutely loved it! The theme was food and foodways which meant we got to do two cooking workshops. Our professor Lois Dubin also brought us bagels from Montreal (twice!).

A bad photo of some of the amazing food we had at one of our cooking workshops

Since Smith has an open curriculum, the only required classes are the ones you need for your major, and a writing intensive your first year. An easy way to meet the writing intensive requirement is by taking a first year seminar (FYS). They cover a ton of fun topics, are meant to help you transition from high school to college writing, and are a great way to meet friends (I met some of my best friends through my FYS). However, because most FYS are capped at 16 people, they fill up really fast. Most people build their schedules around theirs FYS, which makes it hard to switch into a new one. I’d recommend registering for your FYS first, and making two schedules in case you can’t get into your first choice FYS.

I would also register for an ESS class if there’s one that fits in your schedule! I took aerobics with Rosalie second semester and had a great time. Not only was it a great way to get to the gym, I also felt more confident going by myself at other times during the week.

One of the best pieces of advice that my liberal arts advisor gave me is don’t be afraid to add/drop classes. It’s super easy (especially during online add/drop), and lots of people shop around. After your first semester you register for classes months in advance, which is a lot of time for growth and change! Since coming to Smith there hasn’t been one semester where I’ve taken all the classes I originally registered for. My first semester I changed one class, my second semester I changed two. This upcoming semester I’ll probably change two (or three) as well.

Coursicle is also a great way to plan out your schedule! I’ve found it super helpful to see all of the classes I’m thinking of shopping on an actual schedule.

Hello! I’m back with a more informative post regarding course registration at Waseda University.

If you’re an exchange student from Baruch, you must enroll in at least 12 credits to be a full-time student. Credit conversion from Waseda to Baruch is 1 for 1, so that means you need to enroll in at least 12 Waseda credits.

When you go to Orientation, they should give you log-in information in regards to your MyWaseda Account. That is how you will register for classes, kind of like how we register for classes on CUNYFirst. The big difference is, when a class gets over-enrolled, the system will generate a lottery in which random people will get enrolled in the class. Seats are not first come, first serve at Waseda to make it fairer for everyone. Honestly, I have the worst luck so winning the lottery was not an easy thing for me. 

Here is my first round of course registration results

As you can see, Blue means Over-enrolled and Red-Orange means you have successfully registered. When I did my first round of registrations, I made a rookie mistake. I only enrolled in classes that I 100% knew I wanted to take and gave myself no cushion in case some classes become over-enrolled. I was able to successfully register in all my School of Commerce courses but failed to register in any Japanese courses (which is required by Baruch for us to take). As you can see, I ran into 2 really big problems. One is that I am not registered for any Japanese courses (which is required by Baruch). The other one is that I am only registered for 10 credits, which is 2 short of being a full-time student at Baruch. I’ve heard horror stories from my friends where their friends got sent back to their home country because they failed to enroll in the minimum number of credits abroad. Granted that it was a different university and country, I was still scared that I would be sent back. I just thought to myself, I did not work so hard just to be sent back to my home country. By the time first round course registration results came out, the next day was the first day of class. Waseda lets you attend classes you did not officially register for during the first 3 weeks of the semester. Professors know and this happens every semester, so don’t be afraid to sit in a classroom that you have not successfully registered in.

This was my second round of registration. I added another 3 Japanese courses to make myself reach 13 credits. Once again, a mistake. This gave no cushion in case these 3 classes were over-enrolled again. What you should really do is during the first 2 rounds of registration, enroll in as many Japanese courses as you can, and then drop the ones you don’t want in the next registration period. Knowing my luck, you can already guess what happened by the time it came to the final round of registration...