Whether registration was met with veteran skills or freshman confusion, last week’s advising and this week’s registration can rival finals in terms of stress, confusion and frustration, especially if you didn’t get the classes you wanted.
If you have to meet with your advisers again, be sure to bring the following items: a print out of your Academic Progress Report, aspirin to help the inevitable headache and a notebook to write down the contact information for all the people you’ll be referred to after your advisor doesn’t have answers to your questions.
Now that you’ve met with your advisors, again, you should be home free, right? Maybe not.
DU likes to be sneaky with holds on registration. If mom and dad are a day late on a payment, or you have a black mark on your account, the university will prevent you from registering. This can lead to a nasty surprise when you get a big REJECTED screen during your alloted registration time. Be sure to check whether there are any holds on your account by going to MyWeb and looking at your registration status under the student tab if your initial attempts to register failed.
If you want a class that generally fills up quickly, the best way to get in is to be either an athlete or in the Honors program, as both of these groups get early registration. If you are not an athlete or an Honors student, the only way is some old-fashioned lightning-fast computer action.
The secret to everything in life is to be prepared. Always have a backup schedule incase your first schedule didn’t pan out. Make sure you have the CRNs for every potential class you might take. You don’t want to waste time going back to the course catalog to find the CRN for one elective you really hoped you wouldn’t have to take.
If you didn’t get into the courses you wanted/needed, there’s still hope.
Sometimes, emailing a professor is the quickest way to get ahead. Don’t abuse this, however. Professors do not appreciate getting a plethora of emails the hour after registration closes.
If you have a course that is dire to graduation, or a pre-requisite that is necessary, send the professor an overly polite, professional and humble email asking to take the extra desk in the class. Sometimes this works. Sometimes, it does not.
There is also the possibility, a student or two will drop the class when the quarter starts. To show the professor you’re serious and passionate about the course, you should show up to the first day anyway. Patience. The weak will drop.
After you’ve survived registration, sit back and relax; try to forget on the quarter system, you unfortunately have many more registrations to tackle before graduation.
