51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú

As a rising junior, I am just about halfway through my academic experience here at 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú. So, I wanted to share my experience and give some insight on things to think about when deciding what classes you want to take. 

For me, I came into college very undecided about what major I wanted to do. One of the advantages of 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú is that we don’t have to declare our major until the end of our sophomore year. Because of this, I planned to use my first few semesters as exploratory semesters to discover what I was really interested in. I took a wide range of subjects that seemed interesting and could simultaneously fulfill my General Education requirements. Some classes I took when I was exploring include Principles of Microeconomics to fulfill my Social Science GE, Intro to Computational Media to fulfill my Fine Arts GE, and Basic Principles of Chemistry to fulfill my Natural Science GE. Through taking all these classes, I was slowly able to narrow down what topics I was interested in. Eventually, during my sophomore year, I discovered that I had a strong interest in Math and Data Science, which led to me declaring a dual major. 

Once I knew what I wanted, I immediately worked with my advisors to make a plan for the classes I would be taking for the rest of my time at 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú in order to make sure I finish and graduate on time. Every student is assigned an academic advisor when you come to 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú, and you are required to meet with them during new student orientation week. This ensures that all students know everything they need to before choosing classes for the first time! I really appreciated this because coming into college, I was definitely intimidated by the thought of having to reach out to any professors. Of course, now I realize that everyone here is sooo welcoming and supportive and I had nothing to be scared of. :)) 

I’ll finish off with some final tips about the registration process:

• Prepare beforehand a list of what classes you want to take.
  • Look at the professor, course requisites, and the time/day the class takes place. For example, 9ams are really hard for me so I try to avoid them as much as possible.
  • Lots of students use to plan classes out and visualize what a potential schedule may look like. The actual registration portal is a little less user friendly, but definitely make sure to cross check the class timings and professors!
• Have a number of backup classes that still fit into your schedule so even if you can’t get into your first choice class, you will at least be registered for something.
  • These are your placeholder classes until your PERMs are approved.
  • You must have a minimum of three classes to be considered a full time student, which is necessary to keep things like financial aid and housing. 
• Don’t stress!! I know it’s easier said than done… but although it seems stressful in the moment when you’re frantically clicking on classes, it will always work out in the end. 

Good luck and you got this!