Tag: Registration

Class Registration 101

By Sophie Li (CAS’23)

So, the planner has just opened and it’s already time to start thinking of the classes you want to take next semester. Registering for classes my freshman fall, I had no idea how to even use the Student Link. I’ve made a list of a couple of tips that I would have loved knowing when I first registered. A lot of these tips go hand in hand and overlap but I think they’re all helpful!

Tip #1

The planner is your best friend! One of my favorite things to do is add any classes I’m interested in, graph all of them, and get rid of the ones that overlap until I have a schedule that works for me and that I’m excited about.

Tip #2

Not every class is always offered each semester, so make sure you check the planner or https://www.bu.edu/academics/bulletin/ (scroll down to the college you’re looking at classes in, and click on courses)! This website will give information on every course: the course description, the sections, the HUB credits you get, any pre-reqs, and which semesters it’s being taught for the current school year. After discovering this website planning became so much easier and way less stressful!

Tip #3

Make sure you have backup classes! Certain spots get filled really fast, especially if the class is popular or doesn’t have that many seats to begin with. One of the worst things is waiting for your registration time, watching the number of seats get lower and lower until it hits 0. Scrambling on the day of registration to find a class is never what anyone wants to do, so if you can, try and have some backup classes that fit into your schedule. If you know one of your classes might get filled before you can register, I definitely suggest having options just in case.

Tip #4

Rate My Professor is a helpful resource but take everything with a grain of salt. I know that it can be stressful registering for a class without knowing anything about it, or if you’ve heard it’s a hard class or professor. Looking at Rate My Professor can be a good way to relieve stress but sometimes it can also make it worse. Just remember that normally the reviews you’re reading on RMP are the most extreme. Students will really only go on to submit a review if they had an extremely good or extremely bad experience and can often be exaggerated or not the same experience you might have. I always remind myself, kids who have an average experience won’t be running to post a review!

Tip #5

Set an alarm and register the minute you can! This tip goes along with tip #3 but since classes can often fill up fast, be sure to set an alarm 5 or 10 minutes before your registration time to get yourself to the Student Link. Even if you’re on the registration page, you’ll have to reload once it becomes your time to register so prepare for that as well. When I was a senior in high school registering for my fall semester classes, I had no idea what I wanted to take and pushed it off for weeks. By the time I finally went to plan and register, so many classes that sounded interesting to me were filled or not being taught. I ended up taking the most random intro courses which taught me what I was not interested in, and although I did get a bunch of HUB credits from them, it would have been nicer to take classes I wanted to instead.

I know planning and registering can get very stressful, and it’s hard to find classes you want to take that don’t overlap or give you an awful schedule, but follow these tips and start planning early and by the time registration rolls around you’ll have a good schedule with backup option if needed. Hopefully this makes registration a less stressful process for you!

How to Pick Your Classes

By Jackson Wallace (CAS’22)

One thing that I wish I had known to think about a little more before I came to Boston University and Kilachand in particular is how to pick my classes, especially the first-year seminar. There are a lot of little things that one might not consider at first, so it can be important to sit down, think things over, and not just take the first cool looking class that comes to mind.

An aspect of particular importance is the Hub! Every class at BU comes with some Hub credits and you need to obtain a variety of these credits in order to graduate. So, before you pick a class, you should take a look at what credits you can get through the classes you’ll have to take in your major, as well as the required KHC classes. This way, you can start to get some trickier credits (looking at you, Individual in the Community) out of the way. Your seminar is an especially potent opportunity because a wide variety of classes with a range of credits are offered, many of which are much more interesting than Generic Class 100 you might take otherwise. That said, don’t be afraid to pick a seminar that you think will be cool even if it does not help your Hub (that’s what I and many others inadvertently do and we turned out fine), but it is good to keep in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should prepare some backup classes. Sometimes, the class that you want to take will be all filled up by the time you register. Sometimes, the really interesting sounding class is not being offered this year. Or, most frustrating, you realize that the class is happening at the same time as a class you need to take for your major. So, it is a good idea to be prepared and have a list of classes you’d be interested in. Otherwise, you may get to registration day and find yourself scrambling to fill in a spot.

A final note to keep in mind is that you should try to make sure you have a good idea of why you want to take a class. There’s nothing worse than signing up for a class only to realize halfway through the semester that you actually detest architecture and want nothing to do with the class. To try and prevent this from happening to you, make sure you know what you’re in for, or at least have a system in place that can get you through tough classes. For instance, maybe you know the subject material is different from what you usually like to learn about, but you’re looking to balance out the other classes you’re taking. Or perhaps you have some friends who can help carry you through the class. No matter what, make sure you know what you’re getting into before you register for classes! And don’t worry, because you will have plenty of resources, from friends to faculty to Kilachand’s own advisors to help get you to that point.