6:59 am.
Your finger nervously taps the refresh button on your browser. Sweat starts to drip down your face. Your heart races as you watch the seconds on your clock get closer and closer to 60.
Finally the clock reaches 7:00 am and all hell breaks loose:
Registration has begun.
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If you’re anything like me, registering for classes is easily the most anxiety producing process. I mean, think about it. Your computer can freeze, your favorite class can get filled, you may or may not be able to finish your major on time; the catastrophes are endless.
But below I have listed the 5 stages of registration. Recognizing what stage you are in, will ultimately help you on that fateful registration morning.
1] The Overly Ambitious Stage: There you go, one by one, mindlessly adding 8 courses to your cart thinking this is the semester “I can handle 24″ credits.”
2] The Advising Stage: After meeting with your academic advisor to discuss your class schedule you realize two things, 1) writing intensive classes are the bane of your existence 2) graduating in four years is just as unlikely as Hopkins students actually going to any lacrosse game other than homecoming.
3] The Night Before Stage: You set 10 alarms on your phone, with the earliest alarm beginning at 4:30 am. But after thinking it over, you set one more alarm at 3:15 am “just to be safe.”
4] The Refreshing Stage: Your wifi is connected, you are as wide awake as you can be at 6:55 am, and your finger is on the refresh button. You press it for a solid five minutes, thinking each time it will somehow make the time go by faster.
5] The Back to Sleep Stage: Your cart is sufficiently filled and you sign off ISIS in relief. You go back to bed thinking you’ll have many more hours to sleep, but shortly find yourself awoken for that godforsaken 9 am class.
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