1. There are no open spots left to meet with your advisor.
The time your advisor has to meet will fill up quickly! If you haven’t already, make sure to either write your name in a time slot on your advisor’s door or sign up online to make sure you get a meeting time that works for you. Also, make sure to use that time to your advantage! Ask questions and remind your advisor to enable you. This will save you unnecessary stress on registration morning.
2. The classes you wanted have prerequisites that you didn’t know about.
Many upper-levels have classes you are required to pass before you enroll in them. The easiest way to look this up is by checking the Undergraduate Course Catalogue.
3. You didn’t background check the professors before signing up classes.
Save your future self from regret and use available resources to get the inside scoop on teachers. Websites such as ratemyprofessor.com are great when you are trying to figure out what a professor will be like. Even better, ask around! Talking to trustworthy friends will usually give you the most helpful information about a teacher.
4. You didn’t wake up on time to register.
Double check the night before that you have set the correct alarms for the next morning. You will want to give yourself enough time to set up your computer before typing in your class CRN numbers. If you have a roommate who is registering at the same time as you, ask her to be your back-up alarm clock!
5. You can’t connect to the Marist Wi-Fi when you try to sign up for classes.
There will be a lot of people trying to use the Marist network at once so if you are nervous about this, try going to the library or an academic building to use the computers there. Another option is to plug into the network using an Ethernet cord.
6. The classes you planned on taking fill up before you register for them.
Make sure you have an organized list of back-up classes! No matter how lucky you are feeling, you never want to be rushing around at 7 a.m. after discovering that one of your first-choice classes has already maxed out.
7. You sign up for too many hard classes at once.
Be careful about overloading yourself for the next semester and be realistic with your expectations. Evaluate what you were able to handle this semester to predict what will work for you next semester. Try to pair a few harder classes with some that you know won’t require as much work.