With the end of Winter quarter quickly approaching, I know I’m not the only anteater sifting through the spring schedule of classes and praying for a decent enrollment window. As a third-year student, I’ve picked up a few pieces of advice here and there as I’ve become a seasoned survivor of WebReg. So what can you do to help make enrolling for classes quick and easy, instead of stressing about all the things that can go wrong? Here’s a few tips to get you through UCI’s dreaded WebReg and enrolling in classes for next quarter.
- Have a good idea of what you want to take and have the entry codes written out!
Enrollment windows at UCI are assigned by seniority. The more units you take, the higher your status. So at the end of the day, you need to have a plan and a few backup plans on top of that. Plan B isn’t enough when classes are shifting from available to full in seconds! Don’t waste your window scrambling for an alternative class only for them to fill up during the time you spent searching. Make sure that you write down the codes for classes you want to take and classes you may need to take. Sometimes things go your way and you get into your first choice, but I wouldn’t count on that. Every enrollment, I have my notes app open on my computer with my codes written out, ready to copy and paste into WebReg.
- Use Zotcourse or AntAlmanac to help map out your schedule.
If it’d have to choose only one thing to suggest, it’s using Zotcourse or AntAlmanac. These guys will be your best friends as you prepare for enrollment. The schedule of classes can be a bit overwhelming and sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the different times and days of classes. Here’s where these sites come in. It’s one thing to see the time slots on the schedule of classes, but it’s another to see the time blocks visually mapped out for you. Using ZotCourse and AntAlmanac, you can select your preferred classes and create a customized schedule, helping you plan your classes accordingly. You can also use these sites to view your schedule for finals week with your selected classes to ensure that you don’t select classes with finals that overlap. Perfect for the visual learner in us all, giving you a better sense of the feasibility of your schedule. And if you hate switching between your computer tabs to look up professor reviews, don’t worry! Zotcourse and AntAlmanac take care of that too! Under each class, they give you the average rating, GPA, and last year taught, of each professor.
- Rate My Professor and EaterEvals are your friends! Take their advice with a grain of salt though.
It’s a given that every anteater knows to go to our trusty friend Rate My Professor for unfiltered reviews and advice regarding many of the professors and TA’s on campus. I do it too. It’s a great way to get a general idea of the professor, their teaching style, and sometimes, their workload. However, I would advise against using Rate My Professor as truth. Sometimes it’s disgruntled students who just want to vent by leaving those reviews, other times it’s someone who has a genuine interest in helping future students. Sometimes you can tell, just from the nature of the review, but sometimes it’s deceiving. I’ve taken classes with a few professors who had, if I’m being honest, terrible reviews. Yet, when I took their classes, they were amazing. I loved them. The point is, the reviews are subjective and they’re not always written for the people, so take them with a grain of salt. Make use of them, but remember that no two experiences are the same. If you’re looking for reviews that are a little more organized, head over to EaterEvals. These are the evaluations that professors collect at the end of every quarter, collected by UCI. These reviews are great because when looking at the ratings of a professor per class, you can see if students thought the assignments were beneficial and relevant to the course, how available and willing a professor was to assist students, and how challenging students felt the course was, among other things. If Rate My Professor is a little too unhinged for you, EaterEvals might be a better choice. Both are great resources though. Especially if a professor you’re searching for doesn’t have a page on Rate My Professor, you might find them on EaterEvals, or vice-versa.
- Waitlists (Are they actually worth it?)
The short answer is YES! Definitely sign up for a waitlist if the class you want offers it. Not all do, but it’s good to have in your back pocket. If you’re high enough on the waitlist, you have a good chance of getting into that class. Regardless of the number, always sign up for the waitlist. You never know what’ll happen and you can usually bet on a few students either dropping or being dropped from the class before instruction begins.
- Don’t gamble with Wifi. Find a spot with good internet and hunker down.
Everyone knows that UCI is notorious for its Wifi issues. Especially if you’re in a crowded area, you’re going to get slower internet speed because of all the students using up the Wifi. When it comes to enrollment, take advantage of all the study spots on campus, if you can. You want to make sure that you’re in a spot with good Wifi so that you can get in and out of WebReg quickly. The libraries are usually good spots, but have other spaces in mind because everyone is at the libraries. I tend to go to Humanities Gateway or the Social Ecology buildings. Wherever you go, make sure that you’ve got good internet and Wifi that will hold up for the duration of your enrollment.
Enrollment for Spring quarter begins Monday, February 26th. Hopefully these tips help you snag all the classes you want! Good luck Anteaters!