As the spring semester approaches, many first-year students are confused as to how to begin the registration process. Planning a schedule seems daunting but can easily be broken down into a few steps: Find out what you need to take, talk with your advisor and register.
My.sbu.edu is the portal to everything needed for scheduling. After logging into my.sbu.edu, the ‘academics’ tab has ‘records office’ as one of its options. There, the link labeled ‘student planning’ leads to collselfserv.sbu.edu. This site has information such as grades, degree progress and required credits. After clicking on ‘student planning,’ ‘go to my progress’ shows what credits have been completed and what is incomplete. There, students can plan classes for advisors to review.
Academic advisors are a critical resource for a student. Academic advisors are a source for insight and guidance, particularly when it comes to scheduling. Scheduling an appointment with advisors varies from person to person. Some advisors have sign-up sheets taped to their doors for appointments, others would rather you email them or sign up with a Google doc. This is something to ask about so there is no confusion.
After scheduling an appointment, advisors and students discuss scheduling and planning for the upcoming semester. It is also important to discuss any concerns about grades, time management or other stressors with advisors; they can be a great source of wisdom for students.
After approval by an academic advisor, the schedule can be registered. There are different registration dates for different students. Registration dates and times are found at the top of the ‘plan and schedule’ page on collselfserv.sbu.edu. On the set date and time, hit that green button. This registers the schedule and gets next semester planned.
If you’ve found yourself in trouble, too many classes on one day of the week or scared of one particular class, don’t panic. The first week of every semester is ‘add/drop’ week. During this week, classes can be picked up or dropped without major repercussions. After that week, withdrawing from a class results in a ‘w’ or a ‘withdrawal’ grade. Essentially, it’s as if you didn’t take the class at all.
It is important to communicate with your professors about struggles you might be having so you can avoid failing or withdrawing from courses.
A few things to bear in mind when making a schedule are how well you’re able to manage time and how quickly you become burned out. Time management is a skill that is necessary in college. Because of the larger workload, we need to be able to provide adequate time to take on responsibilities out of the classroom, take part in extracurricular activities, as well as create time for ourselves, all while attending classes. This can become an impossible task if you’re attending too many classes. Creating a gap between classes mid-day can help with this by providing a nice break during a busy day or a work and study time if needed.
Burn out is inevitable in college, but if you know that you become overwhelmed very quickly, consider taking up a few light courses along with your heavier ones. Some difficult courses are unavoidable, but by balancing harder classes with a few fun and easy ones can make life much easier in the upcoming semester.
Ultimately, planning a schedule is not as intimidating as it seems. With enough planning and care, the spring semester can be fun, educational and easy.
bonavent@sbu.edu
