Registration for the spring semester began a little less than a week ago and signing up for classes can be a stressful time with the large student body of Texas A&M.
According to the Texas A&M Office of the Registrar, registration can have it’s unique difficulties. The end of the semester can become hectic with the Q-Drop deadline approaching right around the time of Thanksgiving break, sometimes making it difficult for students to find the time to meet with advisors to discuss next semester’s schedule.
There are many potential pitfalls with registration. Classes can fill up quickly and depending on a major or program, courses offered might be limited and hard to get into.
Political science senior Jonathan Handel said the nature of his major makes it hard to register for the classes he needs to graduate.
“A lot of other majors require one or two political science classes and so a lot of people will wait until their junior or senior year to take them which means that for freshmen, sophomores, even juniors, a lot of the classes that you need are full,” Handel said.
Handel said the registration process has been so complicated during his time at A&M that he has often been forced into taking classes entirely irrelevant to his field of study just to maintain his status as a full time student.
“Because of this I’ve had to take classes that I don’t want or need that aren’t even part of my degree plan to keep my full time status as a student, and then having to Q-Drop them which messes up my whole degree plan and lather, rinse repeat,” Handel said. “Sometimes I feel like Rocky, like when he’s in that final fight and he’s getting knocked down round after round, it’s really discouraging.”
Global architecture senior Bethany Skinner said she feels less frustrated and more frightened by the registration process because of limited class sizes.
“It’s kind of hard when there’s a limited number of spots and there’s so many people trying to get into that one spot that you really need,” Skinner said. “If there was just more options of classes to get into that would be great. Or just more spots in the classes, that way you’re not postponing your graduation.”
Working a complex class schedule around other aspects of life such as a job can be particularly tricky, especially when looking to graduate on time, Skinner said.
“I’ve always been able to get at least 12 hours but I kind of want to get more than 12 hours and that’s not always possible,” Skinner said. “And not necessarily getting the times that I want to work with my work schedule.”
According to the registrar’s office, there are several ways to avoid the feelings of discouragement described by Handel and Skinner as easily as possible.
The first step they advise is to check for pre-registration qualification. This is open to some students, such as those with honors distinctions and student athletes, among others. Pre-registration opens a week before standard registration begins.
The registrar’s office also recommends checking holds well in advance of the posted registration time so there is time to deal with them.
Knowing the Course Reference Numbers (CRNs) of the classes when sitting down to register helps to streamline the process.
With all the above recommendations in mind, Skinner said it is still a good idea to have several backup options prepared.
“I look at the schedule beforehand and I kind of look at all my class options and I’ll have my Plan A written down and then I’ll have other options for if that class is full when I go to click on it,” Skinner said.