My name is Leo and I’m here to chat it up about signing up for classes. Normally, I’d be writing about my favorite things to eat on campus (zomg, foodworx crepes!?) or my favorite hidden nooks on campus (Terrace in the School of Medicine… ahh, so relaxing), but not today. We have more urgent matters to attend to!
While it seems like class registration is far off, it’s going to sneak up on you like something that creeps up on things. In order to prevent you from going through the same panic I had (waking up on my registration date and realizing I had no clue what I was doing), I’m going to give you a walkthrough of how to select your classes. So let’s get started!
Step 1: Figuring out your requirements
First things first, you can’t sign up for classes if you don’t know what to take. I found it helpful to make a list of every single requirement I needed to fulfill with my major, so let’s begin by doing just that! In order to figure that out, though, you’re going to have to do some research! Here are some places to begin:
Virtual Advising Center: The beautiful academic counselors are here to save the day! They have drafted up some course recommendations for all of you and will be ready to view on August 19th! Check these out for some ideas of what classes you need to take!
Warren Website: Check out the Academic Advising Handbook online to see all of your general education requirements! View it here: http://warren.ucsd.edu/_files/academic-forms/advising_handbook.pdf
Course Catalog: Check this out to see what classes you should be taking for your major. You can also view your major website for the same/ more detailed information http://ucsd.edu/catalog/front/courses.html
Four year plans: Some departments will draft four year plans for their students. If you’re lucky enough to have a very kind department who does this, it will be listed here: https://aventeur.ucsd.edu/public/student_four_year_plans/?currentCollege=FI or on your major’s website.
Just for an example, my list looks like this:
Just to avoid confusion: The columns represent Warren GEs/ My first major/ my second major.
Step 2: Counting the Overlap
Ok, so now you should have an idea of all the classes you need to take to graduate. Next, see how many of those requirements overlap (meaning that you can take one class to fulfill more than one requirement). For example, for my psychology major, I need to take Math 10A or Math 20A. Luckily, this would knock out one of my formal skills requirements for Warren College as well as that psychology requirement. Try making a new list, narrowing down those requirements by including overlapping requirements.
Mine looks like this:
Step 3: Finding out which classes are available this quarter
Ok, so now you know what classes you NEED to take to graduate. So now it’s time to take a look at what classes are available this quarter that can help you fulfill those requirements. The easiest way to do this is to go into your tritonlink and choose “class planner” or “schedule of classes”.
To use the schedule of classes, click on the subject, and then click "search". A list of classes in that subject and their times will be listed.
Again, I would make a list of which classes are available this quarter that would meet your requirements. For example, every Warren student must complete the Warren College Writing Program (WCWP). WCWP 10A is the first installment of this program, and every student needs to take this. Since this class is being offered this quarter, add this to your list of classes that you can take this quarter to fulfill a requirement.
Step 4: Putting it all together
Now that you have your third list, it’s time for the fun part. Go into the class planner in your tritonlink. From here, you’re going to want to start a new planner (you can title it whatever you want – I would recommend naming it Leonard ;D). Basically everything after this point is just moving classes around, trying to pick the timeslots and classes that you would prefer. I’d suggest you refer back to Matt’s post about recommended classes for your first quarter – it’ll help a lot in getting started. I would also recommend that if you are going to tackle some major requirements to get some of the more generic ones out of the way (math, science, history, etc.), just in case you choose to change your major later on.
Here's an example of me playing around with the class schedule as if I were enrolling in my first quarter at UCSD: (note that I didn't take into account travel time or other factors [again, see Matt's post!])
This was my first try - I have a class conflict that I'm going to have to work out. Personally, I wouldn't want to wake up that early every Monday either. I also don't like the huge gap between WCWP and my other classes on Tues/ Thurs. Let's see if I can make it suit my tastes a little better (assuming none of the classes fill up!)
Yay for second tries! I like this schedule a lot better! Unfortunately, I had to change one of my classes because it just didn't fit the way I wanted to and I also had to change some sections for various different reasons. By referencing my list from earlier, I was able to find some back-up classes for the class that just didn't work out. I'm sure if I spent more time tweaking it, I could come up with a schedule that I liked even more! Have fun with this part! Only you know what you want in your schedule.
Step 5: (Optional) Troubleshooting
If you still can’t seem to figure out what to sign up for, we have a few ways to get help. The first few places you should visit are:
The UCSD/ Warren Website: Looking things up online are always a great idea! There’s a ton of useful information all over these two websites.
The Orientation Facebook Group: I know, your orientation leader has probably been suggesting this to you nonstop, and many of you are probably already in this (assuming you have a facebook!), but this really is a great resource! There are a ton of questions being asked daily – chances are, we may have already answered something you were wondering about! Check it out for some really handy dandy information!
Virtual Advising Center: Again, these guys are here to help out! Starting August 23rd, the academic advisors will be allowing you to submit questions to them privately online. They answer pretty quickly and they are super knowledable and helpful!
Your Orientation Leader: We may just be students like you, but we do know a substantial amount of information. Any time we don’t have an answer, we make sure to find one for you, or direct you somewhere where you can find that answer. We’re always here to help and we’d all love to help you with any questions (even if it’s not about registering for classes). So email us (so we don’t feel unloved! D:)
Hopefully you’re one step closer to getting that fall quarter schedule assembled. Next step is actually enrolling (and keeping track of class sizes to make sure your class doesn’t fill up!) I hope all of you guys get an awesome schedule picked out for yourselves and I can't wait to see you all this fall (almost only a month left!!!)
-Leo, Freshman OL
Group 11!! :D
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