Registration!

Hi guys! As I told you earlier this week, I registered for classes on Thursday! It's a bit of a complicated process, but I'll try to explain it as well as I can!

Registration is pretty stressful because, first, everyone is split up to register on different days. Seniors start, and freshmen are last. Each class is also split into two groups, for example freshmen group 1 registered on Thursday and group 2 registered on Friday.

Registration goes from 7 AM - 3 PM on your assigned day. This means that, at 7 AM, everybody clicks "submit" and tries to register. Don't wait until later in the day to register! If you do, a lot of classes will be filled up.

So for every class, a certain number of seats are set aside for each registering group. That means that, if I try to register for a Calculus I class, for example, but it's full when I register, I can try to register again after everyone else has registered. After everyone has registered, any available seats from other groups' registrations are open to everyone.

In addition to any left-over seats, there are "petition seats" for some classes. These are seats left open for students that need that particular class for their major but did not get in. These students can then go to the registrar's office, pick up a petition form, and fill in what class they need and why. Then the registrar's office decides if you should be given a petition seat or not. My friend Mary was able to petition into a class the other day for her biology major!


Now, for me, the most confusing part of all this was the actual online registration. During Summer Registration Day, I registered for classes in the same way, but I had a tempporary advisor helping me figure it all out. Down below check out myguide for how to register online through KnightVision (the online class schedule & registration system at Saint Mike's)!



How to register with KnightVision:

1. Log in - you'll receive your user name & password the summer before you come to SMC
2. Students Menu - on the left
3. Register for Sections - under "registration"
4. Search and Register
5. Select Term & Subject - don't worry about filling in any other info.
6. Find Class - make sure you check the days/times the class meets, who the professor is, where it meets, if it fulfills a Liberal Studies Requirement, and if there are any pre-requisites
7. Select - click the small box to the left of the class
8. Submit - click "submit" at the bottom of the page
9. Repeat! - continue this until you have all your classes (four classes, plus you can take an extra two-credit class if you wish)
10. Check - double check your selected classes; make sure you fulfill all pre-reqs and that the times don't interfere with each other (also make sure that you schedule in time to eat!)
11. Log Out- KnightVision will log you out if you don't stay active on the site! This means that, if you forget to keep clicking on different things while waiting to register, it could log you off just before it's time to register! I prefer to log out and log back in just before registering.
12. WAIT
13. Log in - I suggest doing this about a minute before it's time to register. Logging in takes a couple seconds, and you can only stay in-active for a minute on KnightVision before you get logged out
14. Student Menu
15. Register
16. Register for Previously Selected Sections - this will bring you to all of the classes you previously searched for
17. Register - make sure you click "register" on the drop down menu! On Thursday I got over-excited and forgot to click this before registering. It took forever to load before I could click register and re-submit my classes!
18. Wait until 7 AM- this is the hardest part!
19. Submit - click submit at the bottom of the page! Wait a couple seconds after 7 AM to make sure you're not told that "registration is closed but will open at 7 AM".
20. WAIT - for up to a minute or two! So many people are registering at once, it can sometimes take a while.
21. Be Prepared - Always have back-up classes! You probably won't get into every single class that you want (at least not as a freshman), so make sure you have some other classes ready that you can quickly look up & register for! Make sure these classes have times that won't interfere with your other classes.
22. BE HAPPY - ...that you just got into some great classes because you were so prepared!

Other Tips:

• Wake up early! - I got up around 6:30 for registration. This gave me time to wake up a bit, brush my teeth, make some tea, and log into KnightVision.
• Have Back-ups - just another reminder that a Plan B is crucial. I definitely needed back-ups for Summer Registration Day & for Thursday's registration.
• Know your password - you should definitely know your KnnightVision password before the day of registration. You don't want to be stuck, unable to log in or register for classes!
• Check out KnightVision - If you're new to KnightVision, check it out! If you don't have a username or password, just skip the "logging in" step and click on "Student Menu". Check out the classes available and see how KnightVision is set up.
• Meet with your Advisor - when you meet with your advisor before registration, not only does he/she help you decide what classes to take, but he/she also clears you for registration. Bottom line: if you don't meet with your advisor, you won't be able to register.
• Search for Classes Before Registration - Since registration is so stressful, I logged in the week before my registration and selected all of the classes I wanted. That way, on regisration day, I simply skipped to the "Register for Previously Selected Sections" step and clicked submit!
• Ratemyprofessor.com - Usually I'm against sites like these because they can be mean & students often don't like teachers simply because they are hard graders or give a lot of work. However, this site definitely helped me find great teachers to take classes with! When there are three different Accounting classes with three different teachers who I've never heard of, it's great to search for Saint Mike's on this site to find out who's the best!
• Don't Worry - ...if you don't get into your classes! The day after everyone has registered, registration opens to everyone. I got into two new classes because I got up early on Saturday morning to re-register! You can also petition into classes & wait until the add/drop period in January.

SO I hope that helped! A bit of a crazy long description, I know, but registration  can be tricky!

And so, that explains all of registration! If you have any questions about it, tweet me! Or email me about anything else you'd like to know about Saint Mike's!