(This post was authored by Laura Nisbet, Academic Advisor)
Follow these steps from Computer Science advisor, Laura Nisbet, to become a registration pro and ensure a smooth registration process. Being a former student here at TTU, Laura knows the importance of being prepared to ensure registration goes well and is as easy as possible.
- Get Advised and Prepare a List of Courses
Make sure you have already been advised or have an official advisement meeting scheduled before registration opens. Registration opens on Monday, April 5th for the Summer and Fall 2021 semesters. Your advisor will give you an alternate PIN, which is needed for registration. Make sure to write down your alt PIN in your phone so you always have access to it.
Be prepared for your advisement meeting and create a 2-year plan with a list of courses you would like to take. Make sure you are referencing your Degree Works page found in Eagle Online under Student, Student Records, Degree Works as well as the Course Catalog for your major. Reference the 2-year CSC elective course schedule to make sure you are picking courses that are offered in the correct semester. It is always a good idea to have a few back-up options if the courses you want fill up before your registration day.
- Review Holds
It is important to be aware of and fix any holds on your account that you might have. Have a parking ticket? It might prohibit you from registering for courses until you take care of it (I was guilty of this ?). Review yours in Eagle Online under Student, Student Account, View Holds. Have a hold and not sure what it means or how to fix it? Review the Records website for more information.
- Use Schedule Planner and the Registration Cart
Still hand writing a tentative schedule? Use Schedule Planner for an easy way to create possible schedules. Add breaks/downtime when you don’t want to be in courses. Watch this tutorial on how to create and save a schedule to your Registration Cart making the actual registration process really fast. When your registration time opens just pull the cart back up and register!
- Review Course Modality
Review the modality of the course (On Ground, Tech-Flex, etc.) you are planning to register for. You can view this in either Eagle Online or Schedule Planner. See these instructions on how to look this up and descriptions of the different types. This is something you will want to check periodically and closer to when the course starts. The modality could change before the first day of classes.
- Know How to Request a Permit
Are you getting an error when trying to register for a class? Review what the error means and if you should request a permit. If you feel as though you qualify to take the course, you can request a permit. Typically, this means contacting the departmental administrative associate via email. For CSC courses, you can submit a permit request form online. This should be done after you have tried to register for the course.
It is important to be patient with departments when requesting permits. Typically, during registration week, administrators have an influx of emails and permit requests. Don’t worry, they will always get back to you.
- Be Careful with Courses with Similar Names
If your advisor advised a specific course number, register for that. Look up a class by the course number and not the name. For example: BIOL 1010 (Intro to Biology) is not the same as BIOL 1113 (General Biology I) and PHYS 2010 (Algebra-Based Physics) is not the same as PHYS 2110 (Calculus-Based Physics). You could accidentally register for the wrong course and not be able to get the correct credit.
- Set a Reminder for your Registration Time
Take advantage of your registration day and time and register at exactly your time or as close to it as possible. All students are assigned a registration day and time based on their classification. Set a reminder in your phone so that you don’t forget. Courses will start to fill up the week of registration.
If you used the Schedule Planner Registration Cart, all you have to do is pull the cart back up (Eagle Online, Student, Registration, Schedule Planner Registration Cart) and click register. If a course has filled up, it will show you in the Status column.
- Be Patient
Registration week can cause some added stress for everyone. Be patient with your advisor, departmental contacts, and yourself! If a class fills up, there is still a good chance that you can get into the course by being diligent. Students will continue to add and drop courses until they start so there is still plenty of time to get everything worked out.
If a class fills up before you can register see below for how to add yourself to the waitlist. It is also a good idea to have a back-up plan or to be flexible with other sections that might be open. (Check out those 8:00AMs that tend to stay open longer than others ?).
Remember that your advisor’s email is overflowing this week and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
- Add Yourself to a Waitlist
If the course you want has filled up, go ahead and add yourself to a waitlist. The departments monitor these numbers to see if they should increase the class size so it is important to add yourself. If a spot opens up, you will be notified via Tech email to claim your seat so be sure you keep your eye on your email. You will only have 24 hours to claim the spot before it moves on to the next person. If you miss your chance, you will have to add yourself back to the bottom of the waitlist.
You can add yourself to the waitlist in Eagle Online under Student, Registration, Add/Drop Classes, Type in the CRN number at the bottom and submit. When the drop-down menu comes up, select add to waitlist and submit again. Review more information on the Records website.
- Confirm Your Schedule by the Deadline
Don’t let all your hard work go to waste. Make sure you pay and confirm your schedule before the deadline. If you aren’t able to pay by the deadline, submit the “Save Your Seat” form to extend your deadline. If you don’t meet the deadline your schedule will be deleted and you will have to reregister for all your courses. Since courses do fill up, this makes it hard to get a schedule again. Review the deadlines for the upcoming semester.
Good luck and don’t sweat it! Remember students will add and drop classes all the way up until they start so if you don’t get the ones you want immediately, add yourself to the waitlist and keep checking on course availability.