Thoughts on Registration

Registration for spring semester classes begins the week of November 6 (see the Academic Services calendar). Students have a wide range of resources to help them plan their classes: at minimum, they must meet with their lower division (i.e., pre-major) adviser by November 3 to get their registration PIN, but they can also confer with faculty or other adult mentors on campus, the Office of Academic Advising, and (to a lesser extent) their network of Wake friends to consider their class choices.

As an adviser, my best professional advice is that things tend to work best for students if they use any of the above networks for advice, and not their parents or family members. This is not meant as a slight to any first-year families. But the reality is that official advisers on campus are going to be able to provide the best advice to students about classes, as they know our system in detail.

If your students come to you asking course registration advice, I’d encourage you to flip the script and redirect with questions: What has your adviser said about your proposed course selections? Where on campus have you tried to talk about your course planning? Are there faculty/departments who could be helpful? Where might you go to find more information?

You should know that in addition to having an assigned academic adviser, students can avail themselves of help from the professional academic counselors in the Office of Academic Advising. The Academic Bulletin will help them understand requirements for majors and minors, and the Course Completion Checklists on the Registration website can also help students keep track of required coursework.

My son is looking at the spring course schedule at his school and as tempted as I might be, I am not offering any advice to him. If I recommend X class to him and he signs up, and later discovers he doesn’t like that class, then it’s my fault. This is a time for him to make his own choices.