Ever get the feeling that Winter Term registration sneaks up on you every year? I got that exact sensation today after I received an e-mail from the Registrar’s Office kindly informing me that registration starts next Monday, Nov. 2! Maybe you were caught equally unawares and, as I type, are kicking and clawing your way to Forest West to get a hard copy of the J-Term catalog. (Relax: it’s also posted online.)
In any event, here’s a no-fail plan for your course registration zero hour:
A. If possible, pick a course outside of your major.
Yes, I know you love WAGS, or economics, or whatever it is that you’re into. But don’t you want to try something new and refreshing for a change? No? Well, I tried.
On a serious note, if you’re doing the math and realizing that taking, say, a history course over J-Term will save you from taking two or three in a single semester, I’d go this route. Beware- some majors require certain courses, and some disciplines don’t count Winter Term credit toward a major or minor at all.
B. To college write or not to college write?
Hint: most courses at Middlebury involve a lot of writing anyway. You might as well get it over with. On the other hand, you might find yourself unwittingly taking two college writing courses if one is already required for your major. This is rare, although if you don’t look into this sort of thing, it will happen to you.
C. Copy and paste that CRN [Course Registration Number!]
Oh, the folly of thinking that tarrying and registering at 7:01 am will allow you entry into a 12-person course! When you refresh your internet browser at 7:00 am (like the prudent person that you are) you will have a few fleeting seconds to type in the five-digit CRN before the class fills up.
Also, beware the corollary of CRNs, who are identified by an identical acronym: Course Registration Ninjas. These ninjas typically wake up at 4:00 in the morning, go for an extended run, eat a hearty breakfast, and are back at their laptops by 6:59 to deny you a spot in your much-coveted J-Term course. The only way to beat these CRNs is to use their tactics against them.
D. Have a back-up option. For that matter, have several.
Not all people copy and paste equally. Also, BannerWeb has a tendency to crash when you most need it.
E. Get on the wait list. Now.
If you e-mail a Winter Term professor, he/she will put you on the wait list for his/her course. This will allow you to gain entry to the course if you are not able to do so on the day of registration and spots happen to open up.
For the indecisive, paranoid, or misanthropic, feel free to get on the wait list for every J-Term course.
F. Find out when you can register.
This may seem like an obvious one, but the Winter Term catalog is unclear on this point. For example, it reads, “Nov. 2, Monday: WT registration begins for students who have earned 8-16 credits by the end of WT ’09.” Instead, this should read “WT ’10,” as you will find once you view your BannerWeb time-ticket.
MiddBlog wants to know: Do you have any advice for would-be J-Term students?
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Whether you know him as the National Anthem singer at the Middlebury Men’s Basketball games or as Officer Clemmons on the children’s television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, it is unarguable that our Twilight Artist-in-Residence, Dr. François Clemmons, has one of the brightest personalities and most powerful voices on our Campus. For the past 15 years, he has taught the popular J-term class on the American Negro Spiritual, as well as proudly directed the Martin Luther King Spiritual Choir: a talented group of community members, faculty members, and students that each January perform “A Celebration of the American Negro Spiritual and the words of Dr. Martin Luther King”.
