I don’t know about all of you, but scheduling day for me is a major freak out. I’m never sure if I have the right classes written down, or if I’m going to get into the courses I need. It is always a huge time for worrying, but it doesn’t have to be.
For the most part, I am perfectly fine with scheduling day. The advisors are helpful, and they tell me if I have something way wrong, but it seems like each time I have advising day, I go in, they sign it, I come out. Maybe that is how it is supposed to be, but to call it advising day, seems an understatement then.
I’m simply looking for a little advising on advising day. I mean, we get out of classes for it, so couldn’t someone help us figure out the new ones? I understand that we can meet with our advisor whenever, and should meet with them more than just once on scheduling day, but sometimes people forget, and it just doesn’t happen.
It is also hard to know what courses fulfill what requirements sometimes, and an adviser meeting would be good for that.
My other concern with scheduling day is that since we are a smaller school, many classes are only offered during certain semesters. This is fine, except when two classes that you absolutely have to have conflict, and there really isn’t another semester in which to take the course. I understand there isn’t a way to fix that problem, unless we were a larger school with more faculty, but it still is the most annoying part of scheduling day, I think.
I know that we can do this on our own, but I think it would be more effective if we had two days for scheduling. Not one right after the other, but have one that is mandatory a week or so before scheduling day so that students can talk with advisors on which classes they should be in. I think the reason many students end up having to stay an extra semester is because scheduling works weird.
Another problem many students have with scheduling day is that they are unable to sign up for classes until days after scheduling day. I have heard many students complain about the timeframe in which sign ups for classes take place.
I think the best idea is to try and meet with your adviser more than just on scheduling day. You will really appreciate the help, and it will make scheduling day much less stressful. There is not really anything to be done about the times students are allowed to sign up, just wait your turn. However, the one thing that can help a little is to get up extremely early to sign up for classes. I have gotten up early each semester for scheduling, and I have always gotten into the classes I needed to be in.