Hi Blog Readers,
Today, I want to write about a great source of anxiety and excitement for Wellesley students: course registration! Spring semester course registration was last week, and this was my last time registering for courses as a senior 😿
I work as an Academic Success Coach, which are one to two upperclassmen academic mentors in each dorm. I held registration help events in my dorm for residents to come and ask me questions about their course plans, backup courses if they do not get into their first-choice course, whether their planned course load is too crazy, etc.
So last week was a frenzy of not only registering for my own courses, but helping others do so too, especially the first-years in my dorm. Needless to say, registration has been a big topic on my mind lately!
To break down how registration at Wellesley works, we register using an online platform called Workday. We register for spring semester courses in November and fall semester courses in April. First-years register for fall courses during orientation in August. Registration takes place over the course of a few days based on seniority—seniors register on the first day, juniors on the second, sophomores on the third, and freshmen on the last. On each day, you see what courses have seats left and try to directly register for them.
A few weeks before registration, the course catalog is released; this gives students time to figure out what courses they want to take, whether they fulfill the prerequisites, and whether the course times fit with each other. If you want to take a popular course that you anticipate will fill up quickly (example: introductory biology, introductory economics, computer science classes), you are encouraged to find a backup course and have it ready just in case you do not get into your first choice. Each course usually has one to three sections.
If you do not get into your first choice courses, it is not a lost cause! You can add yourself to waitlists for most courses—there is another registration change period in January during winter break for spring courses and June during summer break for fall courses, and registration reopens when classes actually begin. The first few weeks of each semester is add/drop period, where you can drop a course or add a new one if you want. There is lots of movement between courses in the first weeks of each semester, so you often get off waitlists during this time.
In my personal experience as an economics major and statistics minor, I have gotten into all the courses I have wanted. If I did not get into a course during initial registration, I was able to get in later on. For example:
- Sophomore year fall courses: I tried registering for a section of a math course, but got waitlisted. Then, I got off the waitlist during the registration changes period in June.
- Sophomore year spring courses: I added myself to the waitlist for an introductory computer science course and got off the waitlist during registration changes period in January.
- Junior year fall courses: during add/drop period at the start of the semester, I added myself to the waitlist for a history and psychology course and got off both of them.
- Junior year spring courses: I tried registering for a statistics course that I needed to take for my minor, but got waitlisted. Thankfully, I got off the waitlist during the registration changes period in January. I also added myself to the waitlist for an economics course and got off the waitlist during the registration changes period.
Obviously, this is my own experience, and I cannot promise that Wellesley students always get into their first-choice courses. I know that biology and computer science courses are popular and fill up very quickly here. But from what I have seen, most professors will try to make an effort to accommodate as many interested students as they can.
I hope this shows what registration is like at Wellesley, and thank you for reading!