Course Registration
When it comes to the time of course registrations at CMU, what I saw is like the scene when people trying to get a piece of bread in the war. That is, people lost their temper and were being afraid of not getting enrolled in any courses. I was in this situation before as well, which means I am not putting myself into this intense mood anymore.
How does the Course Registration System Work?
After accepting the admission from the school, I got the Andrew ID (the name of our Student ID at CMU) to login to the course registration system, Student Information Online (SIO). And here’s the thing that worries everyone right after they opened the webpage: most of the courses were full. There may be more than one hundred people lining in the waitlist of the courses you like, and for even some less popular courses, they were full as well. It turned out, most of us only successfully registered into less than one course at this time.
How Bad is the Problem?
People started to email the advisors or the professors regarding this issue and were being worried. Of course, if we failed to take the required courses or the ones we want, it will be disappointed. This happened to me last time as well, and I was under quite a lot of pressures. So, how bad is the problem? I would say, it’s not good, but it’s not bad neither.
“About Time” is a touching movie that had been influencing me recently, and it’s about embracing the moment we have right now instead of being worried about everything. In the movie, the main character was able to do the time travel, so he can go back to any time in the past whenever he wanted. However, in the end, he found out there’s no need for this, the point of life is embracing what you have now, then stay in a relaxed and happy mood. It’s my third time studying in the states, and I know there’s nothing you have to worry about, actually. Although you may not be able to get into every course you planned to take in the end, you will still be taking the courses you like eventually. So, once I did my planning, I won’t continue to worry about the part that I couldn’t manage.
What’s My Plan?
Here’s how I planned my courses.
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First, I studied the curriculum of our program. It can be divided into four parts as below:
- Shared Core Courses (36 units): required to take
- Track Core Courses (48 units): pick few from the list to take
- Restricted Electives (36 units): pick few from a border list to take
- Master’s Practicum (24 units): project
One normal course is 12-unit, and the small ones are 6-unit. Since I am enrolled for 20 months, 4 semesters, I should take at least 36 units per semester.
Second, I scanned to the whole list, and found out the courses I may take including:
- Share Core Courses
- Track Core Courses that are available for this semester in Pittsburgh (some are in Silicon Valley campus)
- Restricted Electives that I really interested in (relating to my future career plan)
Third, I logged onto the SIO system and tried to sign up for the courses I just listed. Two strategies are needed here. One is that I should try to enroll the ones with shorter waitlist line, and it’s okay to line up for 1 or 2 long waitlisted course, but never line up too many of that. Another strategy is that different courses have different priorities when where’s a time conflict. Shared core course should have a higher priority to take compared to others, then track core course is the second, restricted elective is the last.
Summary
Registering the courses can be either exciting or stressful, which depends on how you deal with it. I enjoyed the time browsing different courses on the website, then sat back and relaxed when I’ve done my part of signing the courses I like. Although there’s no guarantee that I can be enrolled in all of these, we will see.
Originally published at cmu.heron.me, May 11, 2016.
