On Thursday, Nov. 5, sophomore Ashley Gardner woke up at 6:45 a.m. to register for her Spring 2021 classes. At 7 a.m., she clicked to register and waited for her Student Planning and Advising (SPA) page to reload. After 30 seconds, her schedule reloaded.
“I got into almost all the classes I wanted to get into,” said Gardner. “The one I did not get into is something that I can take in the future.”
Starting Monday, Nov. 2, Sacred Heart students began registering for Spring 2021 classes. Similar to years past, seniors registered first following in class order with freshmen registering last.
The number of credits a student has and other special accommodations determine the time slot they receive in an email from the registrar.
“I was happy that I was able to register early due to the credits that I have brought in from high school,” said junior Victoria Huggan.
Huggan is a Nursing major in the Honors Program, which allowed her to register ahead of other juniors. Despite having an earlier registration time, she said she did not receive all the classes that she planned and had to join the waitlist for her minor class.
Athletes also receive a priority time when it comes to registration.
“I am an athlete on the baseball team. I felt less stressed because I had priority in registering for my classes. I knew I had a good chance to get all of the classes that I wanted,” said junior Chase Jeter.
Though Jeter had an earlier time, he still prepared himself with a backup plan.
“I registered at West Campus, so if my computer crashed, I was going to be able to use one of the computers there,” said Jeter.
Freshman Isabella Guarente accounted for extra planning since it was her first time registering for classes.
“When I found out my registration time, Nov. 5 at 4:45 p.m., the first thing I did was email my professor for my 5 p.m. class that I was going to be late,” said Guarente.
Some students find the task of class registration stressful due to the uncertainty of securing all the classes they need.
“One frustration I have with registration is that there are no courses that are designated for certain grades. I could want a math class but all the juniors and seniors took it,” said Gardner.
Sacred Heart moved from Web Advisor to SPA for Fall 2019 class registration.
“I like the SPA system a lot better than Web Advisor,” said junior Madison Cora. “The SPA system is much easier to navigate through and more organized once you learn how to use it.”
Although current freshmen and sophomores did not experience Web Advisor, some students who witnessed the shift agree with Cora.
“I think SPA is a lot easier to understand and it is really helpful to have the progress tool. It allows you to see what you have left to take and search specifically for the courses that would fulfill those requirements,” said senior Mae Archacki.
Many students say they had positive experiences this semester with registration.
“I do not have any frustrations regarding registration. Sacred Heart did a great job. I felt very prepared for this registration,” said Huggan.
