You bookmarked Schedule Builder on your computer. You wrote down all the right CRNs. You prayed the MSE you want to take will not fill up quickly. It is that time of the semester again: registration. 

The registration process began for Villanova students at the beginning of last week and continues through this week. For many students, the process of registering for classes proves to be a competitive one. Many vie for the limited number of seats available in certain courses. In some cases, a student’s registration time could be the determining factor in whether they are successfully able to register for all the courses they hope to take.

Registration times are assigned based on the number of credits a student has accumulated throughout their years at Villanova, giving preference to students with more credits. Thus, upperclassmen typically register days before underclassmen.

Senior Nadia DiNatale did not feel nervous going into the registration period. 

“I felt very confident that I would get the classes that I wanted because I had a good registration time,” DiNatale said. “Although I was a little stressed because one of the classes I needed only had 12 seats, I was still able to get it because I registered so early.”

 Because upperclassmen typically register before many other students, some underclassmen may feel anxious that they will not be able to register for all the classes that they hope to take. This may cause the process of registration to be anxiety-provoking for younger students, as sometimes, their only choice is to sit back and watch the seats in their desired classes slowly fill up. 

Another reason that registration may prove to be intimidating for underclassmen is the pressure it puts to lean towards a certain major or minor. For freshmen and sophomores who remain undeclared, this can force students to think more seriously about their academic goals and make choices that align with those goals.

Freshman Sydney Iwaskow shared her experience with registration. 

“I’m stressed [about registration] because I have to start seriously considering what major I want to choose, and to decide which classes fit into that major,” Iwaskow said, demonstrating the influence registration has on making the seemingly definitive choice.

In some cases, being enrolled in a certain college or having a certain major alleviates some of the stress registration provides. Students (especially underclassmen) in some majors have a set curriculum that they must be enrolled in. For sophomore nursing major Katherine Carney, this reassurance helped ease some anxiety. 

“I am not too anxious because I know I will be enrolled in the necessary classes I need to take for the nursing major,” Carney said.

In some ways, returning students have an upper hand over freshmen in that they have experienced the registration process before and know how the system works. 

“I definitely feel more comfortable this year than last because I understand how to register and have made many options in my Schedule Builder on MyNova,” Carney said. 

Indeed, new students may have trouble initially navigating the Schedule Builder feature on MyNova, a critical tool in planning both first choice and back-up course loads. In most cases, registration puts responsibility on the student to choose their own classes, make sure none of those classes overlap and that those classes satisfy core, diversity, major and minor requirements. Considering all these parameters may prove to be overwhelming for new students, who likely did not bear the onus of building their own schedule in such a way in high school.

Registration will continue to open for students throughout this week, but classes will be able to be added and dropped until January. While the process of registering for classes may be anxiety-provoking, it is also an exciting one, as Villanova students look forward to another great semester on campus.