Hi! Sam and Serena here,
In light of class registration season, we thought it was only suitable for us to write a blog post on how to register for classes and things you should consider while registering for classes! Registering for classes is definitely a stressful time of year, and is particularly difficult if you’re a first-year student who has little experience in this aspect. Today, Serena will be talking about the logistics when it comes to registration— when/where/how do I register for courses? Do I need to contact anyone before registering? What is PERMing?— while Sam will be talking about additional factors one should consider as you are registering as well— what classes should I take? What are some course registration tips?— and other important pieces of advice that may provide you with leverage during registration!
Hi, I’m Serena and I will be writing about the first half of this post regarding course registration logistics! I’ve compiled the following list of questions that I believe will serve as helpful starting points to journey into the (not so) scary world of course registration:
- How do I know when to register?
- Login to your Scripps Portal > Student > Add/drop courses
- Select the Term you want to look at (in my case, it is FA 2021)
- Take a look at your Registration Time (in my case, it is from 4/22/2021 10:45 AM to 4/23/2021 10:45 AM)
- You should see something like this:
- How do I get cleared to register?
- As you may have noticed from my screenshot above, there is a section called “Advisor Clearance to Register” below my registration time. In this current screenshot, I have not been cleared to register, but all students MUST be cleared to register.
- Instead of seeing a “No” you should be seeing a “Yes”
- Every student has an advisor that they must contact prior to their registration time. You will discuss what are the classes you want to take for the next term, and they will clear you when they think you’re all set for registration!
- If you still have additional questions about registration, you may ask your advisor as well.
- As you may have noticed from my screenshot above, there is a section called “Advisor Clearance to Register” below my registration time. In this current screenshot, I have not been cleared to register, but all students MUST be cleared to register.
- Where can I find the classes I want to register for?
- Prior to the official registration time period, you should be getting an email from Scripps announcing that the “Fall/Spring course schedule is available is now visible on the Scripps portal course search.”
- To find this, login to your Scripps Portal > Student > Course search. You should see something like this after following those steps:
- Select the Term you’re searching for (in my case, I’m searching for FA 2021), then select the Course Area you’d like to focus on (i.e. SC Core GE, Spanish, Physics)
- You should see something like this:
- **If you’re an incoming first-year and don’t know what classes to take, check out Sam’s portion of the blog!
- What is PERMing?
- Sometimes, when you want to register for a course, you will need to submit a PERM. A PERM is a short explanation behind your interests in the course that the professor will read and determine whether or not you will be eligible to register. PERMs are usually a maximum of 256 characters long.
- In the above screenshot, the course I wanted to take will not let me register unless I submit a PERM. Click on the Request a PERMissions to enroll authorization to be redirected to a page where you can type out your PERM, your reasoning behind why you want to take this class.
- This is what you should see under a course if a PERM is required:
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…And now, Sam will take over from here!
With all the classes that the 5C’s offer it can be a little overwhelming to look at all of them. Here are some things you can think of when registering for classes!
- General Education Requirements:
Scripps is a liberal arts college which means it has general education requirements (GE’s) for each student to increase their breadth of study. At Scripps, the GE’s are Race and Ethnic Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Math, Natural Science, Social Science, Fine Arts, Letters, and a Foreign Language. Of course, there is also the Core series. Plenty of classes will meet these requirements when you are looking on the portal as Serena mentions above there are specific search terms for each of the GE’s (SC Letters GE, SC Social Science GE, etc.). The classes under these searches are guaranteed to meet these requirements which makes looking for classes to meet these GE’s looking a lot easier.
Scripps also provides a search that pulls up classes that are recommended and common for first-years to take.
- Major:
If you are coming into your Scripps experience with an idea of what you might want to major in, a great way to test how well that major fits with you is to look within the portal for classes within that area of study. If you are interested in multiple areas of study I recommend looking at a lot of intro classes and taking them if you want to.
- Interesting and Fun Classes:
As much as picking classes seems like it should have a focus on finishing GE’s and meeting major requirements, don’t forget to look into classes in areas that might seem fun! There are a ton of electives offered each semester that you could take. Part of my process in registering for classes was to make a list of classes I thought seemed interesting and fun.
- Resources:
As Serena mentioned above you need permission from your academic advisor before you can register for classes. This means setting up a meeting with them and discussing your interests and possible classes you might be interested in taking. This meeting can be really helpful in deciding which classes might be right for that specific semester. Also, your academic advisor can help you think about what it might mean for picking classes if you would like to study abroad.
- Tips and Tricks:
Make a list with multiple class choices or even multiple schedules, depending on your registration time and the popularity of the classes you are interested in the classes might fill up before you have the opportunity to register.
A PERM does not guarantee you a place in the class but is a great place to start, keep in contact with the professor and showing your interest.
For more information on what classes to take, check out:
Hopefully, this blog post was helpful when considering what registration looks like at Scripps! If you have any more questions please feel free to contact either of us.
Serena: [email protected]
Sam: [email protected]
Best of luck to you all,
Sam and Serena <3