Choosing New Classes (Already?!)

One of my apprehensions about Carleton was how fast the trimester system would go! And it’s true—it really does fly by. However, I’ve loved (almost) every second of my terms. All classes here are pretty fast paced, but very doable. To help with accidental overworking, you can only take a maximum of 22 credits (or 24 if you petition to overload as an upperclassman).

All that said, I can’t believe I’m already picking out my spring term classes, and that this will be my last term as a freshman! Here’s how this process works at Carleton:

The Hub is the heart of Carleton. It’s where you will find financial aid information, report the hours you’ve worked, and, of course, register for classes!

The preliminary list of classes offered for the spring term came out about halfway through our current term (although was delayed because of the pandemic). As soon as it did, my roommate and I started scrolling our way through all of the offered classes that interested us.

This may look scary at first (or it did to me, at least) but it’s really very straight-forward.

You can choose a subject and look through all course offerings for it, or, if you’re looking for a specific course, you can go ahead and search for the professor, or the key requirements it meets. (For example, if you’re looking for a science with lab course, you can check that box under ‘Requirements.’) Honestly, I just played around with it a lot until I figured out how it worked!

Your advisor is also there to help you—if you can’t figure something out on The Hub (because it can be a lot of information at once) shoot them an email, or set up a meeting!

After you find courses you’re interested in, you can save them to figure out which ones you really want to take, which ones have time overlap, etc… Here’s an example of a couple of my saved classes for next term! I originally saved 20, but had to narrow it down…

As class lists come out, so do “Priority Times” which determine when we will be able to actually register for courses.

Priority is randomly assigned by class year, and this affects what classes you will be able to take. Because of this, I recommend having several backup classes, or an alternate “just-in-case” schedule. I’ve never had a problem with this: even when I wasn’t able to register for my top pick, I was still happy with the classes I ended up with.

Advising days happen soon after, where we will check in with our advisors about finalizing our schedule; they double check that you’re on track for graduating, and otherwise it can just a time to talk to them and address any concerns you have about classes or life in-general. As Avery Reyes Beattie ’24 talks about in her post Coming Out of Your Shell with Profs, talking with professors and advisors can be scary at first, but they offer so much support! Advising meetings is definitely an integral part of support at Carleton.

I’m really looking forward to setting up my schedule for next term and starting my next set of classes, and I hope I made this process more clear and less scary to students worried about their first term as a Carl!

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you want more info: my email is manuele@carleton.edu.