On registering for class

Anthony Miller, Opinion Editor

That time of the year is upon us once again.

Later this week, hundreds of course catalogue papers will mysteriously appear all around campus.

Next week, we have Advising Day.

Then, the week after advising, we’ll be registering for our new classes.

Already, the class course page on Self-Service is being updated with the new courses for the next semester.

Every student has a different opinion as to how we handle this ritual.

Beyond the general debate about whether or not the university handles it well, every student is filled with a different emotion during this time of the year.

As for myself, I can say that this time of the year fills me with uneasy optimism.

The optimism comes from the promise of getting brand-new classes, of getting a fresh start on things.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my current classes plenty.

All of them are interesting or engaging, and I’m in no rush to get away from them.

But there is something undeniably attractive about getting to start over, to take all the grades and paperwork of the current semester and set it all back to zero.

The baggage of the current semester is cast off, and something new gets to rise from the ashes.

The uneasiness comes from the fear that all college students have — that they may not get the classes they want.

That by their time to register comes around, everything they want to take will already be filled up.

I suffer from this fear as much as anyone.

Though, to be frank, these fears are mostly unfounded when it comes to my experience.

In my three years here at Mercyhurst, only once have I ever been locked out of a class I wanted, and that was all the way back in freshman year.

The chances of it happening to me now, as a junior who gets the pick of the litter, are astonishingly slim.

But while it might not be much of a realistic concern for myself, it is for the bulk of the student body.

This is because it had a very real root in reality.

What’s more, there is an incredible amount of luck involved in what classes you get.

The time you get placed at to register can potentially determine whether you get into a class or not.

Most of the time, you have no way to tell if a class will fill up incredibly fast, or not.

My advice is to just flow with it.

Having to take an alternative class isn’t so bad.

Some of my favorite classes have been the ones I’ve expected to like the least.

Just roll with the punches, and you should be fine.