Registration is coming up. We all dread the pain-staking wait and the watch of the clock to see when the hand strikes our registration time, so here are some good hacks that will ensure registration becomes more of a breeze!

1. Plan your schedule ahead of time

It is probably the worst idea to come to registration without a tentative schedule in mind. Make sure you create a schedule that fulfills university requirements as you don't want to end up having a bunch of classes that will prevent you from graduating.

2. Register for the most important classes first round

If you haven't declared, first round registration is only a measly 8 hours which means making trade-offs between the courses you want to take. Always make sure to register for classes that are required by the university, are the most important to you, or your future intended major (especially if you have a bad registration time) as before you know it, the seats will be full and you'll be stuck with more core requirements and prerequisites on your plate.

3. Use Wake Ratings

Wake Ratings is a great way to look at authentic student reviews of professors here at Wake Forest. Whether you are trying to finish your pre-requisites, divisional requirements, or are looking for a professor that brings the class to life, this will help you determine what professor best fits the courses you want.

4. Have plenty of backup courses

You don't want to be that student that doesn't have enough hours to be considered full-time, so by plenty of backup courses I MEAN PLENTY. Courses fill up quickly people! If you don't have backup courses to turn to in time of need and desperation, then you'll be stuck going through every single course all night until you find one that fits your schedule which is both tedious, and sometimes is to no avail.

5. Make use of Coursicle

If you're still stuck on those one or two classes (or three hundred for a matter of fact) that are full, Coursicle is a great website that gives you message notifications of when a class has a vacancy simply by typing in your number and selecting what course/section you want to be in. I used this for my Spring 2017 registration and managed to swap into a writing course that I wanted over one that I was registered for. It is also synched to Wake's course catalogue, so you can make a schedule by searching and adding courses to create a visual of what your tentative week would look like next semester.

6. Email the professor

There are some professors that are able to get you into the section of a class even when there is no space. This worked with a friend of mine who didn't get into a French section, but was able to as she had the same teacher last semester.

7. Don't feel like your schedule is set-in-stone

I probably changed my schedule five or six times before I ended up with my current one. Make sure to still keep a look out for courses that you want as seats definitely open up and there is a lot of switching around during syllabus week.

So there you have it. These are the tips and tricks I have to make your registration go as smoothly and as stress-free as possible, so that next time you register, you will be the king or queen of registration!