How to Zag: Academic Registration Process for First Year Students
By: Miguel Robledo, Class of 2020, Political Science Major, Brownsville, TX
Sometime in October, after midterms my freshman year, when I was already exhausted from a semester’s worth of studying and trying to get my first couple months of college together, I was asked by a peer about my classes for the following semester. I asked if we were supposed to sign up for spring semester or what professor I had to talk to. I had no idea the registration was online, and my friend just laughed and told me he already had a mock schedule of all the classes he wanted to take for the following semester.
Being a freshman, I rushed home as soon as I finished my classes and tried to figure out what I wanted to take. Keep in mind, the more people I started asking, the more people said they already had their mock schedules ready and waiting, so they could immediately click the register button. I logged onto my ZagWeb, a website that got updated this year, but last semester looked like a website coded by a college freshman in the 90s, and I looked at the classes I could take. I was amazed. There were so many classes to take, that I spent an enormous amount of time in awe looking at all the options that I had, and I was so excited to finish my mock schedule.
That’s when it hit me: being a political science major, I couldn’t sign up for all the interesting sounding classes like Urban Politics and Race & Ethnicity Politics. There were only two hours until registration opened. I figured out that freshman couldn’t take 300 level classes. I ended up throwing away the mock schedule I had so carefully made at the perfect times that worked for me, and had to make another schedule as fast as I could. I ended up taking everything that I had left to take on my core requirements as a first-year student because I thought it would be better to get them out of the way my first year. Then, the next year, I could take Urban Politics and any other political science class that I felt would be a joy to go to class and learn about. Registration opened and all the core classes I wanted to take at the times I wanted were available. Without knowing it, I had successfully signed up for my second semester of college.
My spring semester was my best, academically, and the semester that really broadened my interests in different subjects, since I had to take so many core classes not relating to my major. Needless to say, finishing all my core classes during the second semester of my first year was the best thing I could have done. Now in my sophomore year, I have had the most enjoyable learning experience I have had in my life since I took all my core classes during my first year. Now I get to take any class that I want, and I get to choose from a wide variety of courses offered to my major. It’s been so incredible, and I couldn’t be happier that I got all my core requirements done early. This year would not have been as fun, and I wouldn’t be as genuinely excited about going to class and learning about subjects that really interest me and make me happy that I chose this school.
First Year Experience Programs holds two How to Zag sessions on academic advising. The Registrar’s Office, University Core, the Center for Student Academic Success all present together and walk new students through the registration process. Please encourage your Zag to attend so they don’t feel lost like I did when I registered. For more information, contact First Year Experience Programs at firstyearexperience@gonzaga.edu or (509) 313-4346.
How to Zag: Academic Registration
7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Hemmingson Center, Auditorium
Monday, November 7
Monday, November 13