Registration for Blinn Spring 2018 courses will begin October 16! Now is the time to start planning your schedule, to include both Blinn and A&M courses. Determination of appropriate Blinn and A&M courses for your Spring Schedule should be treated as a single process even though registration is done separately at each school. Registration for A&M courses will begin in mid-November. Below is a five-step process to help ensure you’re prepared.
1. Identify Appropriate Courses. The first step in preparing for registration is to identify appropriate courses for the Spring semester. There are at least four easy ways to identify the courses required for your intended academic major:
- Refer to the Undergraduate Degree Planner in Howdy (if you already completed it)
- Generate a “What If” Degree Evaluation in Howdy (instructions are available at tap.tamu.edu.)
- Reference your intended major in the Undergraduate Catalog (catalog.tamu.edu)
- Locate a one-page degree plan (“major-pager”) for your intended major on the department’s website
Undergraduate Degree Planner: The Degree Planner is a tool within Howdy designed to help you plan courses and semesters in advance to facilitate timely graduation. Sophomores should already be familiar with this feature, but freshmen may not be aware of it. Instructions for the Degree Planner may be found here: https://howdy.tamu.edu/Inside/Guides/DegPlan.pdf. Additionally, Transition Academic Programs provides instructional sessions throughout the semester to help you learn to use the Degree Planner:
- Mondays 4:00pm -5:00 pm
- Tuesdays 8:30am-9:30am
- Wednesdays 10:00am -11:00am
- Thursdays 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Sign up for a session using http://ers.tamu.edu. You will need to bring a laptop or tablet to your session so you can work on your planner during the session.
Degree Evaluation: A “What If” Degree Evaluation produced within Howdy provides a listing of course requirements for any specified major. It compares a student’s completed coursework, if any, (as listed on the A&M transcript) to the designated curriculum. It identifies the remaining courses needed to satisfy graduation requirements for that major. Instructions to produce a Degree Evaluation are located here: https://tap.tamu.edu/main/eval.aspx.
Undergraduate Catalog: The online Undergraduate Catalog is probably the fastest way to locate a list of courses required for any major. Start by going to http://catalog.tamu.edu. Select the catalog that corresponds to your freshman year, i.e., current freshmen use the 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalog listed in the box to the right. Sophomores will have to access the 2016-2017 catalog by selecting “ARCHIVES” at the bottom of the drop-down menu. Next, from the drop-down menu on the right select the college that contains your intended major. Next, select “MAJORS” from the menu, followed by the specific major, followed by “PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.” A list of required courses for the specified major will appear.
Departmental Websites: Many departments provide printable degree plans on their websites. You may have to do some searching because there is no standardization as to where departments place resources on their websites. Look under key words in the menus such as “undergraduate,” “curriculum,” “degree plans,” etc. Here is an example of a “major pager” downloadable from a departmental website for Biomedical Engineering: https://engineering.tamu.edu/biomedical/academics/degrees/undergraduate/bs. The Agricultural Economics Department’s options are provided here (click on the desired option): http://agecon.tamu.edu/undergraduate/current-students/curriculum/agec/.
2. Check Course Prerequisites and Restrictions. After you have identified appropriate courses for your intended academic major, you need to determine which may have prerequisites or restrictions that will prevent your registration. Some courses are restricted to juniors/seniors only, or “majors only.” For example, only current Psychology majors may enroll in certain Psychology courses, and only current Business majors may enroll in certain Business courses. Such restrictions reserve these courses for the students who need them most.
Course restrictions and prerequisites are listed in the Blinn and A&M catalogs, in the Course Descriptions section. Once the Spring schedule has been prepared and the registration system enabled, students may check for prerequisites/restrictions in MyBLINN or Howdy, respectively. In MyBLINN, click on the CRN and then either the “Course Information” or “View Catalog Entry” links to check for prerequisite information. For A&M courses, click on the “Restrictions” link in Howdy for each course. Some sections of a course might be restricted, whereas other sections might be open to any student. Check the restrictions for each section.
3. Create a “Wish List” of Courses. After determining the courses required for your intended major, and checking for any restrictions, make a list of courses that would be appropriate for you to take next semester at either Blinn or A&M. The list should consist of courses that satisfy degree requirements, and should take into consideration advisor recommendations and previously completed course work. Believe it or not, some students have repeated courses because they couldn’t remember which AP or dual credits they completed in high school. Strive for a balance of subjects—don’t attempt too many “reading” or “numbers” courses simultaneously. Your list should include some back-up options in case you encounter time conflicts or unavailability issues with your primary course choices.
4. Consult an Academic Advisor. Students aren’t required to meet with an academic advisor, but advisors “exist to assist” so call on them! Waiting time to meet with an advisor is almost nonexistent right now, but as registration nears the wait could be two hours or more. See an advisor early! Students should create their course wish lists prior to meeting with an advisor. Take the list to your appointment and ask the advisor to review it. Also remember to print a Degree Evaluation for your intended major and take it to your advising appointment.
5. Check for Registration Holds. Few things are as frustrating as attempting to register, only to be unable to do so due to a previously undiscovered registration hold. You can literally watch online as your desired course fills with other students. Some holds are not quickly resolved, so you need to check Howdy and myBLINN in advance to identify and clear holds that would prevent your registration.
The more you plan in advance, the smoother your registration process will go!
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