Let me set the stage. I just got back from a trip to Ohio (shoutout RHA!), and it was 8 p.m. in the airport when I had a realization: I have to register for my spring schedule the next morning at 7 a.m. My brain teeters between the thought of “Oh, I’ll be fine. I’m scheduling three days earlier than the other first-years” and, “Oh my God, there’s still nothing left.” I work out the kinks in my preexisting schedule, checking if everything is open, and just start praying that it works because this is my only option.
Most business students have very packed Monday schedules in their second semester, having at least three and up to five classes. I have had relative success waking up for my 8 a.m. classes this semester, so I decided I would be okay starting early if it was my only option. My thought process is if I start early, I’ll end earlier, and then I’ll be free the rest of the day. So maybe it was rough to start at 8:35 a.m. on a Monday, but I’ll survive. Especially since it’s Professor Virginia Conn teaching the course. I love her and I’d wake up just for her classes.
I also like having classes back to back, as my cluttered mind can’t take a one-hour break. I’ll either find a way to take a nap and miss class, get distracted with something and lose track of time, or spend my time in the UCC talking and being unproductive. So I scheduled most of my classes within 10-30 minutes of each other, thinking, “This is fine! I like it this way!” I lay my head on my pillow with my 6:30 a.m. alarm set, confident that things will work out. They have to work out. I kinda had no other options.
It’s reckoning time. I’m ready for war. I scheduled earlier than the other freshmen because I just really grinded in high school and have a bunch of credits. I was really depressed in high school, but at least I get to schedule early, y’know. Maybe the pain was worth it? 6:59 a.m. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. I’m in. Register.
I got all my classes except one. Okay, it’s okay, I just need to find another section. Wait, but that class section said it was open? It’s still open! Then I go into the details section, and they’re all reserved. Why couldn’t they just say it was closed for me? Don’t bait me like that, Stevens Workday.
So, I go through all the possible electives, sciences, and higher-level humanities requirements (I already fulfilled all my lower ones with credits) available. I didn’t think this could happen, but not a single one was open, and it didn’t occur on a Monday. There was no way I was having an 8:35 a.m. that starts on a Monday and have five consecutive classes. Also, my schedule was already so goofy because I had four classes on Monday and none on Friday. I sent my academic advisor an SOS email explaining my plight, and she responded back with two options. I either take an online science elective (Quantitative Biology) or a Business Law class that Business & Technology majors take in their last year. I’ve learned through Covid that online classes just don’t work for me, and a math-based science course such as Quantitative Biology, while I’m currently struggling in MA117 (business baby math), would drown me. But my other option was barely even an option.
So, in the words of a good friend, “Just thug it out.” On the bright side, Quantitative Biology won’t take up any scheduled time, and I have one class on Tuesday. So yay? I just need to keep telling myself that this is character development and that scheduling will get progressively easier. I can’t even begin to imagine scheduling last. I am so sorry to my fellow first years.
