Advising week for the fall semester begins Monday, March 25th, and class registration opens for grad students and seniors on Monday, April 1st (that’s not a joke!). Juniors will follow on Wednesday the 3rd, sophomores on Friday the 5th, and first-years on Tuesday the 9th. Registration opens at 8 a.m. on each date, and it can be a cutthroat process, with students anxious to fulfill their requirements and avoid 8 a.m. classes.

With those deadlines coming up, it’s important to be aware of how to register online. Firstly, students can find their class standing for registration purposes on BannerWeb, the same site where they’ll register for fall classes. Go to Student Services, Student Records, and then “View Student Information” for that information, along with the name of your academic advisor (who you are required to meet with during advising week) and other information. 

When it’s time for you to register, you’ll go to the Registration section of Student Services, and select “Add or Drop Classes.” However, you’ll want to plan what classes you’ll be taking beforehand. To do this, go to “Look Up Classes” (also in the Registration section), where you can sort by subject, or do an advanced search by instructor, meeting time, general education requirements, number of credits, and more. Write down the CRNs, or Course Registration Numbers, for the courses you intend to register for. This way, you can enter the CRNS in immediately when your registration period opens, and you’ll be more likely to get into every class you want.

For a more detailed tutorial, ask your advisor, an upperclassman, or someone who seems like they have their life together. Right now, we’ll move on from the boring stuff and spotlight some super interesting classes that are running in the fall!

ATHT 111: Emergency Medicine in Athletic Training

Not only does this class fulfill AU’s university-wide wellness gen ed requirement, it also satisfies the requirements for the American Red Cross Professional Rescuer Certification, according to its catalog entry! Meeting from 2:20-3:10 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, with a Wednesday lab, students will learn life support and first aid techniques that could be useful in many situations moving forward.

ENGL 218: Beyond Enchantment: Fairy Tales as Literature

Originally a special topics course, this class is so enjoyable and illuminating that it got added to the permanent course catalog. Next semester, it meets from 10:20-11:10 a.m. every day except Wednesday. According to its entry, students “will read multiple versions of the tales… learning to approach them from a literary, historical, sociological, psychoanalytic, and feminist point of view.” This course also satisfies literature and humanities general education requirements for CLAS, COB, and SOAD.

GEOL 106: Elementary Oceanography

This is a fun class that provides students with an overview of topics such as ocean currents, marine biology, plate tectonics, oceanic geology, and tides. It includes demonstrations, discussions, and diagrams about topics like climate change, human views of the ocean, and occasionally pirates. Oceanography meets from 10:20- 11:10 a.m. next semester, on every day except Monday, and fulfills both CLAS’ requirement for science without a lab and COB’s natural science requirement. 

PSYC 320 and WGST 320: Parenting Seminar

A course that’s been running consistently for decades, this seminar teaches students about effective parenting styles and principles. In-class discussions are always illuminating, and students will emerge with greater knowledge of children, psychology, and life decisions, whether they plan to become parents or not. Next semester, this class meets 3:20-5:10 p.m. on Tuesdays. It does have a prerequisite class, PSYC 101, but it also fulfills the COB’s social sciences requirement.

ASTR 107: Elementary Astronomy Lab

An interesting course for students from every school, this class meets at AU’s Stull Observatory on Monday nights from 6-10 p.m.. It fulfills multiple general education requirementss, including CLAS’s lab science requirement and the COB’s science requirement. Students get to look at the stars and planets through AU’s 32-inch telescope, one of the largest in the state!