Welcome to Nina and Fabiha's Declassified Summer Registration Guide! We’ve collected your questions, done the research, and are here to impart wisdom from our knowledge of our collective 10+ time registration experiences.
Registration might make you feel one of two ways:
Either you’re super calm and you know what’s happening...
Or you’re freaking out because you don’t know what’s going on and you have no idea what classes you’re gonna take andyou’rejustlikereallyconfusedandfeellike-
Don’t worry; registration can be confusing and daunting, but we’re here to clear it up for you!
What is registration?
Registration is the process of selecting and enrolling in classes.
What is the difference between planning, summer registration, and registration?
You might have seen these words thrown around in different conversations and discussions. All three of these words are related to each other but refer to different actions/processes that involve picking and enrolling in classes.
You might have seen these words thrown around in different conversations and discussions. All three of these words are related to each other but refer to different actions/processes that involve picking and enrolling in classes.
Planning is the process of choosing courses and adding them to your schedule in Student Planning on the Barnard Portal, Barnard’s online registration system. Planning is important because before you can register for a class, it must be on your schedule in Student Planning. You don’t want to waste time when your registration appointment comes around looking for and adding classes. It’s always a good idea to plan and add more classes to your schedule than necessary before you actually register for classes. Courses in the "planned" stage will be yellow on your schedule and will have a blue button that says "register" (which you can only use during your registration times). Confusingly, once you are able to add yourself to waiting lists in September, waitlisted courses will also be yellow on your schedule, but they will not have a register button, but will instead have a "leave waitlist" button.
Summer registration refers to the period in July where you can register for First Year Seminar, First Year Writing Writing, P.E. courses, and other Barnard courses. July registration, with the fun and exciting acronyms (FYE and P.E.) is what you should be thinking about now.
Registration is the process of enrolling in all other classes. Registration will start in August after you meet with an orientation adviser during NSOP.
Summer registration and registration have set start and end times where you can add and drop classes. During both summer registration and registration, you'll receive an appointment time that says at what time you'll be allowed to begin adding and dropping classes. All appointment times are randomly assigned.
Where and how do I plan and register for courses?
In the Student Planning Section of your Barnard portal. Don’t know how to access that? See links to video tutorials at the bottom of this post and a written guide about how to do it.
In the Student Planning Section of your Barnard portal. Don’t know how to access that? See links to video tutorials at the bottom of this post and a written guide about how to do it.
When is summer registration? What should I expect? What if I won’t have Internet during this time period?
Summer registration will be from July 17th to July 21st. During this week you will only be able to register for First-Year Writing, First-Year Seminar, Barnard P.E. courses, and other Barnard courses. This is a fixed time so we unfortunately can not offer students alternative slots for preregistration. If there is a possibility that you will have access to intermittent wifi, you can pre-plan your courses and add multiple First-Year Writing and Seminar courses in Student Planning. Then when it is your registration appointment, the only thing you will have to do is click the "Register" button to register for courses. You can also check Student Planning in your Barnard portal to check when your registration appointments will be and see if any correspond to a time you could have wifi access.
Summer registration will be from July 17th to July 21st. During this week you will only be able to register for First-Year Writing, First-Year Seminar, Barnard P.E. courses, and other Barnard courses. This is a fixed time so we unfortunately can not offer students alternative slots for preregistration. If there is a possibility that you will have access to intermittent wifi, you can pre-plan your courses and add multiple First-Year Writing and Seminar courses in Student Planning. Then when it is your registration appointment, the only thing you will have to do is click the "Register" button to register for courses. You can also check Student Planning in your Barnard portal to check when your registration appointments will be and see if any correspond to a time you could have wifi access.
All students will be assigned a registration appointment between 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, July 17th. Registration will be open from 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM the rest of the week until it closes at 4:30 PM on Friday, July 21st.
Are we also signing up for Spring courses?
You will register for Spring courses during Spring registration which will happen some time in November. Barnard is on a semester calendar so you only take courses for 16 weeks at a time and do not register for courses more than one semester in advance. This means that in July and August you will only be registering for fall courses.
How do I know if I should register for a First-Year Writing or Seminar?
In early July, you’ll receive an email instructing you to register for either First-Year Writing Workshop, First-Year Writing: Critical Conversations, or First-Year Seminar. During the registration period, you must select a course that falls under your assigned category. If you are assigned First-Year Writing: Critical Conversations, you will not be able to register for a First-Year Writing Workshop or First-Year Writing Seminar and vice versa.
In early July, you’ll receive an email instructing you to register for either First-Year Writing Workshop, First-Year Writing: Critical Conversations, or First-Year Seminar. During the registration period, you must select a course that falls under your assigned category. If you are assigned First-Year Writing: Critical Conversations, you will not be able to register for a First-Year Writing Workshop or First-Year Writing Seminar and vice versa.
Can I (and should I) put down multiple options for the same class? Can you register for multiple FYSs or FYWs and then later drop one? How many should I sign up for? Do we list alternates in case we don’t get our first choice?
Have several backups for whichever course you are assigned to take. For example, if you are assigned to First-Year Writing: Critical Conversation in the Fall, have a list of your first five choices, as some of them might be full by the time you sign up. During the preregistration period, if you register for a FYW/FYS course and it turns green on your calendar then you’re good to go and don’t need to worry about adding any other sections to your schedule.
Once you’ve enrolled in one of the FYS or FYW courses DO NOT sign up for another. If you want to register for more than one to see which courses still have open spots make sure that you immediately drop any excess courses so other students can get into the one(s) you won’t be attending. If after a registration period you are registered for multiple FYS/FYW, you will be dropped from all but one of them by the registrar's office. FYS/FYW courses do not have waitlists and are capped at around 15 students each. This means that there won't be enough space in the FYS/FYW courses for all first-years if you're registered for multiple courses, and that if a section is full when your registration period arrives, you need to choose a difference one. Remember that this is the one course that you can’t drop/change after the semester begins, so keep in mind the times of other courses you may want to take so they don’t conflict!
What about classes other than FYE and PE?
In early July we will be sending out a list of courses available for registration beginning July 17th. If you're interested in courses that are not on this list, you'll be able to register for those during NSOP.
Is each student given a time of the day to register for courses or can you register at anytime on the 17th? What’s the earliest time I can start registering? If I register later in the day will all the classes be full?
Each student does have a specific time of day to register! You can check your registration time under Student Planning on your Barnard portal (portal.Barnard.edu). These times are decided based on a random lottery system. Registering later in the day means that other first-years may have signed up for classes before you, but there should still be slots open for a large portion of FYS and FYW courses depending on how late during the registration period you’re able to sign up. There is space for everyone, so don't worry -- you'll be able to register!
How the heck does the waitlist work?! When do I get put on a waitlist? Why are classes already almost or all the way filled? Can I still sign up for them? Is it worth putting myself on the waitlist?
You cannot waitlist any FYW or FYS course. However, you may waitlist PE and other non-FYE courses. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors have already registered for those classes, so if it says on the Columbia Directory that 11/12 spots are filled it’s most likely because upperclassmen already signed up for them. Don’t panic! Many intro classes will have spots saved for first-years so there's a good chance you'll still be able to get into them. Additionally, only first-years have access to registration during the July 17-21 registration period, so there are fewer students attempting to register for each spot then there will be during NSOP registration.
Older students typically register for way more classes than they’ll actually enroll in, and will sign up for classes as back-ups in case their first choices fall through. This means that in the weeks of shopping period, a lot of spots will open up in classes as students start to nail down which courses they actually plan to enroll in. Takeaway: absolutely sign up for the waitlist because there’s a good chance you’ll get into many of those classes as upperclassmen drop out. Note: You can only sign up for 3 waitlists at a time.
Please also note that many professors will give seniority to upperclassmen and ask that first-years try again the next semester if a course continues to be over-enrolled. The good news is that you’ve got plenty of time to take any specific class if that does end up happening, so don’t be disheartened! It’s happened to all of us. Also, keep in mind that the Columbia Directory of Classes is not updated in real-time, only at night. The registration numbers for a class may be accurate first thing in the morning, but not in the afternoon. Go by what Student Planning says when you register for your class. If a class is full it will ask you to join the waitlist, and you should feel free to do so. For some classes, you'll be able to view your position on the waitlist on ssol.columbia.edu. (Under Academic Records, click Registration > Continue with Fall 2023 Registration > Scroll to Fall 2023 Wish List.) This is not available for all courses, so don't worry if you can't see your position on the waitlist.
If you get off the waitlist you’ll receive an email from the Columbia Registrar saying as much, and that you’re enrolled in the class. It will then ask you to resolve any outstanding time conflicts, for example, if you’re registered for a backup class that you signed up for in case you didn’t get off the waitlist for the other, you would need to drop the backup class to make room for your waitlist class. It's also a good idea to double-check Student Planning when you get this email to make sure the formerly-waitlisted class is now green on your schedule -- if it's not, you should contact the Barnard Registrar for help.
If you’re waitlisted for a class that’s required for your major or you’re really passionate about, feel free to reach out to the professor before the first class or go up and speak to them directly afterwards to communicate your interest. They sometimes will take that into consideration when deciding on the roster for the semester. Professors are also always happy to hear from passionate students.
Stay tuned for more posts as we demystify the registration process! And as always, please reach out with any questions.
As promised for those of you who are more auditory and visual learners, here are video tutorials. Each video corresponds to a section of the guide, so if you read the guide and you’re confused, you can watch the video for the section and vice versa:
How to Access Student Planning
How to Access Student Planning
