It’s my favorite time of the semester again. No, I’m not referring to Spring Break, although that is only a week away. I am talking about registration for the next semester. Even though class registration for the fall semester starts on April 6, some departments have classes posted already. Every semester I have been at Case Western Reserve University, I have been excited to go on Student Information Systems (SIS) to see that classes for the next semester were posted and began adding all of the ones that I wanted to take to my shopping cart. This semester, since I am graduating in May, I do not get to shop for classes. Seeing other people look into classes has been the first sign in what seems like a long winter that May is rapidly approaching and that I will soon have to face life out of college.

Registering for classes was always exciting because of the thought of looking into new and interesting classes. By this time of the semester, the workload of my current classes would get tiresome and I would look ahead to see what classes I could take the next semester in order to make my schedule better than it was at the time. Now that I am graduating and do not need to register for classes again, I miss planning my future semesters and the feeling of security it gave me. Instead of looking through classes in almost every subject to see if there is anything that was really interesting, I am job searching and worrying about what exactly I will be doing this fall.

I would like to encourage people to browse through the classes that are currently posted, just to see all the different options available. Although it might still be a little early, it doesn’t hurt to spend some time looking at what is posted so far on SIS. It can be a daunting task, especially early on in your undergraduate career when you have to make sure you are taking SAGES classes and breadth requirements. However I think that it is important to get started early so you do have time to decide what you want to take and have time to ponder over all the classes in your shopping cart. It makes registration less hectic when it does finally arrive, especially if you are trying to get into a particular lab or a popular SAGES class.

There are a lot of interesting classes out there. Many people complain about the SAGES program, but I enjoyed my SAGES classes, because I found ones that had interesting topics. I also was motivated to do the reading and writing for them. Even for people in science disciplines where the schedule is very structured, if you have an opening, I would encourage you to look into taking a humanities class, because there are some really interesting ones offered. Plus when else are you going to have the chance to take a class about Jane Austen or Russian Politics?

As I look back on my undergraduate career, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to take so many diverse classes, from one about popular books in history to one on Children’s Literature, wherein my final research paper involved watching different adaptations of the Wizard of Oz. I am also happy that I got the chance to take some classes outside of my disciplines just for fun, like psychology and economics, so I could take advantage of my time while still in college to learn about these topics, when I might not have time to do so after I graduate. One of the things that I know I will miss the most about my undergraduate career is planning out my schedule and picking the classes that I knew I would be excited about the following semester.

Abby Assmus is a senior and wishes she could still procrastinate on her work for the current semester by looking ahead to classes for the next semester.