First-year students have officially gone through their first registration and have now felt the stress older students know all too well

Pressures of registration for first-years lies in the deadly reminder to have back-up classes — for their back-up classes. Also, to plan to stay awake until midnight to have the best shot of classes they need.

With the university uploading its Spring 2020 schedule on Oct. 21, some first-year students felt nervous about their first registration being around the corner.

Brianna Murray has been feeling the struggle of going from having classes scheduled and picked for her to having to choose her own.

“Now that we pick majors and we have to figure out what classes we need to do first for that major, it’s harder for me because I didn’t realize you had to go see your advisor, then you have to stay up until midnight and wait for the classes and stuff. So, it’s kind of more difficult than I’m used to,” she said.

Susan Atwood was stressed at the thought of what her first registration was going to end up being like and didn’t know if the process was going to be easy.

“When I heard the spring schedule was open, I began to freak out and stress over what I was going to sign up for and if I was doing the right thing,” she said.

Mary Titus felt the stress of not knowing where to start after adding a minor and not knowing what to focus on so early in the game of college. She was plagued with the struggle of figuring out whether to focus on her general education credits, her major or her new minor.

“I was deciding between having two classes for my major or just one class because I heard different things from different people whether if I should do more gen eds or two classes for my major,” she said.

What can lead to the confusion of not knowing what will be best for your schedule during registration for first-years is the four-year outline students make in their First-Year Seminar’s common hour. The schedule is mandated so first-year students can create a rough outline for their four years at Castleton. But for some, planning out classes four years from now can be daunting.

Lexi Schultz has been feeling the pain of creating a four-year plan as an honors student.

“We kind of plan out our four years and it’s so stressful to figure out when I’m going to take all my classes because I feel like I like have a really long list of classes to fit in like such a short amount of time,” she said.

Tim Kittler has also been feeling the heat of registration. He’s had help from advisors and Student Orientation Staff leaders but stillw feels overwhelmed with the process of registering.

“It’s like planning out your life and you can’t get into everything you want, but you end up finding a way,” he said.

But an overarching theme that first-years mentioned is the help they have received from advisors and SOS students. In their FYS common hours, students have had the chance to focus on making sure they are prepared and ready for the long registration night first-year students will face.

Atwood mentioned that she is comfortable confronting her advisor and SOS leader with any questions and that both of them have been helpful for her.

“That’s what they’re there for,” she said.