In planning the close-as-you-can-get-to-perfect schedule, you must have great research abilities. Registration week and the weeks prior to it are the few times in which ratemyprofessors.com, the most useful research tool for registration, has the most viewership and booming ratings. Thousands of students are thoughtfully finding out intimate details about their potential professors (providing they are listed on the website); how to suck up and get the passing grade, how they stand when it comes to lateness and absences and what makes them tick.  I highly suggest you use it to your advantage.

When there is a TBA (to be announced) instead of a professor’s name listed under the class you want, then you’re on your own like the rest of us until the first day of class. Then you have the thrill of finding out if the professor is one of God’s angels from heaven or the devil’s mini-me from hell, and you can stick with the class or run away from it as fast as possible.

Another thing to remember is that there is no perfect schedule! No matter how hard you try, you’ll almost have to sacrifice one class for another, whether it is due to the professor, time or major/minor conflicts. Try to steer clear of the marathon schedules, with classes from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. straight. It certainly won’t be worth having a five-day weekend when three midterms or finals are one day and the remainder are on the other. But then you don’t want a schedule full of gaps, with one class at 8:30 a.m., the other at 1:15 p.m. and another at 6 p.m., five days a week! Especially if you are a commuter, this does not work to your advantage! It will only serve to stress and tire you out.

Registration always starts at 7 a.m., not a minute later or earlier. So, you lucky residents, or commuters without 8:30 classes, or those of you who just have the day off, all you have to do is roll out of your warm beds at 6:58 a.m., step into those ultra plush slippers you set aside the night before, walk two steps over to your computer and get to registering.

Unfortunately, you unlucky commuters with early classes, who live in boroughs that are separated by large bodies of water, make sure you wake up from your warm, cozy beds at 5:30 a.m. and no later! Hop into the shower, brush your teeth and whatever else it is you do in the morning to get fixed and presentable, but do it all before 6:55 a.m. Then, do your best to register as fast as possible and hope that your 7 a.m. bus or train is running a little late that morning, and if it’s not, pray that your annoying professor excuses your tardiness and doesn’t put you down on his definite “FAIL” list.

For those of you who can’t register at 7 a.m., even if the other fortunate students take all of the good classes and you have a crummy schedule for the rest of the semester, it isn’t the end of the world! But just in case you feel like it is, please see the Office of Counseling and Psychological Services.

Definitely meet with your advisors in advance; they also have lives and can’t cater to your every whim and need at the last minute. Believe it or not, they’re not only there to lift holds. For juniors and seniors, they can offer valuable insight on fulfilling your majors and minors and tell you about classes that you may be interested in. Even freshmen and sophomores can gain a little insight on fulfilling the core curriculum and deciding your major. Some advisors are unreachable and may seem as if they don’t care, like one I had last semester, but it turns out his mother had died, and I was getting angry and upset without knowing.  If something like this is the case, contact the dean—that’s what they get paid for!

As you can see, I am a little pessimistic about the registration process, maybe because it’s incredibly stressful, or maybe because of all the bad experiences I’ve had. Hopefully, Fordham, my mistakes can enable you to make better decisions than I did in the past.