Molly O’Connor/Winonan

With the semester rapidly coming to a close, the futures of students’ academic careers weigh heavily on their minds.

The angst that is brought on and felt due to the mere mentioning of the word “registration” is a campus-wide epidemic, bringing students to a state of nervousness and dread.

Junior Joshua Rumppe, a communications studies major with a leadership and advocacy option, understands the fear that comes along with registering for classes. This is at least partially due to the small time window given for registering.

“When registration does come, I need to make sure that I’m there for my registration time the moment it happens,” Rumppe said. “You have that little window, and you need to be really, really diligent and make sure that you are there on time.”

Other stressful factors during the registration process involve the meticulous planning and technical errors that come along with signing up.

“Another big stressor is making sure that I have a computer, it is charged, I have internet connection,” Rumppe said.

Horror stories of technical errors are abundant at Winona State University. No matter the credit level or priority, glitches can happen to anyone. Senior Kelly Mitzel has experienced a technology failure while registering online.

“One time when I hit register for classes, it didn’t work,” she said. “And once, it deleted my entire course cart.”

Frightening as the experience was, Mitzel said the errors were not serious.

Arranging the right array of courses is another stress factor that affects many students. Mitzel, an English literature major with a professional writing minor, has attended group advising before, but opts for a more independent approach to determining her schedule.

“Usually, literature major-wise, it’s pretty easy to know what you have to take because you have the five survey courses that you need,” Mitzel said.

Her system is not without complications.

“There is a downside to doing that,” Mitzel said. “I did mess up this year. I’m retaking a class that I’ve already taken.” In retrospect, Mitzel said she knows what could have saved her some time and stress.

“I should have gone to the group advising,” she said, “Or even have scheduled a meeting with my adviser.”

But for Mitzel and many other students, the biggest stress factor is time.

“If you can’t get into a class, you can’t graduate,” Mitzel said. “It’s stressful relying on that time period and hoping to God that this class doesn’t fill up by the time you register.”

Mitzel will keep her fingers crossed for next semester, and hope her classes stay open long enough to sign up.

“Because then, if you don’t get in, you’d have to Blue Card in,” she said. “And if you can’t do that, then that’s it.”

Contact Molly at [email protected]