Ben Strand/ Winonan
It is that time of the year again when looking ahead to spring semester becomes more of students’ focus than the end of the current semester at hand. Registration week is here, and it always manages to put a damper on students’ moods because of the negative connotations surrounding it, student Adam Melstrom said.
Melstrom, a third year athletic training major at Winona State University, said he recalls registration during freshman year as one of the most stressful times of the school year.
“It put so much stress on me,” Melstrom said. “I was so caught up in getting the classes I wanted. Watching them fill up while waiting for my time was nerve-wracking to me.”
Melstrom said as students get further into their major, the stress level decreases because of the seniority and being able to register earlier in the week.
Juli Heusinkveld, a freshman education major at Winona State, said she has been making sure to prepare herself for this week as best she can to help handle the stress.
“I had a meeting with my adviser, and she showed me what classes I should be taking for my education major, which was helpful,” Heusinkveld said.
She then said, “It’s definitely stressful, because I’m a freshman, so I feel like it’s likely I won’t get the professors I prefer.”
Miranda Soukup, a fourth year advertising and graphic design major at Winona State, said she is always with her computer on registration day.
“I remember constantly refreshing the classes page to make sure the classes I needed weren’t filled up,” Soukup said. “I always made sure I had a backup plan ready in case one of those classes filled up.”
Despite her readiness, Soukup recalled a not-so-delightful experience from a previous registration week.
She said she had her classes all lined up and ready, sitting in class staring at her computer, when her registration slot opened. She clicked to finalize the registration, and the page would not load.
“I didn’t want to exit out of the page, in case it would go through,” Soukup said, “but after 15 minutes I decided to refresh the page, and I didn’t get any of the classes I had hoped for. Definitely my worst registration experience.”
Soukup offered some advice to the freshman and sophomore classes.
“Take advantage of your [general education] classes, because you never know if it could be something you enjoy or not,” Soukup said. “And, make sure to make blue cards your friends, they did wonders for me in the past.”
Soukup said to try to not let the stress get to them so much and make sure they are prepared.
“It’s all you can do, everything else is out of your control,” Soukup said. “Just make sure to be as prepared as you can and always, always have a backup plan ready.”
