With Spring Registration beginning, many first-year students are navigating the course registration process for the first time. Leading up to registration, first-years stated that they had struggled with how to approach the process. 

First-year registration for the fall semester requires students to fill out a preference list of 3-5 courses to take in their first semester, and the university sets their schedule for them. In their second semester, students at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts are free to choose their desired courses. However, at Parsons School of Design, students have less freedom and must complete their first-year requirements and select one spring elective. 

As first-year students across the colleges at The New School begin to figure out their second semester, many are left with questions and concerns and wish there was more access to support. However, students at Lang have found success with going to their first-year fellows for help. 

Lang students have first-year fellows through their first-year seminar course, allowing them to access experienced students for advice and guidance with many aspects of university life, especially registration. For many Lang students, first-year fellows are often the primary source of information regarding registration.

 First-year student Mitch Mitchell-Lemco stated they were able to meet with their fellow and told the New School Free Press, “It seemed that it’s a very simple process, and I’ve been told what I need to do, and how to do it, and if I had problems I could ask questions.” 

First-year fellows meet students in their seminar classes every other week. Each meeting covers a particular feature of life at The New School. Alongside holding these meetings, they also give out their emails so students can contact them with questions. “They’re basically just another sort of support system for first-year students,” first-year fellow at Lang, Amelia Barkett, said.

The help from longer resident students can be a huge benefit to those using the registration portal for the first time. “It’s definitely nice having someone who has done the process recently and understands,” a first-year student at Lang, Evie Stirman, said.

“First-year fellows are in the same position as students…we are able to connect with the first years on a deeper, more personal level…that level of comfortability that other admin doesn’t have,” said Barkett.

The general sense of nervousness or feeling lost in the process is normal among first-years in every program. Parsons students described being informed about registration only through Zoom meetings with Academic Advisors. 

“[I am] excited but also wary and apprehensive since it’s my first time and I’m not familiar with the process yet,” a first-year Parsons student, Amal Nabeesa, said.

Academic Advisors are there for students to help with the process of registration. Still, as it gets closer to registration, advisors’ schedules fill up, and students find it hard to meet with them. “With a large student population and a much smaller number of student advisors to help out, students can often not be able to find time with the admins,” Barkett said.

When asked what could improve the registration process, Barkett said, “Having designated people, or a support center that can help with specific registration questions or concerns would be really helpful.”

Despite the anxiety surrounding registration, it is still an exciting time for most first-year students. Barkett suggested some helpful tips for first-years, “picking backups, checking the course catalog as the day’s progress, making sure that all of the classes work together when it comes to your lifestyle… And just ask students, don’t be afraid to ask questions, to other students…everyone is very willing to help…your peers can be a really great tool.”