Ep. 118 - Spring into Registration: Tips, Tricks, and Advisor Secrets

Spring registration is here, Coyotes! 🐾 Join Matt, Aurora, and Julian from the CSUSB Academic Advising office as they tackle your most common registration questions—from planning your schedule and mastering the waitlist game to handling those pesky error messages. Whether you’re a first-year student or heading into your final semester, this episode is packed with insider tips to help you register with confidence and stay on track for graduation. Grab your MyCoyote login, your coffee, and get ready to spring into success! 🌸💻🎓 

Follow to the CSUSB Advising Podcast on Apple, Spotify, and more!

Follow us on social media:

Instagram - @csusbadvising
Tik Tok - @csusbadvising
YouTube - @csusbadvising

https://csusbadvising.buzzsprout.com/

Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hey, and welcome back to another episode of the CSUSB Advising Podcast. This is Matt Markin from the ASUA academic advising office and with me today, we have some awesome advisors that you've maybe heard on some previous episodes, Advisor Julian And advisor Aurora. Hey, friends.

Aurora Bell  
Great to talk about registration and classes for spring. 

Matt Markin  
So like, you know, it's a little bit of a different type of episode, so we're not necessarily interviewing a professor, some from some department about their resource but yeah, rather us three just kind of having a conversation about some of the most commonly asked questions and topics regarding course registration. And yeah, we thought it would be a great idea, because by the time this episode goes out spring. Registration notices have already been sent out from the Office of the Registrar. Students can see their registration day and time on their my coyote account, the class schedules out. Students probably have a lot of questions about, what do I do? What do I register for? So maybe we can offer them some some tips and a little bit of guidance. So I guess let's talk about the first topic. And maybe first question is, why is it important for students to meet with us as academic advisors?

Aurora Bell  
Yeah, I feel like I thinking back to even when I was a student, it can be really overwhelming when it's time to register, because you want to make sure that you're taking the right classes. Everybody hears all the time of horror stories of taking classes that you don't need. And when students come into advising and meet with their advisor, they're able to get that reassurance that what we're planning for them for spring follows the sequencing, the prerequisites and kind of their academic plan as it pertains to their major a lot of times too. You know you're in the middle of your current classes, and you might have second guesses about your current major, so if you have questions, maybe even about wanting to switch your major, it's a good idea to have that conversation before you lock in and begin your classes in the upcoming term, in this case, spring. So I think it's just a great opportunity for us to talk about the goals of the student, along with what classes we recommend for them to make sure that they stay on track.

Julian Trujillo  
Yeah, I also think of students that are coming in to see us, you know, maybe they're like, you know, I'm planning for these five set of classes, or four classes, six classes, whatever it is the class where they're trying to take. We can also help you guys figure out backup options in case, you know, maybe this class didn't work out because of the date and time. But we also want to be mindful, kind of like Roy mentioned, sometimes the core sequences, if it's a prerequisite. Want to also give you some backups in case you're not even to get into a course, but be mindful of those prerequisites that may be applicable to a specific course.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, I think it's just also a great way to, kind of a student to check in with us to say, Okay, how's everything going right now, this semester? But then, yeah, let's also kind of plan out the following semester, but kind of also going off with the both of you have said too. It's like, let's say a student may not be doing or feel they're doing as well in a certain class, but maybe that's a prereq to the next class. What are all alternatives? Is that class offered again? Should we plan to retake it? Or is there a chance that they can maybe resolve any issues in the current semester with that class and still pass it?

Aurora Bell  
Absolutely, yeah, and I think too, it just gives them a chance to kind of know that as they begin their classes in spring, this conversation about registration can still be ongoing. They might select classes, go the first week and decide it's not a correct course load for them, or they might not feel that they pick the right class. And so we can continue to have these registration conversations with them, but the earlier that they come in, the more prepared we can make sure that they are for when it's the day and time that they actually can begin registering.

Matt Markin  
I think that's a great segue. And let's talk about actually registration and how that all works. So you know, we know for spring registration for the spring 2026 semester, it starts October 27 but not everyone registers on that day. So if you're listening and you gone to your your My coyote account, you see you have a registration date, and it's like November 5 or November 12 or October 31 how do we come up with that? So we don't create it, but also, the registrar has a kind of structure. So on October 27 on the first day of registration, it's what they call the mandated group. So there's about five specific groups that must have that first day of registration, and then after that, it's kind of a hierarchy of sorts. So you have, like your seniors that are going to be in their last semester to graduate. Then. Seniors who are not in their last semester to graduate, and then you have, like, your juniors, then sophomores and then freshmen. So it's kind of a spaced out in terms of when students register, what day and time that they register for, but I'm assuming both of you get students that come in like, early and maybe their registration dates, not until like, the tail end of registration, and then they contact you again. They're like, hey, those classes we picked out.

Aurora Bell  
Yeah, yeah. And I think that goes into what Julian mentioned about backup plans. You know, having stuff and planning is wonderful, and especially if you are one of those students who comes in early and wants the reassurance that they're on track if they check their registration date. And unfortunately, maybe it's a little bit further out than they were first anticipating. The best thing that they can do is have a set of classes that maybe they're eyeing as backup plans. At the very least, knowing their registration date and time and having an alarm set for that being online at that time, I think, goes a really long way, because sometimes life just gets in the way and people forget. And so if you're on top of it, then hopefully you can still get those classes that you wanted, and hopefully to maybe have some time in between, when you prepped with us and when the registration begins, to maybe put some of the classes in your shopping cart, if you didn't already do that with your advisor, to be able to just make it as easy as possible and press enroll, essentially, when it's your registration date and time.

Julian Trujillo  
Yeah, yeah. And I want to add to this, you know, I've been having a lot of students that are reaching out to me now, and they're being proactive, which is great. That's what we want students to do. But like I said, sometimes a student might have a registration day that's a bit further out, and it's good to come in plan those courses. My recommendations for students, I typically do. I'm not sure if you guys do the same, but I usually tell students, once you find when your registration date is, then you want to maybe schedule an appointment closer to that registration date. So if it's on a Friday when you have to register, try to make an appointment on the Thursday or Wednesday before, or if you're lucky enough that they have your actual registration day. But I think if we're able to plan the courses closer to your registration date, you give a more, I guess, up to date class list or class schedule that you're able to pick courses from. So being proactive in that way as well, but definitely try to meet with us before your registration comes. Now we can plan some classes and then backup plans in case.

Matt Markin  
Having classes, backup plans for those classes. But then also, you know, we you talk to students about the Wait List option. So when they're before they add the class of the shopping cart, there's usually that little box where it says, you know, check here, you know if to wait list, if, if class gets full. And then that also might help out, if a class does get full, that they could be on that waitlist. And hopefully, as students enrolled in a class might drop it, they might be able to move up in that waitlist. And fingers crossed get added in later.

Julian Trujillo  
Yeah, something to add about the wait list too is, you know, being mindful that when you add the waitlist, you know, first day of class, you want to show up to class, and still, you know, present yourself. There are some students that will be wait listed, and because they think they're on the waitlist, they think they have no chance, and then they lose the chance completely by not even showing up. So that's important to consider that the waitlist is just something that's there to kind of hold the position. But you also want to make sure to go and present in person and present yourself and then communicate with the professor.

Aurora Bell  
Yeah, and I think it's interesting too, because a lot of times when students are in the wait list, or when they're on the wait list, they feel maybe that they're in a position of hopelessness. Sometimes they come in and they're really scared or they're anxious. And I always try and state it as like, One man's trash is another man's treasure. Maybe you want all Tuesday, Thursday classes, and the class you're on the waitlist for, another student is trying to get out of because they want all Monday, Wednesday. So you never know who is going to drop the class. The best thing, like you both said, it's just add yourself on the waitlist if you think that you're trying to get into that course, present and show up for the first day participate. But then come back to us too, if you feel like it's not looking like you're going to get off of it, maybe there's another class that we can get you into, or another way around kind of planning your spring classes.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, and the waitlist. Also, I think, not to say every department will do this, but it is a way to kind of also show maybe the demand for that particular class, and if it works out, maybe there's enough demand that that department might open up another section of that and then you might be in luck to get that class. But kind of Julian, what you were saying is like, yeah, once classes start, the Wait List option goes away. But if someone were to drop during the first week of classes, and you happen to see that that class is open, you might be able to grab that class because there's no waitlist anymore, and you have through that first week of the semester to still add classes through your My coyote account, with and without any permission, as long as you're meeting all pre reqs and all of that good stuff. 

Julian Trujillo  
I want to also add to, you know, kind of he brought up, you know, sometimes this benefits students because, you know, it shows the departments that there's a need for that specific class. So then the department can figure out, you know, what, we need to open a section in this, or open a section in this. But there's also the scenario where a section can be closed when there's not enough students, you know, enrolled into the class. So in a situation where there's only maybe three students out of the 20 that have to be in the class, they can close that section, and then we can help you move into a different section or look for a different class to replace that, essentially, too. So being mindful that that that is something that happens, but we have options.

Matt Markin  
You talked about wait list, you know, having alternate classes just in case. But you've had it where students have registered or tried to register for class, and they get all the way to the end, and then they get an error message. How do you help students navigate through those error messages?

Aurora Bell  
I think, kind of understanding what the error is saying just starting off with that. A lot of times the error message will include something either saying that the course cannot be added because it might be part of our CSU online program. So that's something that students can come in and discuss with us. But also, sometimes the class is conflicting with something else that they had already planned. Maybe it was showing that it was open, but then in the time that the student went to enroll, maybe other students were enrolling in the class too, and the class got full. So the error message can mean a lot of things. In some cases, if it's a prerequisite problem, or maybe it's a problem that the students aware of, maybe, maybe the class needs special permission, then we have options to submit what's called a permission request, to request help for the student to get into the course by either the department, the instructor, Office of the Registrar of various other places on campus that that permission request is sent to. And ultimately, we can help to try and go around that error message and make sure that the students able to get into the class. But definitely, if the student's seeing an error message and they're just not sure, come in and we can talk about it.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, and I think it's also for students listening to this like you're saying, Aurora is like it if there is an error message, it will list what exactly the error message is. Now, sometimes they might group certain things together, where it's like, it could be a prereq thing, it could be something else, but it's also knowing, Have you submitted all your transcripts if you came from a community college or took classes elsewhere? Are those transcripts in? Are those articulated yet? Is that class being articulated as the exact class that's needed as the prerequisite? Because sometimes, if it's if it meets the requirement for graduation, but it's not quite the same exact class that could throw off and you might get an error message, and it might just be a simple submit a permission request to get the approval, official approval, to get registered for the class. 

Aurora Bell  
I love that you mentioned that part of it too, because a lot of times students will come in and they'll feel really upset, oh my gosh, my class didn't transfer over. Because this is saying error, and it's saying that I can't get into the class when Correct. A lot of times, that translation doesn't always read on the end of the system when registering. And we can go around that. So again, just talk to us, and we can kind of take, follow the steps that we need to take to solve the problem from there.

Matt Markin  
And you were mentioning the like CSU Fully Online. So lot of times when it gets to those last like, 20 seats, 15 seats, 10 seats left in a online class, let's say it'll still show the class is open, but then they get an error message saying that it's held for CSU fully online. So that's typically classes that are being certain seats are being a certain number of seats are being held for students at other Cal States, because some of these classes are what we consider like bottleneck courses that there might be a GE requirement or something that could transfer back to another school. So if you get that CC full fully online error message that that's what it means. What do you do with students that have like they get the error message and it says, Palm Desert campus.

Aurora Bell  
Yeah, if they're enrolled here at the main campus at the San Bernardino, then we talk about that certain classes are held for Palm Desert students so that those students are able to get the seats. So if we want to still try and get that student into the class, if it remains open after that point, then we can check back in and see if that would be a possibility. Unless they have other arrangements, those seats are pretty much going to be reserved for the Palm Desert campus. But if a student is actually in Palm Desert and wants to attend Palm Desert campus classes, then that's a conversation that we can have and direct them get their coding kind of change on the back end so that they're able to take those classes and not receive that error message. 

Matt Markin  
Basically what sounds like is, yeah, if there's questions, meet with us in academic advising, that's why you have an advisor. Or who's my advisor, you can always go on your MyCoyote Student Profile or Student Center, and usually have the name and email address of your advisor. And of course, we also offer the drop in. So let's say Julian, it's, you know, it's your student, and you're booked for a couple weeks. Of course, we suggest that students still makes an appointment with you, but they can also maybe get a little bit of extra help beforehand, at drop ins, and then see you after, maybe confirm some of the classes that that were picked out.

Julian Trujillo  
Yeah, that's a that's a good tip that I also provided my students. You know, sometimes the schedules get, you know, you know, back to back appointments, they get loaded and, you know, students are being proactive, you know, trying to figure out what's going to be the schedule for the next term, or, you know, for different various reasons. But it is unfortunate that that may happen. You know, where you can go ahead and book an appointment because it's already taken. But definitely, I recommend my students to go in and visit the drop ins on Zoom or in person. You know, you have flexibility. And then once, you know, you meet with them, they can also help you make an appointment to follow up with me, and in the cases of you've planned a set of courses and maybe a change by the time that we made the appointment, then I'm here to help you, you know, make those adjustments and find other courses, but definitely take advantage of our drop in advising. Since you don't need an appointment, you can get your questions answered, and you can follow up with me, send me an email, or your advisor, hey, this is kind of what we talked about in this previous appointment, or this session with the drop ins, any other input that you can add, or you can just wait to meet an actual during the appointment, and then we can expand on that.

Aurora Bell  
If I could add to I'm so glad that you mentioned the drop ins. And I think a lot of times too, a student knows kind of how they operate when it comes to registration. Obviously, if it's if it's their first time, that's something that they'll kind of get to know. But as they move through the different registrations throughout their time at CSUSB, if they like to check in with their advisor after they register, you can check your registration date now know when it's going to be and already call and set something up, put it on the books before, maybe we get booked up for maybe the day after your registration date, or even the day before, depending on kind of what you need and and what's going to come and put you at ease. But the other thing I wanted to mention too is sometimes students come in way after their registration date and time. And of course, we still encourage that, and of course we want you to come in, but they almost come in knowing that they've been putting this off and kind of feeling guilty a little bit. We don't want you guys to feel like that. Don't put off coming in even further just by feeling like, Oh no, I don't know what's going to be left as soon as you come in, even if you missed that initial day of your registration, we could still help you with whatever is still open, and kind of think about other ways to kind of problem solve and get you the schedule that you're hoping to get.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, great points, because, yeah, I mean, if a class gets full, then, hey, let's try the wait list. Maybe, let's do a permission request. Maybe we can reach out to the department chair and look, at solutions as well, you know. Or do we just get into some classes and then that, we know, meet requirements, but then we continue checking to see if maybe some other class opens up that we can try to swap out, or if we get to that first week and then try to go from there as we wrap up any last tips or last things that that you may want to say.

Julian Trujillo  
Yeah, I want to go ahead and just touch a bit, a bit on the registration appointments lost that students have assigned. So I know we briefly kind of touched on it mandated groups, seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen, and then it's like open enrollment. I also want to make note that for you guys are in a block. Let's just say for the seniors, which is registration starts October 28 and then it's up until the 30th. It isn't closed for you on the 30th, on the 31st you can still go in and register all the way till the time that open government arrives, which is November 15. Same thing for the sophomores, freshmen, juniors, if you're a freshman and you register between the 10 and the 13th, you can still register on the 14th. So don't feel like that block is just for you. It becomes open enrollment after the fact.

Aurora Bell  
No, I'm glad you mentioned that too, because it can be confusing and definitely that your your schedule that we're coming up with is a living, breathing thing. We're going to adjust it as the student needs us to, and, of course, outside influences too. But our goal here is just to make sure that we're helping you as best as we can to come up with a schedule that's going to be conducive to your success, your learning, and the outside commitments that you have as a student. So we just really encourage you to have ownership to over what schedule you're hoping to get and how quickly you're trying to possibly graduate, or other priorities that you have, if you know that pushing your unit load is something that's just not going to be right for you. So everybody's going to come in with different needs and just feel ownership over what you're looking to. Get out of school, and hopefully we can have you plan with enough ample time to register, get all the classes that you need, and if not figure out those backup plans like we're saying.

Matt Markin  
I think lastly, yeah, once you are registered for classes, think it's always a good idea bring up an update, a pause report right after that, and see where all the classes that you just registered for, where those match up on your pause report. That way, it's a great way to double check that what you and your advisor talked about are meeting the requirements that you had originally discussed. And if something looks off, then it's like, reach out to your advisor right away and it'd be like, hey, this class is showing up under this other requirement, or showing up under my electives. And maybe it's an error, or it was the wrong class that that was picked out. But that's also great way just to double check and make sure everything looks good, especially you don't want to take classes that turn out they don't meet requirements. But yeah, great, great conversation talking about spring registration yodes, hopefully you got something out of this. And of course, yeah, definitely see your advisor, and maybe your advisor is one of us, and so make that appointment right away, or see us during drop ins, but Aurora and Julian, thanks so much.

Aurora Bell  
Thank you. Good luck with registration everyone.

Julian Trujillo  
All right, thank you guys for joining us and see you on the next one.