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When
it comes to succeeding at your classwork, make sure you're enrolled
in the correct classes first.
Cross Your Ts and Dot Your Is: Registration 101
by Rochelle DelGaizo Billera
September 2001
The CollegeBound Network NewsClick -- Once you're accepted to your
choice school, awarded sufficient financial aid, and secure your
residency, there's still one more important thing you have to do...
sign up for your classes. Just as important, of course, is making
certain they're the right ones for you.
"It's your responsibility to take initiative
for your own college career," insists Peter Osgood, director
of admissions at Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA. "But you
must also seek out opportunities to work with advisors, faculty,
and other people to develop an academic plan that will help you
achieve your academic and career goals."
By doing so, you are empowering yourself with
the skill sets you'll need later in life, says Osgood. And, having
lots of experiences in different types of classes will provide
you with a varied background.
"You need to be able to communicate with
people in as wide a range of academic and personality types as possible,"
suggests Osgood. "It wouldn't hurt for [a future] CEO to know
some chemistry or [a budding] biologist to know a little more Shakespeare."
In other words, by simply improving your communication skills,
academic diversity can be achieved!
Osgood encourages all students, especially
freshmen, to take smaller, more seminar-style classes. This
provides the opportunity for increased interaction between you and
professors, as well as among your classmates.
"Depending upon your objectives, choosing
courses may pose some neat surprises," admits Osgood. "A
course you didn't think you'd get much out of, may really teach
you a lot."
"I advise students to take at least one
course that simply sparks their interest," says Barbara Rowe,
who works in the registrar's office at Hollins University, Roanoke,
VA. "It's that [one] course that can help you develop critical
thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and gain a better perspective
of today's world."
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