Rylie Yeager ’25

I’m sure we have all probably been stressing recently as we approach registration for the Spring 2022 semester. As a freshman, I’ve been particularly nervous since we had our schedules created for us for the first semester by Pace. While my University 101 professor prepped us as much as she could by bringing in Mohini, an Honors advisor, for a reminder of Honors requirements and handing out our individual major worksheets, the experience is still a bit overwhelming. 

Mohini informed us that as Honors students, we will more likely than not deviate from our Major Map found on the Pace website; so we need not stress over ensuring that our Spring 2022 courses perfectly match the traditional trajectory for our majors. To start the process, I filled in my major worksheet with all of my current classes and transfer credits, which, as Honors students, you should have received during orientation from your academic advisor. I then turned to Schedule Explorer, which will be your best friend for registration. This can be found on the Pace Portal, under Students > Registration and Scheduling. I started by choosing one course to fulfill my major requirements and one course to fulfill Pace’s Foundational requirements (like critical writing, computing, a math course, etc). From here, I could then choose courses to fulfill some remaining Areas of Knowledge required by Pace and General Electives. I would recommend choosing introductory courses to dip your toes into any areas of study that you are interested in. I am considering three different minors, so I chose an introductory course in each concentration to help me narrow down which one I will ultimately pursue. I drew out a five day calendar to help me visualize the schedule I created and ensure that no classes overlapped or fell on days that do not work for me. To prepare for my registration date, I’ve written down the day, time, and course registration number for each class. 

The process becomes much less overwhelming once you determine which subjects you’re interested in learning more about and which classes you can get out of the way to meet general requirements. Always remember to have a backup schedule or courses in case some of yours fill up!