SSOL

With over 1500 spring courses across the University to pick from, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. With registration week underway, it’s not a bad idea to browse the CU Directory of Classes and make a list of courses you want to take. Barnard and Columbia academic department websites are also good places to look for classes for majors, minors, or concentrations you’re interested in.

Missing classes, inaccurate class status for Core Curriculum courses, and slow updates regarding course times plagued student registration for the fall 2019 semester.

You know it’s the start of the spring semester when (a) Facebook notifications in your class group from students asking to switch Core sections begin to appear with increasing desperation, and (b) the sun starts to set before your last class ends. And hey, speaking of classes, have you finalized your spring schedule yet? If your answer is a resounding “no,” know that it’s 100 percent okay to not be completely sure of your schedule yet. Take this semester to shop through new electives, explore courses outside your track, or catch up on fulfilling those major and Core requirements! To help you find the perfect course, Spectrum’s compiled a master list of classes that still have open spots.

You know what they say: CS is the new econ. It feels like everyone at Columbia has taken, is taking, or plans to take at least one computer science class during their time here. If you fall into the third category but find yourself undecided on which course to take, look no further.

In case you haven't been checking your SSOL account all summer, here's a little update for you: (most) class locations have been announced.

Thanks to a feature unveiled by CUIT last Monday, students can now use a "wait list" feature to try to get into full classes without even refreshing SSOL every three seconds. The limitless* possibilities this feature allows inevitably leads to dreams of an ideal class schedule, unbounded by class size limits, major preference, or silly things like "prerequisites."**

Now that Columbia FINALLY added the Wait-List function, getting into a full class may not involve so much sucking up. However, here are other tactics you can use to ensure your spot in a full class.