Registration can be super confusing as an incoming freshman and even just in general!
My biggest tip is so plan ahead and write out several versions of your schedule making sure to give yourself enough time to eat meals and get homework done. This gives you some flexibility during your registration window.
I'm going to assume here that you have never registered for LC classes before, and walk you through the whole thing. There are two registration windows per group and you can access your time slot on web-advisor, which is our registration website/program. In the first window, you register for ONE 4 credit class, this is usually chosen with your advisor since they know which classes fill up the fastest and are most important for your schedule in general. The second window you pick the remaining classes (adding up to at least 12 credits, often more) and this is where its either easy or not...
You may be waitlisted. Don't worry, this is common and usually can be hashed out. If this is the case for a class you really want or need, email the professor and they usually ask you to show up on the first day of class. If people drop or don't show up you can usually secure that spot within the first week of the semester.
Lots of students use their academic advisor, since meeting with them is required to gain permission to register. However, I would highly advise you, at least in the beginning, to reach out to your college advisor to make a rough plan of your college career. These two advisors are super helpful for figuring out your major, planning abroad trips, and graduating on time.
A quick tip for navigating web-advisor, when you open up the student menu there are tons of options. Check out the 'register for sections' link under the registration tab. This will open up more options, where you should click 'search and register for sections', which will give you a place to search classes by subject, key words, and time slots. There is also a bar to choose the course type where you can find what counts for which gen ed requirement. This is how you accumulate your list of potential courses.
The refresh game. This one can get you... your time slot is 7:15 and you're opened up to the registration page at 7:10. Once the time hits 7:15 and your class is filled, or you get stuck with the 'update emergency info' alert!! Make sure you update that before registration because that can definitely make you lose out on a class that fills fast.
I hope this gives you some good tips and tricks for navigating web-advisor and figuring out registration. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have! email me at jocelyn@lclark.edu or find me on instagram @moonrisesoul_