It’s that time of the semester again: course registration has arrived at the University of Connecticut. Students are busy mapping out their spring semesters in the throes of midterm season.
Course registration for both Spring and Winter of 2026 began on Monday, Oct. 20, with the last pick times falling on Thursday, Nov. 6. Francesca Eagers, a first-semester student at UConn, said she is feeling the stress of picking her classes on her own for the first time.
“I’m actually kind of nervous, because I heard that if you’re not on [top of] it, classes fill up super fast. So I heard, make sure you set up your computer early, have backup classes in your cart and all that,” said Eagers.
As students gain credits for the courses they’ve completed, their pick time gets scheduled earlier. As a result, freshmen tend to get later pick times than upperclassmen.
“I feel like since I’m a senior, I don’t have the struggles of … underclassmen,” said Brianna Carvalho, a seventh-semester student at UConn.
Kylie Hays, a sixth-semester student at UConn, broke down how course registration has gotten easier for her over the years.
“I’m getting into more niche classes. When you’re trying to get into a gen-ed, everyone’s trying to get into that gen-ed … the more niche classes, yeah, they’re smaller, but easier to get into,” said Hays.
Many students rely on their academic advisors to understand what classes they need to take and when. Appointments tend to fill up quickly in the weeks leading up to course registration, leaving people scrambling to make drop-in hours.
“I did schedule mine quite a bit ahead of time, because I just wanted to have an appointment set, so I was all ready to go in, get my classes,” said Edith Casellini, a seventh-semester transfer student.
Some students said they find meeting with their advisors to be helpful in the course registration process.
“I got really lucky with her. I feel like she’s very on top of everybody. We have to meet with her before we can pick our classes. So, yeah, she’s been really helpful outlining everything for me,” said Carvalho.
Others choose not to meet with their advisors if they don’t need to.
“I haven’t talked to my advisor,” said Laine Elliott, a third-semester student at UConn. “Every semester, for the College of Engineering, they give us these plans of studies and occasionally update them more so. This year, my advisor gave me an outdated one, so I almost didn’t register for one of my classes that I was recommended to take next semester to continue being on track with my courses. So that was frustrating. I’m glad I caught that.”
Some students believe UConn has room to improve its course registration system.
“I wish there was some way you could tell if certain classes are more likely to fill up rather than other classes. They could put a little blurb like, ‘expected to fill up so consider other options,’” said Hays.