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Academic Success

Registration Tips

Before You Register, every registration period, advisors are occupied with calls, emails, and walk-in advisees with lots of questions. Because advisors are especially busy during this time, students who wait to register may find classes closed, long wait-lists, and a longer response time from their advisor.

Plan ahead for the next registration period about one month after each semester starts. Unfortunately, if you wait to register you may find courses full and advisors difficult to reach. If you work with your academic advisor before registration begins, you will be able to make contact easier, the advisor’s response will be timelier, and they will have more time to answer your questions thoroughly.

Check for your registration queue date in eServices.  Plan ahead to register promptly for the best selection of courses.

Check for holds on your registration. If there are any holds on your registration, you will need to have them released before you can register. You can check for holds by logging on to eServices. On the left-side menu click on Registration Holds. Active holds are shown along with what you must do to release the hold.

If you are on academic warning or academic probation, the College of Management requires you to contact Gateway Student Services to register for an online Academic Success Workshop. After completing and submitting (via email) your Academic Success Workshop worksheets to your academic advisor, call or email your academic advisor to schedule an appointment for registration approval. You will meet face-to-face with your academic advisor to discuss the academic standing policy and strategies to become a successful student. It can take up to 24 hours for your hold to be released after receiving academic advisor approval, so plan to meet before your registration window opens

Determine which requirements you need to complete.  Check your DARS report in eServices to see which requirements you have completed and which you still need to meet. To understand how to read your DARS report, see the video “Understanding your DARS report.”

Placement/Assessments

Take your Placement/Assessments, if required. Check your DARS report to determine whether you need to take Placement/Assessment exams in Math, Reading and Writing. Results from the Placement/Assessments will offer important insight into your current reading, writing, and math skills and help you select appropriate courses for your first semester. Many key Math and Writing courses require appropriate Placement/Assessment scores as registration prerequisites.

Planning

Plan Your Course Sequence. In general, freshmen, you will want to take level 100 and 200 General Education courses such as writing and math right away to develop the important skills needed to be successful in college. Plan to take College of Management Foundation courses, especially math, early in your program, as they are required to declare a COM major and are prerequisites for many upper division courses. Check out General COM Requirement (LINK TO General COM Requirement page) for general information about registration readiness. Additionally, each major has its own specific Major Tips to help you understand more about your intended major. See the Program Planner for your major to see which classes are expected to be offered during different semesters.

The Major Course Sequence shows course prerequisites for the courses required for the major. For example, FIN 390: Principles of Finance has the following prerequisites: College Algebra, Statistics, Microeconomics, and Financial Accounting. Make certain to take your prerequisite courses so you are ready to take necessary upper division courses the semester they become available.

All College of Management Foundation and Core courses are offered every semester, so you can plan to take them when needed. Upper division Major Required courses are not always offered each semester. Here are two ways to "predict" when upper division courses will be offered during the year: 

  • A Major Course Planner is available for almost every major. It shows which courses are offered by semester and by method, i.e. classroom, BLHY (“blended hybrid,” meaning there is significant online course work with fewer classroom meeting times), and completely online.
  • Major Required and Major Elective courses are usually offered on a cyclical basis (e.g. courses offered this summer will typically be offered next summer). This isn't a guarantee, but it is an "educated guess". You can look at the registration web site to see archives of previous semester courses.

Transfer

Know which transfer courses meet major requirements. If you have transferred business courses, review your DARS report to see if they have been evaluated as equivalent to a Metro State course and meet your requirement.  If you still have questions, work with your assigned academic advisor to have the course evaluated for equivalency. Don't take a course at Metropolitan State if you think you've already taken a similar course at a previous institution. If you repeat an equivalent course twice, you will not get credit the second time.

Creative Learning Strategies

Choose any creative learning strategies that work for you. Know which classes you may not need to take or shouldn't be taking by reviewing your DARS report and talking with your academic advisor. Complete any waiver exams, CLEP tests, Prior Learning Assessments, Internship approvals, and Reading, Writing and Math placement/assessments before registration begins or early in your program.

Determine your course load. Choose a course load that ensures success. When deciding on how many credits to take in a semester, consider time for homework, class meetings and commuting, as well as time needed to meet your responsibilities outside of school such as family, work, community and social obligations. Plan to study 8 -12 hours a week (that’s 2-3 hours per credit) for a 4 credit course. Also, consider the difficulty of the course: is it upper or lower division, is it a subject area that you enjoy or that you find difficult, what are the expectations of the instructor, how much work is implied by the syllabus?

School/Work/Life Balance

Unless you are in academic difficulty, you may register for a maximum of 16 credits per term without special permission. This means that you are responsible for planning a credit load that works for you.  You must request your academic advisor’s approval to register for more than 16 credits. If you receive financial aid, you normally must register for at least 6 credits to be considered part-time (contact Gateway for questions about financial aid eligibility). If you are an International student on a student visa, you must register for a minimum of 12 credits to be full time student (check with International Student Services for questions about visa requirements).