GIANT PRO TIP: THE SCHEDULING ASSISTANT

You may wonder whether your Academic Advisor (me) is a really mean person who wants you to have 7:30 classes every day of the week.  I promise that’s not the case.  This year especially I was worried about giving you too much info about making changes to your fall schedule for two big reasons:  First, we have a record number of new beginners in FYE.  I worry that you’ll lose your seat in a class and not be able to get it back. Second (don’t laugh) until we have our new Academic Advisors trained, you’re stuck with me as your advisor.  I worried that if 300 of you somehow dropped a course or got messed up in the Scheduling Assistant, I wouldn’t be able to get to all of you to help you fix things.  None of that is about me throwing a pity party for one - I just want to do a good job of communicating so you have a sense for what's going on.
 
Now that we’re through most of the really intense revision to resolve course conflicts or other big problems, I do want you to have information and resources, and I definitely want you to be in the driver’s seat with your educational experience.  So, here’s some info on using the Scheduling Assistant to modify your schedule during open registration. This does not mean that I’d encourage you to go completely nuts and change everything in your fall schedule.  If you have all the courses in there to get through FYE requirements in 2 semesters, that is success.  

I couldn’t find a really good tutorial with screenshots to walk you through the Scheduling Assistant.  There are resources out there, and I promise that by the spring semester, you’ll be faster/better/more comfortable with the SA than I am.  But here’s my own take on this process.  My screens look a little different from what your view will be, but hopefully you’ll be able to find stuff.
 
Before you go to the Scheduling Assistant in myPurdue, it’s smart to make sure you have your Registration PIN handy.  The system may prompt you for your Registration PIN when you try to make changes.  I think it saves/stores your PIN after the first time you enter it during a registration period, but just in case, remember that you’ll get a new PIN each semester.  I will always post your PIN in the Notes tab of your BoilerConnect so that you can find it.  
 
It’s good practice to confirm that you have a time-ticket with the “Registration Status & Time Ticket” link in your myPurdue Registration tab, and also that you don’t have holds that will prevent you from accessing your schedule (“Do I have any holds?” link).  After that confirmation, go to your myPurdue Registration tab, and click the link that says “Use Scheduling Assistant.” 
 


The Scheduling Assistant has several different tabs/views, and there’s more than one way to accomplish most things.  It’s worth noting that if you get mixed up and change things, you can hit the “Current Registration” button to reset things to your currently registered classes.

The default is usually the “List of Classes.”  You can enter a new course in the “Course Requests” tab near the top left of the Scheduling Assistant (my view is a little different from yours – look for the “Course Requests” button, or a button with a green + that says “Add a Class”).  



After you’ve entered a new course, click the “Build Schedule” button.



Back in the List of Classes, view, you can click the “Time Grid” view to see your classes arranged in a week-view format.  I find this super-handy.  If you want to see whether there’s another option for a specific class, click on the class.



The system will show you a popup window with all available options to move things around.  If you find an option that you like better than what you currently have, click it, and the Scheduling Assistant will update your view in the Time Grid.  You will need to submit those changes before it’s final, so don’t forget that step!



Additionally – be very aware of several things:

• The system shows “live” availability (I think), but it’s live as of the last time you loaded/refreshed the window. 
• There is a LOT of movement that happens, and it happens fast.  Think about the fact that there are almost 3,000 new First Year Engineering students.  If *you* are making a change, you can know that there are a bunch of other students also making changes.  You might not believe this, but I have seen students trying to make a change to their schedule, find a new spot for their class, and hit the “submit” button.  In that really short time, another student has grabbed the open seat, so it’s no longer available.  Then the student tries to get their original seat back, and BOOM. Someone else grabbed that one too.  True story.  So be aware that there’s risk of losing your seat if you try to move stuff.
• The Scheduling Assistant may move OTHER things around when you’re trying to move a part of a class.  Be aware of what your current schedule looks like, and make sure you don’t lose a part of a class or have something move around that you didn’t intend to change.  Additionally, in the last screenshot you see a message that tells you that classes in red will be dropped from your schedule if you select and submit the current option.
• ENGR 13300, VIP 17911, and ENGR 16100 are not available for students to move.  Those classes will need to stay where they are, so be sure that the option you’re selecting doesn’t include moving your ENGR course.
• If a course is full the first time you try to add it, keep in mind that there is movement in the availability of classes beginning August 2 and going all the way through August 29.  This is one time when being compulsive about hitting refresh and checking for space will come in handy; feel free to indulge and check for space as often as you want/are able.  Students who check frequently (hourly?) find that they’re able to grab a spot when it becomes available.  
• When you find a seat in the class, be sure to hit submit to complete the registration.  You can double-check your myPurdue Week-At-A-Glance (Academics tab) to confirm that you were successful.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

PRO TIP: FINDING YOUR FALL SCHEDULE

There are several ways to check your fall semester schedule. My favorite is the Week-At-A-Glance, because it also shows you the day/time/location of your classes. You can find your WAAG in your Academics tab of myPurdue (you'll need to page forward or search for a date in the fall semester, but it's there):



Some classes may have "Arrange Hours" noted near the bottom of your screen. That could mean that you and the instructor (or your VIP team) will arrange meeting times/locations to work on projects, or that the course has an online component.

If you have questions about required textbooks or other materials, hang in there. The instructor will give you more information soon. You can reach out to instructors to ask about materials for the class if the instructor is listed, but keep in mind that they are busy finishing teaching their summer classes and/or preparing for fall. You will have time to purchase texts during or after BGR, and it can save you time and multiple trips if you wait until you know what your instructors will require before going to the bookstore.

PRO TIP: MA 16010 IS *NOT* AN ENGINEERING CALC CLASS

Just to make our lives more interesting, the Math Department has a variety of Calculus courses available for different types of degree requirements.  There is a 3 credit-hour applied calculus sequence for students in the Polytechnic, Krannert, and life sciences majors:  MA 16010 & MA 16020, or Applied Calculus I and II. Applied calculus classes will NOT satisfy degree requirements for the College of Engineering.  

Calc I and II courses that will satisfy FYE requirements come from one of the Engineering Calculus sequences:

• MA 16100 and MA 16200:  5-credit hour Calc I and II courses titled "Pl Anly Geo Calc"
• MA 16500 and MA 16600:  4-credit hour Calc I and II courses titled "Anlytc Geomtry&Calc"