I can feel the bead of sweat slowly glide down my face as I watch the clock. The seconds tick by slowly. 6:59:59. The last second before 7:00:00 PM feels like a decade. I have everything ready to go. I am ready. I refresh my page at the exact moment the clock strikes 7:00pm. My fingers move at a break neck speed as I fill in every blank box with the secret code only I, and the control center, can decipher. I hit the ‘submit’ button and the red lettering of despair appears at the top of my screen:
SESSION FULL. TO ADD YOURSELF TO THE WAITLIST, CLICK ‘W’. TO ADD YOURSELF TO THE WAITLIST AND DROP ANY CONFLICTING CLASSES AUTOMATICALLY, CLICK ‘WD’.
As my last semester approaches, the woes of registration hold a heavier weight than ever before. There are several reasons behind this statement. Reason #1: I have carefully selected my course load for my last semester at PMH. This posed to be a difficult task as the Spring of 2017 course offerings left much to be desired for the ideal 3L. Reason #2: I am out of time to take the courses that I find both intriguing and stimulating. In addition, I have exhausted every Trahan course this school offers and Lockridge has decided not to teach the one course I have been waiting my law school career to take aka Trademark Law. Finally, Reason #3: I have a false sense of entitlement as a second semester 3L. I deserve an ideal schedule. I’ve earned it.
At 7:02:15pm, I have registered for my last semester of law school. Of course, I have to naturally post this accomplishment on Facebook. Every ‘like’ and congratulatory message I receive only inflates my sense of accomplishment, regarding class registration. What my Facebook friends don’t know is that my “Just-registered-for-my-last-semester-of-law-school [insert clever emoji]” status is not entirely the truth. Throughout the winter break and the beginning of spring semester, I will change my mind a dozen times as to what classes I actually want to take. I will slowly move up on the waitlist of certain classes and eventually, I will have the perfect schedule.
Oh, you’re a 2L reading this? You think registration isn’t a big deal? That’s because as 2L you have a different mindset come registration time. Your mind isn’t ‘how-can-I-do-the-least-while-still-managing-to-graduate’. Your mind is on this thing that should be on 3L minds. It’s called “The Bar”. When registration opens, you sign up for a “perfect balance” of bar classes and “other classes”. The gunners, however, sign up for all bar classes and then cry themselves to sleep come finals. But if you’re a 2L don’t get smug because the time will come when you, too, see registration through different eyes. Through 3LOL eyes.
This article doesn’t really apply to the last classification of students at PMH. No, I didn’t forget about you, 1Ls. You just don’t get to register for spring semester classes because you have enough to worry about…like surviving your first year. No pressure.