How to Submit Course Choices via the SIS
General Education 111 (First Year Writing) and Religion 121 Registration
Semester II, 2008-2009
First-Year web pre-registration period:
Opens: Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008
Closes: Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
is for the following first-year courses only:
  • GE 111 First Year Writing
  • Religion 121

Calendar of GE 111-Religion 121 Course Submission Dates

First year students will register for ALL other courses during Interim/Semester II open web registration period, November 7-19, 2008.

Students enrolled in American Conversations and the Great Conversation DO NOT HAVE TO COMPLETE WEB PRE-REGISTRATION. You have been registered into your course.

Questions?  Contact Cheryl LaCroix, lacroix@stolaf.edu, 507-786-6797

Read instructions carefully before starting registration process. You are pre-registering for GE 111 First Year Writing, or Religion 121, or a Conversation program only. You may print these instructions for easy referral when completing the registration process.


Step 1: Log into the SIS (https://www.stolaf.edu/sis/login.cfm)

  • Under Student (left-hand menu), click on Registration.
    • Students approved for the music major will see pre-registered Music 112 and 114 courses listed under Current Registration.

Step 2: Checking Your Assigned Course Category

  • Students needing to pre-register in Religion 121 for semester II are:
    • enrolled in GE 111 First Year Writing in semester I
    • new transfer students not enrolled in Religion 121 in semester I
    • degree-seeking international students not enrolled in Religion 121 in semester I
  • Students needing to pre-register in GE 111 First Year Writing for semester II are:
    • enrolled in Religion 121 in semester I and have NOT been awarded pre-college credit for First Year Writing. Check your degree audit if you have questions on pre-college credit.
    • Students with awarded pre-college credit for First Year Writing are exempt from having to take GE 111.
  1. To see which course category you have been placed in, click on Add New Schedule button. 
  2. Pull down the first menu in the first slot to see your assigned course and pool of available section choices.  You will only see one course category, First Year writing (GE 111) or Religion 121.
  3. Click on Return to Schedule List.
  4. Students enrolled in American Conversations or The Great Conversation will be pre-registered for their Conversation program. You will see your pre-registered Conversation course listed as “Required Class” under the column marked “Course" once you click on the "Add New Schedule" button. This is all you need to do.
Step 3: Reviewing the Section Descriptions of GE 111 First Year Writing or Religion 121
  1. You can access the sections descriptions of First Year Writing  or Religion 121 online by clicking these links. A new window in your browser will open. You can also find the descriptions at http://www.stolaf.edu/offices/registrar/descriptions.html
  2. First Year Writing and Religion 121 offer multiple sections of each course.  Each section is taught by a different instructor, offered on different days/times, and has a different theme or topic of study.  You must review the section descriptions of your assigned course and choose sections that are of interest to you.
  3. While you read through the section descriptions, select a minimum of five (5) to eight (8) different section options.  If you are interested in a theme or topic offered in multiple sections, count each individual section that offers this theme as a separate course choice. Review instructions in Step 4 before you add your section choices into the Student Information System (SIS).
  4. Enrollment is limited in each section offered so the more choices you have, the more information the registration system has to work with. 
Step 4: Add a New Schedule: 
After seeing your assigned course category, reviewing the section descriptions, and selecting your 5 - 8 section choices, you are now ready to add course schedules into registration.   
  1. Click on Add a New Schedule.
  2. Pick your highest-priority section choice from your potential class pool.  Only list one (1) section title in the first course slot.
  3. Click Save and Validate Schedule.  Read any messages that appear in the box above the schedule.  If the message indicates a problem, delete the problem course and choose a different course from the pull-down menu. 
  4. Only ONE Writing or Religion course should be listed in each course schedule you add.
    • Do not add more than one Religion or Writing course to any given course schedule or you will have an invalid or "bad" schedule.
    • If you receive a time conflict message (Music students only), add a different section choice that does not conflict with your pre-registered Music courses.
  5. Each course schedule should total 1.00 course credit. 
    • Music students will have MUSIC 112 & 114 plus one section of their assigned first-year course listed in each individual course schedule totaling 2.00 course credits.
  6. Click Return to Schedule List after saving and validating each course schedule you add
  7. Examples of an indiviudal course schedules
Step 5: Add Alternate Schedules
  1. To add additional schedules, repeat Step 4 above.
  2. You should add 5 – 8 different course schedules.  Courses listed in boldface are new options; they do not repeat a course that is in a previous schedule.  Courses not in boldface repeat a course listed in a previous schedule. 
  3. Courses with multiple sections:  If there are multiple sections of a course (indicated by a capital letter following the three-digit course number), ADD EACH SECTION into a separate course schedule. 
  4. To see your chosen courses in schedule format, click on “Return to Schedule List.”  From there, to edit the same schedule, click on the “Edit” button (under “Action,” the paper and pencil icon).  To delete a schedule, click on the red X on the right of the schedule.
  5. You may rank your schedules in order of preference but clicking the up and down arrows. Example of schedule list.
    • To copy a course schedule, under “Action,” click on the middle icon (looks like two sheets of paper);
    • To edit, click on the left icon (paper + pencil).
    • Remove courses you no longer want by pulling down the menu and clicking on the line that shows as –
    • Add additional courses by pulling down the menu and clicking on the desired course.
    • Remember to Save and Validate Schedules after each new schedule and before logging out of the system.  Do remember to log out!
Step 6: Registration Tracking Tool
(will be active when registrations are submitted by students)
  • Use the registration tracking tool (updated every half-hour during open registration period) at the bottom of the schedules page to get a sense of how your choices relate to those of all other students who have submitted schedule choices.  This tool will activate as students submit course schedules for registration.
  • Use the bar graph on the left to see what percentage of students have already submitted their choices.
  • Use the “pick table” below the bar graph to see what your registration would look like if registration results were run now.  Each course is followed by a fraction.  The numerator would be your spot in the course if registration were run right now; the denominator is the maximum number of students allowed in the course during web registration.
  • If a course is in high demand, or if it appears that you could easily be bumped from a course if later submitters want the same course and have a more favorable registration number, plan to provide some schedule options that contain other sections of the same course and/or other courses.
  • If you add additional schedules based on the Tracking Tool, do not delete previous schedules!  You want to keep as many options available as possible.
  • Check back periodically while registration period is open, to see if any adjustments need to be made as more students submit schedule choices. 

**Even if the tracking tool suggests you might get into a certain set of courses, make sure you keep sufficient alternate schedules in your list of schedules!  Do not delete a schedule unless you know you are not interested in that schedule.**


NOTE THAT THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT REGISTRATION WILL RUN FOR YOU IN EXACTLY THE WAY IT APPEARS ON THE TRACKING TOOL, EVEN IF YOU CHECK IT SHORTLY BEFORE THE CLOSE OF THE REGRATION PERIOD.  The tracking tool is based on already-entered data only. Even a few changes at the last minute can change the results.  This tool is intended to provide information about a particular point in time, not a guarantee of your result.

See:  “Tips for a Successful Registration”

If you have questions about the registrations process, please contact Cheryl LaCroix or Registrar's Office