The fall semester is coming to an end and students are beginning to register for classes for the winter and spring semesters.
Priority registration for the spring semester at El Camino College began on Monday, Dec. 2.
A new student to El Camino College, namely those fresh out of high school, may not realize how difficult or easy it may be to register for classes.
Christian Pickens, an 18-year-old First Year Experience student who graduated from Washington High School last year, remembers registering for his fall classes. He added the FYE program helped him with registering for classes and was able to find them all as soon as the fall semester started.
“I have never done this before, I had a counselor that helped me throughout my registration for the fall semester,” Pickens said. “I just hope that they could help me again.”
Students need certain classes to meet certain requirements. Being able to get into a class could make the difference in whether they graduate or were able to transfer to a university.
Kyle Traves, 21, has been an El Camino student for two years. He said it is easy to register for classes because registration is online.
“I never had a problem registering because there were counselors that were helping me, and I knew what I need to do,” Traves said. “Everything was right in front of me.”
Traves said the difference between registering for spring, summer, fall and winter semester is that spring and fall are difficult, due to higher attendance. He added the hardest classes to get in are math, English, and science as general education classes fill up quickly.
“During the summer, people take breaks, which makes it easier to register for classes in the summer,” Traves added.
Kai Golston, 27, is a teacher’s assistant at Da Vinci High School. She attended El Camino from 2008 to 2010.
She remembers having so many problems when registering for classes.
“It was so hard to find someone to help me,” Golston said. “My counselor did not do a good job, one semester also missed the registration date.”
Reginald Williams, 50, began taking classes at El Camino in 1998.
“I remember I had to stand in line just to get classes that I wanted,” Williams said.
Williams said times have changed and knows that online registration makes things so much easier.
MyECC is a portal for students and employees to access digital campus services at El Camino, including registration for classes.
According to the El Camino College registration procedure, students may register on or after their semester. All students must register by the deadline.
There are several registration priority levels, ranging one to 10.
Level one is students in veteran foster youth, homeless youth disabled Students Programs and Services, and Special Resource Center, while level 10 occurs when students are reinstated and dismissed.
Golston said she wished she had MyECC when she was attending El Camino.
“That sure would have helped me a lot,” Golston said.
