Need an extra course this semester, maybe a prerequisite class? Could it have been that there was a flaw in the registration process, AKA InfoBear registration FAILED to meet your needs? Last semester, a fellow student/friend of mine suggested to just simply “ask the professor if I could get in.” That smarty pants of a friend! I got in, but I didn’t do it without thinking before I acted. Make sure to do that. Some ideas:
Do you have the “Gift of Gab?”
Do you have a way with words? And if not, do you have a TV so you can watch Frasier and imitate words that are so proper they’ll knock the socks off of any professor you’re trying to charm? Just kidding, you don’t have to watch Frasier and you don’t need to know big words. Actually, big words often sound forced and awkward if they aren’t any of those you use on a daily basis.
Key Words are what you need to know when informing the professor that their class is “critical” “crucial” etc. to your “college career.” These words spark an air of preciseness, assertiveness, and- if you’re lucky- you might even flatter the professor because their class is “crucial” to your “college career.” Politicians are famous for using key words. Love politicians or hate them; the strategy often works.
No Whining
What are you, five?
Don’t worry, I’m only speaking in tune to the hypothetical situation of you whining to a college professor, so don’t take that personally (unless you do decide to whine, in which case do take it personally). For real: if you walk into the professor’s class/office with your head down while acting like you’re the only student to ever try to break into a class with no vacancy, then there’s a likely chance that the professor will LAUGH IN YOUR FACE. Not only will you look pathetic, but you won’t succeed. Why? Because this is college, not kindergarten. So keep your composure and all ready your chances of getting into the course go up.
I know I just said it wasn’t kindergarten, but you can still play pretend.
Professors prefer mature college students who really want to learn , so even if you don’t care in the slightest about the subject matter, pretend you do. Pretend with all your might that you want to know everything there is to know about mitochondria, for example, and all its other weird and hard-to-spell counter parts. FAKE your enthusiasm! It can do wonders; take it from me. I mean, who needs to know where is and what is Zanzibar, or how many miles to Chicago or… whoops I lost my own attention. Yet I can easily pretend this sort of stuff is my life’s calling if it’s a necessary vehicle to get to my goal. Learn this.
And in the end, think of it this way: What have you got to lose in trying? It’s a learning experience, and I bet a small portion of why you decided to go to college was just that- to learn.
Did you get into all the classes you wanted/needed? Did you have any conflict with InfoBear?
