I Am So Excited About Banner

We are migrating to Banner for Spring 2011 registration. It is awesome.

The database queries seem to hate showing results in table view. So if you ask to see the list of all math classes offered in the spring, you will get a list of records with 13 lines of text for each section. If you wanted to print all the sections of math being offered, it would be 86 pages long. It also does not tell you whether a section is closed or whether it has open seats. Awe. Some.

Also, Banner can report whether or not you have holds that prevent your registration.

I have a hold. It tells me that I have to meet with my academic advisor before I can register.


But if I go to view my registration status, it tells me that I don't have any holds.


This should be awesome.

As I don't get to register until November 19, I have plenty of time to figure out what I want to take in the spring (if anything at all). I can't take anything popular in the spring because everyone else gets to register before I do -- so if I wanted to take a graphic design course I'd have to wait for the fall so that I could pre-register before all the new freshmen. Any suggestions of what I should take? Nerdy things -- especially upper level nerdy things -- tend not to fill up. Those of you who are like me and from a liberal arts background should remember to consider non-liberal arts departments when considering subjects. I'm slightly tempted to see if the College of Agriculture has a course in genomics. Banner only enforces prereqs for undergraduate courses, so it's easier for me to take graduate level classes. So, which subjects / departments / etc. should I look for classes in?