Freshmen will be on the clock and under pressure this week.

Course registration starts Thursday – a stressful, sweaty-palmed experience where the classes you’ve been eyeing since Colonial Inauguration are anything but guarantees.

Massive intro-level courses like biological anthropology, comparative politics, international affairs and psychology still have more than 100 seats left, but those go fast when you’re competing against 2,350 freshmen. And does that University Writing class on climate change or that Dean’s Seminar on Shakespeare sound alluring? Those types of small classes are tough tickets too.

You may not get everything you want, but you still have about seven semesters to make up for it. And never fear: It gets much easier once you’re an upperclassman.

Here are a few guidelines will make this week less stressful and help you create a solid first semester schedule.

• Be prepared to register immediately when GWeb opens – Even if you register on Thursday, the remaining open spots for each class are split between the three days of registration, meaning spots are more limited than it seems.

• Stay organized – It’s not enough to just pick your classes, you need to have the CRNs for all classes clearly visible on your screen and ready to copy and paste onto the BanWeb page. You can insert up to 10 classes at once, and you should have more than five classes selected, because you probably won’t get into all of your top choices.

• Have more than one discussion session or lab choice – If your classes require additional discussion sessions or labs, pick out a few different choices in case you cannot register for one. You will not be able to register for the class itself without simultaneously registering for the discussion session or lab.

• Register for your favorite class first – If there is one class in particular you just have to take this fall, type in that CRN and click submit, then register for the rest of your classes. You will have a better chance of getting into that class, and will immediately return to the registration page to finish registering.

• Know what classes fill up fast – Language classes are small, and only have a few available spots. So do the smaller sections of any introductory class. Type these CRNs in first, because you will have a better chance of getting into them if you do.

If your schedule still isn’t what you wanted, general registration opens July 16, and all students will be changing their schedule through the beginning of the semester. And if you’re still wondering which classes will land you an easy A, check out  The Hatchet’s guide to the best and worst classes for freshmen.

The list of University Writing classes (with descriptions) are here, and Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Seminars are here.

Any other questions? You can probably find the answers on the Office of the Registrar site.