Classes are definitely a struggle to sign up for at Yonsei University; at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, we definitely take our STAR system for granted, making registration quite simple and easy. On the contrary, Yonsei University puts its students through an emotional rollercoaster ride with its trilogy of registration sessions.
The Hunger Games
In this round, students are given a set number of points they can bid on their desired classes, which is kind of like gambling. As an undergraduate student, I was given 72 points to divide amongst my desired four classes. I planned to take three engineering courses and one elective class. Round 1 took place before heading to Korea, taking place on August 7 at 9:00 am KST. However, you can start adding to your wish list a day before the actual time. This is perfect to organize all your wanted classes in one section of the registration portal, making it quicker to register. In addition, you can also check the previous years' bidding points to get a better idea of how many points to bid for each class. In the end, I bid points towards Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, Operating Systems, Communication Networks, and Korean Food and Culture. Thankfully, by the time the results came out in 2 days, I got all three engineering courses! So, I just needed to focus on getting an elective for my last class to stay full-time at my home university.
Catching Fire
For this round, it was like the typical registration type where classes are filled by first-come, first-serve with waitlists available. Luckily, there was a new Korean Popular Music class that was created during the time in between the rounds. So, I knew I had to sign up ASAP in order to get my final class! Round 2 started on August 12th at 9:00 am KST, so I one-speeded applied for the class. Thankfully, I got into the class and didn't need to further edit my schedule in the final round!
Mockingjay
This last and final round is during the end of the first week of school, September 5th - 7th, following a similar format of Round 2 with a waitlist. This is the Course Add & Drop Period. During this round, you can try for your desired classes by sitting in and talking to the professor to complete the Course Registration Approval Form attached in your email regarding Course Registration from study@yonsei.ac.kr.
During this process, I truly felt the benefits that STAR had for the students at UH Manoa, making registration very simple and easy for all. Below is my final schedule for the fall 2020 semester! I am taking 3 engineering classes: Operating Systems, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, and Communications, alongside 1 elective class: Understanding K-pop. By providing the syllabis to my home university faculty advisors and advising advisors, I was able to receive credit for all of these classes to count towards my graduation!
