Lionpath “Roar”-ientation: Navigating Scheduling with 5 Easy Tips
Read time: 4 minutes
Author: Lorin Harris
Introduction
Penn State has endless online resources and websites for academic success and making the college experience easier to navigate. But, having so much information at your fingertips can sometimes be overwhelming and overstimulating as a student. There are thousands of engaging classes to choose from at the start of a new semester, but that also comes with many steps students must take to know what they need and register successfully. Scheduling classes and making the perfect plan for each semester can sometimes feel like buying concert tickets--spots fill up and if unprepared, you can be left scrambling. From a student perspective, this blog will offer insight on journeying through the land of Lionpath and easing the weight of successfully mapping out a new school year.
1. What-if Reports and Understanding Credits
Lionpath allows students to see their entire academic plans mapped out in a document called a “what-if” report, that can be located in the tab degree planning and progress > what if report. It can be viewed as a drop-down report, or downloaded as a PDF. Students can enter their major, minors and certificate and view how the classes they have taken (as well as ones that are in progress or registered for) can fulfill credit requirements for the degree. Aside from seeing how potential classes can fulfill gen eds or major prescribed courses, the report shows credit standing numbers. A crucial part to scheduling and planning for the next semester is understanding how many credits you have, and where that puts you on the registration time table (see tip 2). By understanding your placement, you know when the earliest date available to schedule is. To find this, scroll to the end of the report to view total credits earned.
2. Registration Time Table
Each new semester, the registrar releases a registration timetable of when students can schedule based on how many credits they have (found in the what-if report and on unofficial transcripts). It also lists when the semester course list becomes available, and when the enrollment shopping cart opens to be able to start adding those courses into your cart and not just view that they are available. Putting these dates into your calendar/planner is helpful so you don’t miss any opportunity to plan for and get the best courses! The timetable will give a credit number and date, and the number of credits you have must fall below or exactly the same as the one listed to be in that category. It’s important to use this feature to double check when exactly your scheduling date is, because even if you’re in the same semester or grade-level as friends or peers, you may have different registration dates due to taking more credits, transferring credits in, etc. Additionally, scheduling occurs at midnight on your assigned date. So, if you schedule on April 16th, before midnight on April 15th you should get on lionpath and plan to schedule right at 12:00 AM on the 16th.
3. Monitoring “Holds” and “To-Dos”
As soon as you open the web tab of lionpath, there are headings of holds and to-dos in your account. But what’s the difference? Holds are tasks that need to be resolved, and they can be academic, conduct, financial, global programs or medical related. They can have impacts on scheduling and class planning, so it is important to contact the office that activated the hold and get it resolved. Read more about them here. To-do’s often have to do with financial aid and information updates to your account, as well as pre-registration and graduation tasks. Again, they could have impacts on scheduling if not attended to so it is important to monitor the status of them in your account. Read more here https://studentaid.psu.edu/aid-the-bill/why-your-aid-is-on-hold/student-center-communications/to-do-list-items.
4. New “Find Classes and Enroll” Feature
Lionpath recently added a new feature that makes searching for open classes and enrolling abundantly easier. Found on the right tab of the lionpath homepage, click on the “find class and enroll” tab see available classes. Be sure to click “open classes only” and “university park” campus selection. This new modification allows students to enroll directly into courses and go straight into the shopping cart instead of searching for classes in another tab, adding them manually, and searching for the enrollment cart. This feature may not work if you have open holds or to-dos like discussed earlier, so be sure to check that first!
5. WEB and World Campus Classes
Some courses offered through Penn State are in the WEB or World Campus format, which means they are usually asynchronous. Be sure to check when scheduling if a course is in the WEB format, as it won’t show up in your schedule builder and it means you do not meet in person. If you want to take a class but it isn’t offered at UP or you are looking for an online version, you can schedule World Campus (online) students as a UP student. However, the process is a bit different--you are unable to add WC classes to your enrollment cart and enroll on your own via lionpath. To schedule a world campus class, you have to call the registrar office for the World Campus class and give them your student ID number and they will verify you and manually add you to the course if it is available. Read more in depth about it on the registrar website.
Simplify Your Scheduling
As Penn State students, we are fortunate to have so many options and so much information right at our fingertips. But, that does not exempt us from how overwhelming it can be to have all of our ducks in a row correctly to get the best schedule we can have every semester. Understanding lionpath is a strong foundation to be able to handle any technical problems that come your way and learn how to be a proactive and attentive student. While blogs like these are helpful with navigation, sometimes more help is needed to fully understand our academic technology. Luckily, there are plenty of faculty and staff members at Penn State who are dedicated to our success and ready to help. If you have questions about Lionpath or any other Penn State applications, scheduling an appointment with your adviser is the best way to get one-on-one support and be sure that you are doing things correctly. You can reach your adviser via email with quick questions or set up zoom/in-person appointments with them via Starfish. Nobody wants to see an enrollment error message pop up on their screen in the midst of scheduling, so be sure to stay proactive and prepare for the scheduling madness!
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