Step 4: Introduction to Your Planner

Now that you’ve gotten your course recommendations from the First Year Survey in Step 3 (check your BU email!), you should look at available courses and arrange your schedule in your planner.

Boston University students register online through the Student Link. The Planner is an online tool that allows you to arrange a schedule of courses and their times before actually reserving a seat by registering. This means that nothing in the Planner is permanent until you actually choose to register for courses.  Even after you register, you can still change things around so don’t be nervous! You can’t make any mistakes we can’t fix.

You can access the Planner through the Student Link: www.bu.edu/studentlink

  • Click on “My Academics” in the header (image)
  • Click on the “Registration Planner” icon (image)
  • Enter your username and Kerberos password (if you have yet to create these, follow the Login to BU instructions) (image)
  • Select “Reg Options” under the appropriate semester
  • Choose “Plan”
  • Select “Add” to begin planning courses
  • Enter search criteria for the courses you are interested in adding to your planner

Before you begin, here are some important things to know:

  • When you search for your courses, you may need to click “Continue Search From” at the bottom of the page since some sections will be listed on the next page. (image)
  • Note the instructions next to the blue pushpins in the course listings! It may say to register for a lecture and discussion. It may say the course is “independent,” or doesn’t have an additional component.  The blue push pin may also tell you that a lecture and discussion should “match,” meaning that there are certain discussion sections that go with certain lecture sections but not with others.  The type of matching depends on the course, so make sure to read the instructions carefully. (image)
  • Check the “Notes” Section of your Class Planner.  If there’s an error, the notes column will tell you how to fix it.  For example, the notes might say “Requires: DIS” which means you need to add a discussion section or it might say “Time Conflict” which means you’ve picked two sections that meet at the same time.
  • You can use the “Graph” button to see a visual representation of your schedule in your planner or for your registered classes. (image)