Penn’s new registration system, Path@Penn, is now live. The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with Rob Nelson, executive director for Academic Technology & Planning, on March 24, who shared five tips for navigating the new system.
1. Use Path@Penn for the future and Penn InTouch for only the past and present.
For the rest of the spring semester, students will use both Path@Penn and Penn InTouch to manage their course and academic information.
Students should use Penn InTouch to view spring 2022 class schedules and grades, unofficial transcripts, order transcripts, and academic planning worksheets to understand degree requirements.
“You’re using Penn InTouch to manage things that are happening this semester [and past semesters], but you’re using Path@Penn for things that are future-oriented like changing your personal information or registering for future classes,” Nelson said.
After June 20, Penn InTouch will go offline, and students will only be able to use Path@Penn.
2. Use Path@Penn’s new advanced search features when selecting courses.
Beginning April 4, students will have access to Path@Penn’s “Search and Register for classes” feature.
Important new features include searching for courses based on school (undergraduate or graduate), class format (virtual, in-person, or hybrid), and credit.
Another highly anticipated feature is the “exclude times” program, where students can block out the times during the week when they do not want classes.
“‘Exclude times’ is the first thing under your advanced search, and if you want to just knock out and say, ‘I do not want a class on Monday mornings or on Friday afternoons,' then you just go in here and block out those times,” Nelson said. “Now when you do the search, you can see you’re excluding these times.”
3. Students can use alternative carts to organize courses prior to advanced registration.
Before advanced registration begins, students have the opportunity to sort and organize potential courses into alternative carts in Path@Penn.
“Because registration is not going to be [immediately available] on April 4, you won’t be able to add your primary cart yet, but you’ll be able to create alternative cards and that will allow you to go ahead and put courses in your carts so that once your primary cart [becomes available] on April 18, they’ll be sitting there waiting for you,” Nelson said.
4. Request a permit from an instructor directly on Path@Penn.
For courses that request a permit from an instructor, students can directly ask for permission on Path@Penn, which was previously done outside of Penn InTouch.
“[In Penn InTouch], when you got to a class you wanted to take, and you tried to add it to your cart, it said ‘I’m sorry this class is over-enrolled or by permission of the instructor only,’" Nelson explained. "You’ll now be able to request permission [directly]."
5. Use Path@Penn’s support services.
Students can visit the Student Support Resources page on the Next Generation Student Systems website as well as the Path@Penn web page for guides and instructions.
If any other questions arise regarding Path@Penn, students are encouraged to email pathatpenn@pobox.upenn.edu, call 215-898-1988, or visit the Student Service Center in the Franklin Building.
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