Preparations for the registrations start in the previous registration period. Some of the problems encountered in the registration period are solved immediately or, they are dealt with after the registrations because of the magnitude of the problem or the other elements that are connected to it.

The units that affect the registration period are as follows;

• Banks
• Office for Loans and Residences (KYK - Kredi Yurtlar Kurumu)
• Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM - Öğrenci Seçme Yerleştirme Merkezi)
• Departments
• Library and Documentation Center (KDDB - Kütüphane ve Dokümantasyon Dairesi Başkanlığı)
• Acountancy Office of Student Fees Fund (ÖSHBS - Öğrenci Sosyal Hizmetler Birim Saymanlığı)
• Registrar's Office (ÖİDB - Öğrenci İşleri Dairesi Başkanlığı) and
• Computer Center (BİDB - Bilgi İşlem Dairesi Başkanlığı).

The report about the problems encountered during registration, which is prepared after the registration period, will be evaluated by CC and Registrar's Office. The problems that can be solved mutually will be determined.

If there will be major changes and innovations about implementations, these topics will be discussed with Presidency. According to the type of the implementation, if need be, these topics will be discussed with the departments and the teaching staff. The decisions taken with regard to these topics will be returned to CC as to make modifications in the registration software or to develop new implementations.

As the problems of the registration are being handled, in the meantime, preparations of the "Fall Semester Registrations" start.

Registrar's Office will send an official document to the departments asking them to specify the courses that will be opened in "Fall Semester", the course schedules, the teaching staff of the courses, the capacity of the courses, and their criteria.

A meeting with the banks will be held to discuss the problems of the previous registrations and to ask for their comments and suggestions about the ongoing implementations.

Accountancy Office of Student Funds will send an official document to Office for Loans and Residences requesting from them, to send in August, the data about the students that receive tuition fee loans from Office for Loans and Residences.

The results of the examinations of foreign students are received at the beginning of August. CC carries out all the process of entering data about the results to the system, assigning numbers to the students, preparing password envelopes, and the printing the labels of the envelopes.

The most frequently encountered problem of the registration preparations is the delay of the arrival of the data about the students that receive tuition fee loans from Office for Loans and Residences. To evade the disadvantages of this delay, upon the approval of the Presidency, the loans of those students, who has exceeded eight semesters in the University, will be terminated. To avoid experiencing possible problems during registrations, these students should check their status in the "Student Semester Details" program with the program number 61, at http://oibs.metu.edu.tr before the registrations.

The debts of those students from the previous semesters will be entered to the sytem by Acountancy Office of Student Fees Fund). To avoid experiencing possible problems during registrations, our students should check their status in the "Student Semester Details" program with the program number 61, at http://oibs.metu.edu.tr before paying their tuition fees. This will enable them to learn about their status and pay the amount of their debts to the bank before the registration period.

The amount of tuition fees are decided by the Board of Ministers, and this is generally done at the end of September. Therefore, Presidency must declare the approximate tuition fees of the new semester in August. The amount of the tuition fee will be entered to the sytem by Acountancy Office of Student Fees Fund.

The summer school ends and 20th of August comes. This is the busiest times of all the units involved in the registrations. If one of the simple tasks of registration is not carried on time, it will definitely cause trouble to students during regitrations.The graduates, the grades that are missing and the data of Ms. and Phd. programs should be entered to the system by Registrar's Office as quickly as possible. As it is always the case, a laborious work begins to enter the data, which is sent by the Office of Loans and Residences, into the system. Generally, there are faults in the data sent by the Office of Loans and Residences, therefore, Registrar's Office, CC and Accountancy Office of Student Fees Fund work together to correct the errors present on the data that is sent. This task and colloboration lasts for a week, and finally the data on the systems are updated.

Two days after Student Selection and Placement Center declares the students that has gained the right to be accepted by a university, the data of the students that has gained access to our University is taken from Student Selection and Placement Center. This data is taken from the Center on the last week of August and it should be arranged and entered to the system as soon as possible. The registrations of the students, who are admitted to METU, will be made on the first week of September. The list of the documents that the students should prepare for the registrations will be sent to the addresses they have indicated in the forms of the Student Selection and Placement Center. The data will be classified and entered to the system. The new numbers will be assigned to the newly admitted students. The optical forms of bursaries and dormitories will be printed according to the information given. The labels with the addresses of students printed on them will be sent to Registrar's Office.

A big working group is ready to work at Registrar's Office. The envelopes with the documents in them will be checked for the last time. The optical forms should be placed in the envelopes, and then the envelopes should be closed and labeled with addresses. There is one day to finish this process. The teams work ardously to be able to make the envelopes ready to mailing. All the processor is working against the time. There will not be a remedy of the errors, because there is no time to correct them. Therefore, the process is checked many times.

Computer Center will prepare the first data that will be sent to the banks. Moreover, the schedule of the dates, when the data will be taken from the banks, is written down and sent to the banks. This information can be found at the web pages of Computer Center.

The registration days start with the "New Registrations" of the newly admitted students, which we call as "U3 Registrations", at Physics U3 Amphitheater. The next process, which is "Semester Registrations", enables the students to register themselves to courses.

Tables and desks are moved to the Physics U3 Amphitheater for the "New Registrations". The locations of the departments are specified. Registrar's Office conducts several arrangements. Computer Center arranges temporary ID cards for the newcomers. Moreover, the password envelopes, which are prepared with the data gathered from Student Selection and Placement Center, are printed to deliver them to the students, these envelopes are filed according to the departments, brochures are updated and printed, books are prepared and printed, and a work schedule is prepared.

As the "New Registrations" proceed, the students that recevie bursary and the new teaching staff should be entered to the system. After the "New Registrations" end, the preparations for the "Semester Registrations" gain speed. There is one day between the end of the New Registrations and the English Proficiency Examination. School of Foreign Languages and Computer Center work busily and strenously during this span of time. The preparation of the lists and the optical forms of those students that will take the examination, organisation of the classrooms and the examination supervisors, and the announcement of the examination are all carried out within a day. After the end of the examination, the exam papers are organised and this process lasts in the afternoon. The operation of reading the optical forms and checking them start in the afternoon and finish the next morning. The processes of exam evaluation and the preparation of the lists that give the exam results are completed within that day.

PC Rooms are prepared for "Semester Registrations". The software, hardware and infrastructure of the PC Rooms are checked one by one to ensure that there is no failure or any inconvenience. Maintenance and cleaning tasks are carried out, the PCs' that need update are done and the problems encountered are fixed. A "Student Bulletin" is prepared in cooperation with Registar's Office to inform students about registrations. Moreover, the web pages about registrations and the announcements that will be distributed to the PC Rooms are revised and updated. These announcements are printed and then distributed to the PC Rooms concerned. To keep PC Rooms open for 24 hours, the schedules of PC Room Operators and Student Assistants are arranged. The announcements are made for the students to check or change their passwords before registration dates. During this preparation process, meetings are held continuously in the CC groups concerned.

There are two days left for the Semester Registrations. There are several tasks to carry out. The results of the "English Proficiency Examination" are entered to the system. The students that are going to be exempt from Eng101 and 102 courses, will be determined and entered to the system. The information about the students, who has finished preparatory shool and started their first years in their programs, will be updated. The list of the students, who will take Eng 101 and 102 courses, will be prepared and they will be entered to the system. Moreover, the course list of the students, who will start their first year in their programs will be prepared and entered to the system. To be able to carry out these tasks, the departments should have opened the courses and defined their criteria and capacity. If the definitions are not done properly and completely, the course will not be available on the student lists.

There is one day left for the registrations. The last checks are carried out. The data received from the banks are entered to the system. The announcements about registrations are accessible on the pages of Registrar's Office, CC and Acountancy Office of Student Fees Fund. Necessary maintenance tasks are carried out on the web server and the database server. The programs that will be used during registrations are tried and tested in the real conditions to be able to make them be used by others without causing inconvenience.

On the first day of the registrations, at 8:00 a.m. in the morning, we arrive at the PC Rooms and units. Everything is checked once again. If an unexpected problem occurs, it will be fixed until 9:00 a.m.

The last seconds are counted now. It is 9.00 a.m. Is the registration program available for use now?

Some of the students started receiving the messages that the system is overloaded. Head of the Computer Center is at the site of the PC Rooms together with the students. Head of the Computer Center and the PC Room Operators convey the problems they observe to CC Hot-Line Service and to the people concerned. Registration statistics are observed at the beginning of every hour to be able to direct the students from crowded and busy PC Rooms to lesser crowded ones. The CC groups are making all their efforts to announce the alterations or modifications done at the registration places. The CC groups concerned are especially on the alarm until 12:00 a.m. at the first day of registrations to provide a convenient registration environment for our students. All the organisation is planned months before. At the end of the first day, except for the unexpected problems, everything settles down and the regular routine of the days comes back. As the registration period ends, the appreciations we receive from the students motivate us for the preparations of the next registration period.

Welcome our students! Welcome the new semester!...