Spring Break
Editorial: Registration Frustration
Editorial Board
Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: Ed-Op
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What is the most dreadful time of the term for students? Midterms are difficult to handle, especially when they occur several times a term. Finals week is also stressful because students have to spend days studying for all the material that they slept through earlier in the term. But believe it or not, most students find registration one of the most difficult times of the term. Registration takes the cake because it's outside of each student's control.
It appears that this term, more than in the past, class sections have filled up much more quickly than normal. We thought that maybe the new policy that allows students on co-op to take classes for free might have been the cause, but students on co-op cannot sign up for a class until two weeks before the term starts.
Therefore, we conclude that the problem is that there are just not enough sections being offered for each class. With limited sections available, many students are forced out of the classes they need. They can only hope to take those classes later. You can only imagine a student's frustration when they find out that they can't get into the classes they should take according to their plan of study, even if they wake up at 7 a.m.
Students also become upset when the classes they are supposed to take together during a term conflict with each other. It's very frustrating when it's impossible to take all the courses on a plan of study because of poor planning by the University.
These problems negatively affect our plans for graduation.
With the amount of tuition we pay, we expect to be able to take our required classes at the appropriate time. Some academic advisers advise taking these "hard-to-get" courses closer to graduation. But some courses are prerequisites for others, thereby compounding the problem.
Also, why would we want to take all our major classes during senior year? By that time, we should be preparing for our careers after graduation.
The worst part about not being able to register for classes is that it hurts our co-op opportunities. It deprives us the necessary coursework to land us the jobs we want. Telling employers what classes we'll take in the future doesn't help.
It appears that this term, more than in the past, class sections have filled up much more quickly than normal. We thought that maybe the new policy that allows students on co-op to take classes for free might have been the cause, but students on co-op cannot sign up for a class until two weeks before the term starts.
Therefore, we conclude that the problem is that there are just not enough sections being offered for each class. With limited sections available, many students are forced out of the classes they need. They can only hope to take those classes later. You can only imagine a student's frustration when they find out that they can't get into the classes they should take according to their plan of study, even if they wake up at 7 a.m.
Students also become upset when the classes they are supposed to take together during a term conflict with each other. It's very frustrating when it's impossible to take all the courses on a plan of study because of poor planning by the University.
These problems negatively affect our plans for graduation.
With the amount of tuition we pay, we expect to be able to take our required classes at the appropriate time. Some academic advisers advise taking these "hard-to-get" courses closer to graduation. But some courses are prerequisites for others, thereby compounding the problem.
Also, why would we want to take all our major classes during senior year? By that time, we should be preparing for our careers after graduation.
The worst part about not being able to register for classes is that it hurts our co-op opportunities. It deprives us the necessary coursework to land us the jobs we want. Telling employers what classes we'll take in the future doesn't help.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Lisa Leone
posted 3/13/07 @ 11:28 AM EST
I think that the most viable option in improving this situation is to offer more online courses, and to have online courses of better quality or "hybrid" courses that combine the best features of both traditional and online courses. (Continued…)
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