Students fight to get necessary classes during registration

By KELLY EMMRICH

Every semester the sound of heartbreak can be heard campus-wide as students watch their coveted classes fill up. Most juniors, seniors, honor students and students with disabilities have an advantage over underclassmen because they are permitted to register earlier. Rarely can sophomores and freshmen get into all of the classes that they want or need for general education requirements, majors and electives.

One problem is that there are not enough sections of each class offered per semester to keep up with the growing student body. Classes that are introductory level courses should be easy to get into, but, instead, underclassmen are in battle over the limited number of seats.

Even though a lot of students do not get to sign up for some of their top choices, registration is one of the most exciting times of the semester for a lot of students. Signing up for classes is both stressful and exciting because new classes hold the promise of new friends, new professors and an opportunity to challenge yourself academically.

For the past two weeks, registration for the spring semester has been on every student’s mind. However, classes that sophomores and freshman need to take for their majors are filling up faster than usual. And, it is not just one department that students are having this trouble with, it is every department.

“I had problems getting into Introduction to Computer Science,” says Abby Brock, a freshman prospective computer science and classics double major. “I emailed the professor and she said that I am at the top of her list.”

Intro to Computer Science seats 25 for each class, and six sections are offered next semester. Even so, four of those six are completely full, and the sections that are open are night classes that run from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.

According to Mary Grace Cooney, a sophomore business administration major with a concentration in marketing, she also struggled with getting into classes.

“I had difficulty getting into my marketing class,” Cooney said. “I needed permission for it because I did not have a junior status. I also wanted to take a communications class, but they were either all filled up or reserved for nursing students.”

Many other classes had various holds and restrictions on them, preventing students from adding them. Public speaking is a class that fills up incredibly early, but it is rarely listed as closed. In every single section, there were two seats available after freshman registration began on Nov. 4, but those seats were reserved for other students. This was a technical glitch that the department has since fixed.

Many also had trouble with holds during the registration process. Academic, advising and health holds were among the few errors that students struggled with.

“Most of the classes I wanted I couldn’t get into because I had a hold from the health center for never turning in my immunization form,” said Matt Sklaw a sophomore undeclared major. “That took a while to get removed. I wanted to take either abnormal psychology or cognitive neuroscience.”

Maria Schleh, an English major with a concentration in creative writing, had difficulties with a hold on a beginning dance class and found the new registration system initially difficult to navigate.

Schleh also says that she “wanted to take digital storytelling and nonfiction writing. I would try to force add into the nonfiction class, but I’ve heard that there’s already a wait list and those classes tend to be kept small.”

Overall, the registration crisis among students may call for a more expansive class list per semester, particularly for classes that are necessary to students’ majors. Students who have had to take filler classes may argue that having more class sections for important courses would make their academic experience more fulfilling.