Our
View: Registration ordeal irritating,
difficult
As the year slowly comes to a close, the stresses of college life begin to sink
in. Many students worry about final grades, papers, tests, living arrangements
and, maybe, even vacations.
The last thing students want to be worrying about is how effectively they’re
planning out their college career. But as students begin to climb toward their
ultimate goals at this university and are registering for classes as upperclassmen,
the complicated and convoluted registration process adds another burden to the
already overwhelming student schedule.
Have I already fulfilled this requirement? Should I register for this class and,
oh wait, which classes meet my capstone needs? And, probably the most important
question, will I enjoy this general education class and get something out of
it or should I try to waitlist for a class I really might find useful in the
future? The plethora of factors in need of consideration before registration
is extremely inconvenient and irritating.
Flipping through the schedule to make sure the classes you register for are also
fulfilling the necessary GE and major requirements has become an extremely time
consuming task, often taking away from other obligations. And, while the schedule
is designed to notify students which classes meet which GE requirements, classes
that meet the often-forgotten capstone requirements are located in the back of
the book where few students look when registering.
Inadvertently, students are left with extra courses they didn’t need to
take because they weren’t aware many of the courses they took didn’t
count toward any required classes.
Students are also left with a surplus of courses because they simply don’t
have the time necessary for deciphering the strange language used by major departments,
the general campus or counselors.
While SOAR is effective in giving students a general idea about where to find
student resources, a couple years down the road when registering becomes increasingly
more complicated, few students remember where “the building where people
will help you” is located. Also, SOAR and the follow-up session immediately
after a student’s first semester contain such a large number of students
that important questions about the registration process or where to find help
in the future go unanswered.
Thankfully, the system is gradually improving. Some graduating seniors may remember
the Voice Response Registration system (VRR) where students had to phone in their
class requests via a touch telephone. Now, with the advantages of the Internet,
students can find out instantly whether or not they have the schedule they need
and what is wrong with how they registered.
But as it stands, it is clear there needs to be more communication between university
professors, instructors and students about what courses need to be completed
in order for students to be able to graduate and how a more concise, organized
schedule of classes can be made.
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