AS WE NEAR the end of the semester, most University students already have enrolled in some courses for the spring and now are working on altering their schedules. As usual, many students have found that they are unable to enroll in at least one and sometimes most of the classes they want. There are several flaws in the system that make course enrollment unfair. The University needs to reform this process so that students will be more satisfied overall with their classes.
The University chooses enrollment times by credit hours earned - the more hours of class students have taken, the earlier they are allowed to register. Theoretically, this means that fourth years register first, then third years, and so on. However, this is not always true. Students can transfer up to 66 credits from a testing program like Advanced Placement, or from another institution. Therefore, a second semester first year or a second year could, and often does, enroll before his older classmates. Registration accorded by credit hours normally works because it recognizes the amount of time a student has put in at the University. This fact can be altered drastically by credits earned before matriculation. Many high schools do not have AP programs or have limited offerings. Students from these schools, therefore, perpetually are at a disadvantage in terms of course enrollment. AP credits reflect a student's high school existence, which should not affect their status on the college level.
Another group of students receives unfair early enrollment. Echols Scholars get priority registration over everyone, even fourth years. These students already do not have to fill area requirements, so they have more time to pursue classes they want. With no requirements and the option to create their own majors, they have eight semesters to try to enroll in popular classes. They are the ones who least need to register first and yet they will continue to get the top choice of classes until they graduate.
First, AP credits should not count toward registration hours. First- year registration times should be chosen at random. Echols Scholars should register by course hours along with the rest of the College.
Besides the problems involved in this first round of registration, there are further issues after the ISIS system has opened to everyone. As soon as their official enrollment time has passed, students have the opportunity to drop or add courses at will. Signing up for courses becomes a free for all. ISIS constantly updates its system, which means that as soon as one student drops a course, a slot opens up. It is almost certain that at least one student enrolled in a full class will at one point before the beginning of the next semester decide to drop out of the course on ISIS. This is true especially of large, popular lecture courses.
For example, by the time second-year students get their chance to sign up for classes, SOC 247 could be full. However, because is it a 260-person class, inevitably a handful of people will drop it in readjusting their schedules. The students who will pick up this class will be the ones who wait by their computers compulsively checking the ISIS system for an empty space. Or it could even be whoever is lucky to click the "add" button at the exact right time. Course enrollment becomes the luck of the draw or goes to whoever has the time and patience to stare into a computer screen for hours on end.
Precocious first and second years have figured out another trick to getting the course they want. They can have a student with an earlier credit time enroll in a designated popular class before it fills up. Thus, they have "saved" a spot for their younger, or just less credited, friend. When the time is right, or ISIS volume is low, the pair can coordinate the one dropping the course and the other one picking up the empty space a second later. Again, the prize space doesn't go to the most deserving but the shrewdest.
Several things need to happen to reform this system. Declared majors should receive priority in any course that can count toward their major. As soon as classes reach their maximum enrollment, they should be closed on ISIS. If a student should drop out of that class, the spot should be filled by a member of a waiting list created by the course's professor. Factors in creating the waiting list should include semesters left at the University, previous work in that subject and display of desire to enroll.
These changes would mean additional work for faculty and adjustment for Echols scholars and AP aficionados who are used to getting the classes they want. But, it will mean better overall distribution of the student body to courses. Students who have declared would be denied fewer options in their field and all students would have the opportunity to take nearly all their desired classes they want before they graduate. At the very least, students would feel that they had the fairest opportunity to enroll in the classes they most deserve to take.
(Kimberly Liu's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kliu@cavalierdaily.com.)
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