For qualified honors students, class registration became a little less stressful this semester thanks to a new Honors Program policy.
Priority registration was introduced for honors students who met a specified GPA and have completed a specified number of honors classes and seminars. With priority registration, the qualified students were allowed to register beginning at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, which is 15 minutes before regular pre-registration opened for students based on completed credit hours.
“The primary reason to offer priority registration is to help honors students arrange their schedules such that they can accommodate the time that an honors section is offered,” Honors Program Director Kyle Dzapo said.
The Honors Program requires students to complete at least five of their general education classes in honors sections, which are smaller, more discussion-based sections of general education courses. Such a requirement has been occasionally problematic for class scheduling.
“We typically offer one honors section in perhaps five categories per semester,” Dzapo said. “Whereas Bradley students may have the choice of enrolling in any one of 20 COM 103 sections, for example, honors students have only one or two options.”
The program is also making registration less stressful for students by allowing them to sign up for honors seminars and programs through Webster when they register for their other classes. In the past, honors students had to go to the honors program office to sign up for honors seminars and classes.
It was due to student initiative that priority registration became a reality for qualified honors students.
“Priority Registration was initiated by honors students who talked with me in the fall,” Dzapo said. “They were well aware that friends in honors programs at many, many other schools use this system and explained to me the difficulty of registering for honors sections at Bradley.”
Those qualifying for priority registration will change each semester according to the program’s specified GPA requirement and the number of honors credit hours completed compared to overall credit hours earned.
Even though priority registration just began on Thursday, Dzapo said she has already received positive feedback from appreciative honors students.
