It’s that time of year again, registration is here. While many students get their schedules ready weeks in advance, the results can be disappointing.
There are probably quite a few OCD students out there who, like me, map out their four years right after orientation, but I’m sure most of them are in for a rude awakening when registering for classes. I know I was.
It makes sense for students with the most credit hours to register first. I’m not knocking that part of the system, but it’s frustrating when the classes you want to take get filled up so quickly.
I can’t even begin to explain how many times I’ve made up a list of classes to take only to find myself waitlisted in about half of them.
And you have to admit it’s a little ridiculous when a class that’s a prerequisite for your major only has two sections available. Shouldn’t it be anticipated that these classes will be in high demand? If each class only has about 20 seats and there are two sections, does the university think there are only 40 people with your major?
I don’t see the point in waiting for the waitlist to become ridiculously high before deciding to add another section. It just makes students worry about whether or not they will be able to get into the classes they need or if they’ll have to be here an extra year. And it messes up the tentative schedule they have made for their semester.
To graduate you need to complete 124 hours. That averages out to about 16 hours per semester. Sometimes it’s hard to find 16 hours worth of classes you can take. I hear people all the time trying to find random blow-off classes to take so they can have more hours.
Isn’t that just a waste of time? But if we don’t take them we’ll fall behind and nobody wants to stay any longer than they have to and pay Bradley for an extra semester or year.
That’s really the most frustrating thing to me, when I’ve spent my first year of college taking only one or two courses for my major and filled the rest with gen.eds.
Then when I get home for breaks and people ask me how I like my major so far, I have to answer, “Actually I haven’t really taken any classes for it yet.” Of course this means by the time I’m a junior and senior my days will be packed with communication and writing classes. In fact, all those classes will be crammed into my junior year, making me exceed the limit of hours Bradley allows us to take and therefore extorting even more of my money.
Another annoying element is when I’ve planned out all the classes I need to take each semester only to find some of the classes aren’t being offered for the semester I need. I can understand why some introduction classes aren’t offered second semester, but I don’t understand why some classes that can meet the general education requirement that I want to take are not available.
People say the solution to this problem is to take classes over the summer and during interims, but I think students pay so much for their education already they shouldn’t be forced to pay even more to take courses they could just take over regular semesters.
Courses taken over the summer or an interim are usually charged individually, while during the fall and spring semesters at Bradley, if you’re a full-time student you’re not charged additionally per class unless you exceed the limit of 16 hours.
Advisors also tell us to take a minor so we’ll have more hours and can graduate in four years. But I don’t think students should have to declare a minor and take even more classes they don’t really care to take. It’s fine to pick up a minor if you really care about the subject, but it just seems to me if you cared about it so much you would want it to be your major.
So maybe it’s just another way for the university to get even more money out of us but it really is frustrating and a waste of time for students. Registering for classes needs to be a lot simpler and less stressful. If I end up waitlisted for nine hours again I might just throw my laptop across the room.
Annabelle Vang is a sophomore journalism from Pekin. She is a Scout copy editor.
Direct comments, questions and other responses to avang@bradley.edu
