Frustration over winter registration
By Lindsey Hart
Some students, still unsatisfied with their classes, are frustrated that late registration appointments have forced them to apply for wait-list status and are wondering if such difficulties call for a change in the registration system.
"I've always had a bad registration appointment," senior Emily Donohue said. "I usually register about a day behind everyone else in my class and as the day progresses I watch the course availability slowly go down. I'm a senior in my winter quarter. At a small school I should be able to get the classes I want."
Carol Lamoreaux, the university registrar who establishes the general registration system, explained that each quarter students are grouped together according to the amount of units they have accumulated.
"We don't do it by year. We do it strictly by units," Lamoreaux said.
Students must have a minimum of 44 units to be considered a sophomore, 88 to be a junior and 131 to be a senior. A student may consider themselves a junior but depending on the amount of units they have, they may still be in sophomore standing, according to the university.
Once the four groups have been determined, the registrar's office divides each class in half and then randomizes within each half.
"For example, freshmen with higher units are placed in the top half and are organized at random in that group," Lamoreaux said. "There is some method to how we randomize. We wouldn't randomize a senior who has one class left to graduate."
Disabled students, honor's program students and athletes qualify for priority registration, which allows them to register ahead of those who are a part of the general registration.
"Early registration is one of the perks," Lamoreaux said of the honor's program.
Priority registration is important to athletes, administrators say, because it allows them to schedule their classes around practice and game schedules.
Administrators have considered the necessity for athletes to have priority registration when they are not in season. But because athletic seasons do not always coincide with academic quarters and because there are year-round practices, the university said that athletes should maintain their priority status.
Club sports, however, while they may demand comparable amounts of time, do not qualify students for priority registration. Lamoreaux explains this is due to the understanding that these non-NCAA sports are considered extracurricular activities.
Lamoreaux said she prefers to grant priority registration to as few individuals as possible.
"I consider it my job to make sure registration is handled as fair as it can be," Lamoreaux said. "Everybody can't be first."
Santa Clara has been using the same general registration system for several years, according to Lammoreaux.
"I've pretty much been able to take whatever I've needed to take. Sometimes I'll take classes I don't really want, but they're ones that I have to take at some point anyways," junior Claire Bickenbach said.
While administrators say they try to make registration simple and stress-free, students believe complications still arise.
"I don't think I've ever had a class at Santa Clara where someone wasn't trying to sit in on it," Donohue said. Lamoreaux hopes students will seek help from either the registrar or the counseling center if they encounter problems in registering for classes.
"I think the university needs to inform students about how to utilize the Internet to check for course availability and creating watch lists," junior Maggie Kaufman said. "I had to learn from my friends how to do that."
Lamoreaux says students should consult the undergraduate schedule of classes booklet to answer questions they have about general administration information, including registration.
* Contact Lindsey Hart at (408) 554-4546 or lmhart@scu.edu.