Randomized registration creates complaints

By Mayka Mei

It's really not my fault that other people didn't complete as many units as I did by the time registration came around.

Trying to be responsible and staying a step ahead, I planned out my ìideal scheduleî more than a week before my scheduled ecampus enrollment appointment. I was sitting comfortably thinking that my current credit status as a sophomore would assure me some degree of priority over other first-year students.

Yet those Advanced Placement test and community college transfer credits didn't help me at all in securing the classes that I wanted for Fall 2003. In fact, my extra efforts in preparedness were not recognized at all.

I watched in frustration as the numbers of open seats in my Watch List classes dwindled from the thirties, to the twenties, to the teens, to "CLOSED."

In an e-mail addressed to returning undergraduate students, University Registrar Carol Lamoreaux explained "registration appointment order is a bit different this term. Each class was divided in half and appointments were randomized within each of the eight groups."

I don't know who complained about being "perpetually penalized" during their registration times (as the registrar's letter professed). I assume dividing and randomizing the classes was meant to give an edge to the students who have less cumulative units than their fellow classmates.

But from what I've heard, this change to the registration system has held students back in registering more than it has helped others along.

Theoretically, a student with more credits has fewer requirements to take in order to complete his or her Santa Clara University education. Those remaining classes are probably already narrowed down, and the student has probably already mapped out the quickest route to graduation.

Yet that class roadmap only gets the student from Point Freshman to Point Graduate provided that they get into those targeted courses.

Now that the system is randomized, students can be assured that they have less of a chance of getting what they're paying for.

Everyone is given the same opportunity to take full unit course loads during the regular school year. Those who took full loads every quarter should reap the benefits from the work they put forth.

How would their efforts be best acknowledged? Give them priority for class registration.