Course registration a challenge, General Studies seniors say

Seniors in the School of General Studies say course selection comes with an added burden: the possibility of losing spots to underclassmen.

At GS, there is no seniority in picking courses, a system students say makes it difficult to get into upper-level courses required for graduation. Students are instead randomly assigned times to sign up for classes.

For some, this has proven to be problematic. General Studies Student Council President Katherine Edwards said that she tried to take Corporate Finance, a class for her major, but was unable to get in.

“Even as a senior I am not taking it, because both times I tried to register, it was entirely full,” she said.

And to get into another class that fulfilled a core and major requirement—and enabled her to take one less class, saving her $3,000 since GS students pay per credit—she had to get help from the professor.

“Some are upset on mere principle that as a senior they do not have a first-day appointment, and I can certainly understand that,” GS Dean of Students Scott Halvorson wrote in an email. “I do not know of any students, however, for whom accommodations could not be made if a class was shown to be absolutely essential to the student’s graduation within a particular term.”

“It poses a problem especially for people like me who have had to have a full-time job and take class, which means there are only a select few classes into which I can register,” Garrett Blair, GS, said.
The GS Committee on Instruction has been dealing specifically with the issue. Ben Totushek, GS and one of two students on the COI, said they are currently working with professors and administrators to raise awareness about problems with registration.

“We think that it’s gonna get the support it needs,” he said.

“This system has been in place for a while now,” Halvorson wrote. “Some years ago we did explore using the tier system, but we did not implement it because we did not think it would work as well as the current system for most of our students. We are certainly open, however, to exploring this possibility once more.”

Lena Park, GS, said that students also face difficulties if they miss the pre-registration period randomly assigned to them.

“If you miss pre-registration, then you get screwed a lot and your choices get diminished,” she said.

There are some exceptions. Seniors trying to get into a Core class or first-years who missed the initial registration time are given priority registration. Halvorson also said that the Core office keeps sections of Art and Music Humanities open for seniors, and that students can consult the department for upper-level courses required for graduation.

But Totushek said that students run into other difficulties because they are unable to drop courses after the 10-day shopping period, while CC students can wait until after the first midterm.
Park said that as a student who came to GS as a senior, more information about the registration process would have been helpful.

“Everyone assumes if you’re a senior, you know this [the registration process] by now,” she said, adding that the administration should “recognize that we’re all coming from different places.”
Ultimately, Edwards said the system places GS seniors at a disadvantage.

“Once you get more up-and-up by your senior year, you should be able to get into what classes you want to take,” she said, “and I think it’s really unfortunate because at GS, you don’t have that luxury.”

madina.toure@columbiaspectator.com