<p>My son has only experienced this once at his LAC. It was for an intro-level class with a hugely popular professor. But, it was an ancillary interest for my son, not in his major dept., so not a big deal. (As I understand it, he’s on the priority list for next fall if he still wants to take it then.) His problem has been more often that the classes he really wants are scheduled at the same time! This seems to happen almost every single term. And because its a small school, there aren’t a lot of other alternatives. Plus he’s on the semester system, so in his total 4 years of school, he only has 8 terms to work with. Not a lot of flexibility there.</p>
<p>My daughter is at a large flagship state univ. She is in the honors college, but this school does not give registration priority to honors students – however, she’s always taken a very full course load each term and occasional summer term classes, so her earned-credits count puts her pretty high up in registration priority. The thing that gives her MUCH more flexibility than my son has, is that if something she’s interested in is full, there are many other options that either fill requirements or appeal to her interests because there are just so many classes offered each term. Plus, the fact that she’s on quarters, gives her more terms to fit in the various classes she needs or wants.</p>
<p>I believe both kids are in very good, but very different, college environments. My son is really a small-school kind of guy, my daughter is certainly not. So, I don’t think one is better than the other in a general sense, but I do think my daughter has had more variety and greater flexibility in her registration choices.</p>