Do most colleges and universities use a simple course registration method, or a complex one?
“Simple” means that everyone gets an assigned place in the order, usually by class standing or level, to register for his/her entire schedule.
“Complex” means that the method includes features like a multi-phase system (where everyone gets to register for a portion of his/her schedule before anyone gets to register for the rest) or allows departments to specify priority for each course based on declared major, class standing or level, or other characteristics.
At least for my second kid, it is the complex kind.
She can only register first 10 credit hours in the first round.
She has two core classes that she needs to take and one of them has very small capacity so it makes sense to register for that one first. However, there is a second core class that have quite a large capacity but it is offered only once a year. Then, there is an elective that she really wants to take but the class capacity is smallish.
She ended registering for both core classes in the first round - apparently, she is no gambler. :o)
D2’s school had a bizarre system where you could register for some courses online but for the others you needed a prof’s signature, leading to people standing in line outside the office sometimes for hours in advance.
I can’t imagine not being able to complete one’s entire schedule at once. Computers make a HUGE difference in the ease of scheduling.
Tales from ancient times- early 1970’s. There was a computer science building but computers were basic and no internet as we know it today. UW-Madison campus. Entering freshmen had summer orientation and registration (still do but now students can easily change their schedule online anytime). The rest registered the week before classes began. I’ll never forget the process in cold, snowy Januarys. Stop in one building at the east end of campus when your time came to get the materials. Visit each department to get signed up- with a signature of approval- for the specific class section- sometimes needing to return if the one you wanted was full and you had to change another section (or convince the TA manning the registration table that you really needed that course in your major and you were added to the list). Then turn in your form at the west end (opposite of where you started on this large campus) of campus. Making add/drop changes involved visiting the involved departmental buildings. Had to decide where to go first, whether it was best to do shortest distances or most important to get a section classes first… Reading the printed timetable.
For son at same school huge differences. Registration during the latter part of a previous semester online. Easy changes with his computer. No glitches with signing up for overlapping classes because the computer wouldn’t allow it- I think he needed an override one semester to accommodate his schedule. Computers wouldn’t let students in full classes however- had to talk to the professor when the class started to override the system. He was able to take classes without meeting the prerequisites in some cases- not sure if it was because a professor intervened or the computer didn’t care. At least computers were always overruled by humans eventually.
The intention of limiting students to signing up for a portion of their schedules in the first round is to give everyone a chance to enroll in the courses most important to them (typically critical ones for their majors), before they are filled up by others ahead of them looking for free electives. After everyone has a chance to register in the first round, then everyone gets to fill in the rest of their schedule in the second round.
Compared to some others I have heard about, ours is exceedingly simple: all classes turn in their registration forms by the same date. On those occasions where a non-audition course has limited enrollment due to classroom capacity or pedagogical reasons, a lottery is held.
I would imagine “simple” method is often school size dependent. S went to a UC. At time school was approaching 25K undergrads. Kids with most units (aka closer to graduating) and who needed classes to graduate went first (except for Honors, athletes, etc who always were first in line.)
D1 is at a small LAC. System is simple. Registration occurs over a 4 day window. Students register for 1 class each day. It leads to some strategic thinking on their part on which order to sign up for their classes.
Both of my kids signed up for all of their classes at once at like 7AM on the day the system opened up to them. For my S at a mid-sized university registration opened to students based on the number of credits they had. At my D’s LAC and my S’s small grad school program each class had the system open up to all members on the same day/time. Apparently there was some strategy involved in terms of which class to input first (so get filled very quickly, others not so much). If classes are full students are free to ask professors to go over the limit and let them into the class (the “groveling period” as I joked when my D was able to talk her way into a closed class).
My daughter goes to a UC where her academic scholarship comes with priority registration. She gets to register for all of her courses early in the registration window and has a great variety of courses to pick from. There are some courses however that are reserved for members of learning communities or for seniors.
One son attends a UC. Registration times are based on unit standing. There are 2 pass times. 1st pass is for GE’s and major classes up to 17 units and you are given a 4 hour window to register. 2nd pass would be for courses needed/wanted but not in your major and also for waitlisting classes already full with a unit limit of 19. They also have an open pass time where you can try to get more needed classes which are open for everyone.
Other son attends a CSU. Registration times are based on unit standing. You can select up to 17 units of classes but some may be restricted to certain majors. For full classes, you can put yourself on the wait list. You can register anytime after the initial registration date/time.
We have a once-a-year priority registration season in the spring. Online registration for summer, fall and next spring (we publish our course schedules early) opens in tranches in March each year based on number of credits. Seniors get priority along with varsity athletes, honors students, and RAs. Transfers and freshmen get the leftovers. This system is great for most students but not at all good for recent transfers, who generally get slim pickings with all the best scheduled courses filled two semesters in advance.
Students cannot register for more than 18 credits each semester. Online registration is continuous after the March priority registration, but frozen in late Feb. to make students go in and see their advisors to get unblocked to register. Students on academic probation are not allowed to use online self-registration and must be registered by an advisor.
My daughter’s school follows a simple system. There is advising the week before and then they are allotted a certain time to register, although I am not sure how that is determined. In her first two semesters she was unable to get at least once class but emailed instructors during the registration process and was assured if she signed up on the waitlist she would be admitted, and she was. In one case, the prof made room for her; in the other case, there were so many (8 I believe) on the waitlist that they opened up a new class with a different prof. That was great because instead of 22 students in the class, it ended up being 15. She was recently admitted into Honors Forum ~ I wonder if that has any benefits in course registration going forward.
12 it affects transfers negatively, but it's not that bad for freshmen. First years don't usually start out taking many courses in their major; they have to take a First Year Seminar and writing, and they aren't in as much direct competition with upperclassmen for major courses. The university runs a lot of sections of lower-level intro courses that first years are likely to be taking.
Whatever the system is there will be students trying to “game” it. When my son was registering for his third semester with junior standing by then he had a friend from HS who was finishing his first semester and wanted a class that typically filled up and open to sophomores and above. The friend would have sophomore standing after he finished his first semester- based on current and AP classes (credit given only after finishing first semester). Registration occurred before then. Son told me not to worry about class X on his schedule because he was effectively holding a space open for the friend. He would drop the class when the friend could register for it- before someone else discovered the opening. I did not know his schedule so it didn’t matter to me- I would have him give me his schedule each semester so I could know when he was not to be disturbed (and since he would never get around to letting me know things such as when his last final was I could anticipate when we would be making the trip to bring him home).
If you didn’t get the above- don’t worry. Could call it creative thinking instead of gaming the system.
I don’t think there was a wait list during the active registration period. When I was curious and looked at the school’s registration site (it was my alma mater) it looked as though the only option would be for open classes- nothing about an option to get on a waiting list. It can be convoluted enough without one. Student gets class X which means they need to move class Y because of time conflicts which means redoing the entire schedule…
At any rate it apparently worked. Both kids graduated several years ago.
I do not know any other method but priority registration used by those in Honors colleges and it is very handy when the student is very busy with couple minors and many ECs.
Give me the good old days of paper registrations… Since the Math department - notorious for NOT publishing faculty names teaching sections and equally notorious for running as a profit center - was a hit or miss, we would register for 3-4 sections of the same difficult class and wait till 1st day of class to find who is teaching and what the syllabus was to see if we got the ‘easy’ prof. It worked quite well, especially because we could get multiple advisers to sign add/drop slips without verifying much :).
That was in the early 1980’s - by 1984 they had a crude online system for high demand classes.