<p>I’ve been thinking a lot about this for a while. How did Berkeley students register for classes before there was Telebears and the Internet? Did people have as much trouble and have to deal with nonsense such as waiting lists?</p>
<p>One of my HS teachers mentioned something about lines and camping out the night before.</p>
<p>My HS teacher told me that they had to go to each class and sign up pen and paper style. So camping was definitely a possibility. The name telebears, I’ve been told, refers to a calling system. I think they used to call in at their appointment times and register for classes via telephone.</p>
<p>My dad, who went to USC, said that they had to wait in line for one class (the one with top priority I would assume), and then run to the next class to sign up. At least they knew where their classes were…no nightmares of getting lost…-_-</p>
<p>I don’t remember what my mom, who went to Cal, said. But I think it was the same.</p>
<p>Probably easier than telebears…</p>
<p>Well back in the day you had to register in person. Then i think right before the internet worked, they phoned in to register. That’s why they have the Tele prefix. I guess that name stuck and its now telebears.</p>
<p>Can’t believe I’m saying this, but…strangely, TeleBears sounds easier…</p>
<p>Yes, in the sense that hammering your head against a wall now seems better than having had to wade through boiling sewage in the past, but neither is a treat you will await eagerly, or miss once you have graduated.</p>
<p>Once upon a time, you had to run around with personal punch cards, submitting them to departments for specific courses you wanted. You later ran around to check the enrollment lists to see if you got in. If you did not get in, you went to the class and hoped that enough drops would let you in.</p>
<p>Later, the running around with punch cards was replaced by filling in a paper with all of your course selections. It gave priority to the first 12 units worth of courses (if you were taking courses of 3,3,4,5 units, you would put them in that order to get them all at higher priority, rather than in the 5,4,3,3 order, which would leave the last course at lower priority, a subtle point missed by many students).</p>
<p>Of course, on-line checking for space available was not then available.</p>
<p>I remember hearing some colleges would have you dial the Course control numbers, and you could put yourself in the classes, drop them, or waitlist them.</p>
<p>thank god for being born in 1992 lol.</p>