The stress of Miami University course registration

Every semester, the dreaded time for course registration haunts the lives of already stressed college students.

The exact registration process differs for every person. Yet, several students agree there’s a certain frustration that almost always accompanies trying to schedule classes.

So many factors have to be taken care of: knowing when you register (usually a weekday at 7 a.m.), trying to get an adviser to acknowledge your existence, deciphering a degree audit, planning the courses and then realizing every course you need is full or not even offered.

I registered on April 9, as I am fortunate enough to benefit from early Honors College scheduling (which is an entirely separate issue to address). This was only the second day of registration, so I had high hopes of getting the classes I desired. I was wrong.

Classes I planned on taking were at full capacity by the end of the first day of registration. I had to rework my schedule countless times, trying to align it with my audit.

My biggest issue is with a class for my professional writing major. There are four core classes required for this major. One class, ENG 171, only had one section offered, which was completely online with a five-seat capacity; it was filled on the first day. I know professional writing is not a popular major, but there’s definitely more than five of us.

Issues such as this are common, particularly in the English department. Alaina Hinze, a first-year student majoring in English literature and political science, also struggled to schedule required classes for her major.

“[Miami] offered only two English courses that counted towards a literature major, and there was only one section of each course,” Hinze said. “They didn’t open any seats when I registered.”

Required courses for majors should have the easiest access. When the seats are extremely limited or there are not enough sections offered, it adds even more stress to the scheduling process. If a student cannot get into a required course for their major, it complicates the track towards graduation, especially if they want to finish their degree early.

Academic advisers should be easily accessible tools students can use to navigate the complicated registration process, however, numerous students have difficulty getting in contact with them.

Kelsie Dallas, a first-year psychology major, said she rarely gets valuable help from her adviser.

“Getting a meeting set up is hard,” Dallas said. “When we are able to chat one-on-one, I end up leaving without gaining any helpful information.”

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Without any guiding direction from advisers, students are left to their own devices to decipher their degree audits and know what future classes they should take. This only makes course registration more difficult.

Endless scrolling through the course list, growing a headache from staring at a screen and having meetings canceled by academic advisers all add to the stress of biannual course registration. It should not be a difficult process. Miami students deserve easy access to the classes they have to take for their major. When they are barred from taking these classes, it is not the fault of the student.

Whether the difficulties are specific to certain majors or a matter of Miami overall, the faculty should work to ease the process and make students’ path to earning their degree easier.

norrisl3@miamioh.edu

Layla Norris is a first-year student double majoring in political science and professional writing, with a minor in history. Alongside writing for The Miami Student, she is involved with Kappa Alpha Pi and RedHawk Radio.