Like countless other students, Courtney Hall '11 woke up early on the first morning of preregistration - very, very early. Sleepy but determined, Hall picked up the list of course reference numbers she had made the previous evening and logged on to Banner.
"I get up really early the morning we are supposed to register so I can be one of the first people to type in my CRN numbers and push the button," Hall said.
With Banner's enforced enrollment caps, Hall and others are navigating registration with a mix of frustration, gamesmanship and, ultimately, acceptance.
Katherine Goetz '08 said that in her experience, Banner has been "hugely problematic." Because both Banner and paper registration rely on seniority to enroll students, having caps on enrollment during preregistration is pointless, she said. "In the old system," she said, "when you preregistered for a course, there was no cap, and after shopping, the professor decided who was in."
Goetz said that the number of students who attempt to preregister for a class during preregistration doesn't predict how many students will actually take the course because "a lot of the time you'll register for a class you don't intend to take." In previous years, when caps were generally set by professors during shopping period, students could more easily preregister for courses and preview them before they fill up, allowing in the class the students who seriously wanted the course, she said.
Though Tory Hartmann '11 wasn't around for paper registration, she said the new system hasn't been too tough. "Banner made the transition easier because once I got my PIN number from my adviser, I could just type it in and register for whatever classes I wanted." The online nature of Banner also makes registration easier for students who frequently change their schedules during shopping period, said Hartmann, who has shopped approximately 12 classes.
Hartmann also said she games the system to try to circumvent preregistration enrollment caps. "What I did was I preregistered for the classes that had caps that I was interested in," she said. "Even if I knew I wasn't going to take these five specific classes, if I was somewhat interested in them, I would preregister for them and then drop out if I desired not to take them. I was a freshman, so I was the last one to get to pick, and I still made it into all my classes."
Some students - like Goetz - might see Hartmann's strategy as a flaw in the system, which Hartmann recognized. "It could work both ways, as students get shut out of classes they want to (take), and people are preregistering for them and not sure if they want to take them," she said. "However, in my experience it hasn't been a problem if you go and talk to the professor and ask them if you can be part of the class by asking them to override Banner's cap."
But not all professors can let every interested student into their classes, regardless of Banner's new policies. Pauline Ahn '08 tried to get into TSDA0330: "Mande Dance, Music and Culture" without preregistering. She didn't get into the class but said that preregistering wouldn't have helped because the professor "ended up rejecting most seniors in order to have an equal ratio of interests, genders and grades."
The paper registration system may have allowed more "breathability" during shopping period, as most courses were not capped during preregistration, said University Registrar Michael Pesta. The problem with this system was that students didn't know during preregistration if they would be guaranteed spots in the class, he said.
Any enrollment limit that Banner has now was set by the department and the professor during preregistration and then approved by the College Curriculum Council, Pesta said. "I know students see that as a limitation on their freedom," he said, "but if you think about it, you can still go to the class. Just because you couldn't get a spot in Banner doesn't mean you can't go to the professor and get in. But is it better to know in April (that) there is a problem in a class than to register and find out in September?"
One advantage that course caps could potentially offer is the ability to know what size room a professor needs in advance. But at least this semester, there hasn't been any noticeable difference in the number of room changes required after classes begin. The registrar's scheduling officer receives "hundreds of phone calls and e-mail messages" about room changes in the first few weeks of classes, an amount which has not diminished this year, Pesta said in an e-mail to The Herald.
Pesta said adaptation to this new process will take time, and that he hopes students won't be discouraged by enrollment limits. "The students have to learn the culture of registration," he said. "Now, the culture has a bit more structure in the registration process, but it doesn't mean you're not going to get into the class."
-With additional reporting by Gaurie Tilak
