As students enroll for classes this week for winter quarter, some say they blame the university’s enrollment process for preventing them from enrolling in their first-choice classes, while others say they have not faced problems in enrolling.
There has been debate as to the benefits and fairness of priority.
Kaiwan Chear, a second-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said priority has helped him enroll in impacted classes.
“The policy makes sense, just because of the sheer number of people in the university,” Chear said.
But Brittany Webb, a first-year mathematics student, said she thought she would not have difficulty in enrolling in her first-choice classes since she has priority enrollment but found that was not the case, since students can only sign up for 10 units during priority.
“Ten units is nothing,” Webb said. “I wanted to take four classes winter quarter, but because classes are filling up so quickly, I’m not sure if I will be able to get into the classes I wanted for my major.”
Priority is given to students in the Academic Advancement Program, ROTC, Alumni, Regent Scholars, Honors students, Letters and Sciences Counseling Assistants, students with disabilities, and athletes.
During priority and first pass, students can enroll in a maximum of 10 units. Athletes can enroll in all their classes during priority.
Many classes are only allowed to fill up halfway during priority.
“The controls on enrollment during the priority pass were instituted so that classes would not be filled entirely with priority students,” said Cathy Lindstrom-Jacobson, associate registrar.
This quarter 5,683 students have priority, according to Lindstrom-Jacobson.
Priority and the first- and second-pass system began in 1989, she said, and were designed to give students broader access to classes.
In the past three years, the percentage of students with priority has decreased. In the fall of 2005, 23.6 percent of undergraduates had priority enrollment, while in the fall of 2007, only 21.9 percent received priority.
Students are given enrollment times based on their class standing, not their expected graduation year. For example, sophomores with junior standing receive junior, not sophomore, enrollment times.
Ally Benas, a third-year economics student, said she thinks this system is fair.
“As long as the rules apply to all students, I think it is fair. Everyone will have senior standing eventually, so it does not matter if people have the same enrollment times as older students,” she said.
But Heather Losey, a third-year theater student, said she believes this system is unfair to upperclassmen, even though she herself has senior standing.
“Everyone is trying to get into the same classes,” she said. “It is really unfair for sophomores to compete with freshmen for classes that sophomores need more.”
Even with higher standing, Losey said she has struggled to get into classes needed fulfill general education requirements.
“Class enrollment is an efficient process, and easy to navigate. But it’s frustrating because you can’t guarantee the classes you’re going to get,” she said.
But Losey had no trouble enrolling in theater classes because they are restricted to students in the major.
“Theater classes are only allotted for people within the department. Only in introductory classes like Theater 101 does the department allow non-majors to enroll if there is room after the theater students enrolled,” she said.
Though this system is helpful for Losey, other students, particularly those in interdisciplinary majors, have a hard time enrolling in classes that are restricted only to people in the major.
Stephanie King, a second-year economics student, said she is struggling with enrolling in classes needed for her major. She said she thinks the enrollment system is much more difficult for people without priority.
Last year, King was on the rowing team and signed up for all her classes during priority enrollment.
“Even with priority it was very difficult to put a schedule together because I could not have classes before 10 a.m. or between 1 and 3 p.m., due to practice,” King said.
But this year, she is not rowing and does not have priority. She said she is worried she will not be able to enroll in the classes she needs for her major.
“I know there are classes, like Sociology 1, that I will not get into because they fill up too fast,” she said.
King said she thinks the priority system should be altered to give priority to students for classes crucial to their major.
“People should receive priority for classes that are only offered once a quarter, that they need to complete a series for their major. Otherwise, if they cannot take that class, they cannot take more advanced classes for another year,” she said.
The last time the enrollment system was reviewed was in 1999, Lindstrom-Jacobson said.