Course
Registration Determinates
With
course registration underway, students are faced with decisions for the
upcoming semester. There are many factors that contribute to what courses
students enroll in, such as course content, meeting days and times, and the
professor teaching the course. Various majors allow different levels of
decision-making. Some programs have very rigorous and specific curriculums,
while others allow a great deal of flexibility. Second year Biomedical
Engineering student Ben Swanson said, “Well, I have a relatively inflexible
curriculum, so the opportunities I have to select between different courses is
somewhat rare.” Contrastingly, third year Political Science student Caleb Smith
said, “My schedule is so flexible this semester I can pretty much choose whichever
classes I want.” This variation is contributed to their majors as well as their
progression in their curriculums.
A trend seen
throughout various students across the university is the importance of the
professor. A tool used by students attending numerous universities is
RateMyProfessors.com. According to their website, RateMyProfessor has compiled
professor ratings for over 7,500 schools with over 13,000,000 student-generated
comments. There are four contributing factors to the overall quality of the
professors listed. They are rated on helpfulness, clarity, easiness, and
hotness. Additionally, students are allowed to include specific comments about
the professors. Third year Public Relations student An’Twane Folk said, “In my
search for new classes…I begin on RateMyProfessor by each course. So for
example, if it's Jour 201, I'm going to look at those courses on the new
schedule and match the teacher with the ones on rate my professor.”
Smith said, “The
main determining factor I use in deciding classes is the professor. I use RateMyProfessor
for each class I research and try to decide which one is best for me in the
classes that are required for me to take.” While Smith relies greatly on the
professor, Swanson’s first priority is fitting required courses into his
schedule. “If I’ve decided to take a course and it fits into my schedule, the
next priority is getting a section with a good (easy) professor. I do rely
pretty heavily on RateMyProfessor” Swanson said. Students also question the
reliability of the comments. Swanson continued, “I do realize that people are
generally fairly stupid and students that do poorly in a class are more likely
to take the time to post a review than one who is satisfied, so I read all with
a grain of salt. The volume of reviews a professor has received contributes to
the amount of credence I give to the general consensus.”
While online networking is growing in
popularity, students still use connections among friends and fellow classmates
to learn about class difficulty and interest. Smith said, “I also usually ask
people in the same major if they have taken the class before and how difficult
it is in comparison to others.” Students also give word of mouth reviews of
professors. Swanson said, “RateMyProfessor reviews always take a back seat to
reports I receive from fellow students that I personally know and respect.”
Besides
researching professors, students seek classes with good meeting days and times.
Some students form their academic schedule to be able to participate in
organizations, religious practices, jobs, and internships. Folk has a schedule
to work around due to his job. He said, “I find courses that are between the
time of 11:00 to 12:15 and beyond so I can work in the morning and not
afternoons.” Many students strive to avoid early morning and evening classes,
as well as Friday classes. Swanson prefers “to avoid 8 a.m.’s and late night
classes, and to keep Friday classes to a minimum. I also like for my schedule
to be fairly compact, without unnecessary empty spaces in between classes.” Smith
reiterates Swanson’s approach saying, “I try to avoid 8 a.m. classes and Friday
if at all possible, but the 8 a.m. is the biggest turn off.” While the class
time is important, it does not take precedence for Swanson. He says, “A good
professor at 8 a.m. is better than a crappy one at 11 a.m.” Early class
meetings do not turn some students, such as Folk, away. He said, “Courses
earlier do not bother me. As long as they are not on Fridays.”
In conclusion,
there are many conditions that affect each student’s decision-making process
when registering for classes. Curriculum requirements and professors seem to be
the most important factors, while meeting times and days take a back seat. To
sum up Swanson’s process he explained, “Subject matter does carry some weight,
but really, when it comes to electives, my top priority is picking up classes
that I know won’t hurt my GPA.” For Smith “the biggest overall factor is who
the professor is and if I have taken a class with them before.” Students face
challenging decisions every semester, deciding what course schedule works best
for them.
