Jour 325 - Course Registration

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.