2008 Woodie Awards
Registration Woes at YU
A Never Ending Saga of Setbacks
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Editorials
- Page 1 of 1
When the weather turns cold, and midterms come to an end, it's clear that the time to register is upon YU. Students can be seen excitedly checking out the next semester's course listing- trying to create the best schedule possible.
Yet, when registration day finally arrives, frustration is one of the emotions most commonly associated with the big day. Without even getting into the problem of classes closing out, YU students are forced to deal with plenty of other roadblocks.
First of all, the RAC number is a ridiculous institution. While the purpose is to make sure that students are on the right track when registering for classes, this is not the way to do it. It is way too easy to create a bogus schedule and then register for different courses altogether. If YU was concerned with students being on the right track, then each student would have an assigned advisor, who would contact them (yes, the advisor should be taking the effort to contact his or her advisees) at least once a semester to make sure the student was fulfilling his course requirements. Fifteen minutes with an advisor who knows nothing about you beyond the name they read off a list is certainly not what students need to make sure they're "on the right track."
Secondly, the fact that a hold is placed on a students registration status if they do not register for their morning program before registration for secular classes begins, serves no purpose other than to aggravate students. It merely crowds the Registrar on registration day, with students who committed the heinous crime of being so involved with their midterms that they forgot to register for shiur.
Thirdly, registration rarely goes by without a hitch. Granted, some lucky students are able to completely register online without any hitches, but thus is not that case for all. Online registration errors force students to run to the (already crowded) Registrar to manually sign up for their classes. The Registrar often mistakenly sends these students to the Dean's office when the real mistake was just a flaw in the Registrar's computer system. While the lovely ladies who work in the Dean's office are wonderful people, they should not be forced to deal with aggravated students and their problems - especially when the issue is not one pertaining to the Dean's office.
If computer errors don't send students running all over the campus, then the online system is bound to crash from overflow. While we understand that on any given day, not too many people log on to the My YU website, the site should be able to stand the traffic expected on registration day- otherwise, what's the point?
Let's get rid of those RAC numbers, fix the website, and leave the lovely ladies of the Dean's office alone.
Yet, when registration day finally arrives, frustration is one of the emotions most commonly associated with the big day. Without even getting into the problem of classes closing out, YU students are forced to deal with plenty of other roadblocks.
First of all, the RAC number is a ridiculous institution. While the purpose is to make sure that students are on the right track when registering for classes, this is not the way to do it. It is way too easy to create a bogus schedule and then register for different courses altogether. If YU was concerned with students being on the right track, then each student would have an assigned advisor, who would contact them (yes, the advisor should be taking the effort to contact his or her advisees) at least once a semester to make sure the student was fulfilling his course requirements. Fifteen minutes with an advisor who knows nothing about you beyond the name they read off a list is certainly not what students need to make sure they're "on the right track."
Secondly, the fact that a hold is placed on a students registration status if they do not register for their morning program before registration for secular classes begins, serves no purpose other than to aggravate students. It merely crowds the Registrar on registration day, with students who committed the heinous crime of being so involved with their midterms that they forgot to register for shiur.
Thirdly, registration rarely goes by without a hitch. Granted, some lucky students are able to completely register online without any hitches, but thus is not that case for all. Online registration errors force students to run to the (already crowded) Registrar to manually sign up for their classes. The Registrar often mistakenly sends these students to the Dean's office when the real mistake was just a flaw in the Registrar's computer system. While the lovely ladies who work in the Dean's office are wonderful people, they should not be forced to deal with aggravated students and their problems - especially when the issue is not one pertaining to the Dean's office.
If computer errors don't send students running all over the campus, then the online system is bound to crash from overflow. While we understand that on any given day, not too many people log on to the My YU website, the site should be able to stand the traffic expected on registration day- otherwise, what's the point?
Let's get rid of those RAC numbers, fix the website, and leave the lovely ladies of the Dean's office alone.