Course selection schedule should be reconsidered

As a University committee reconsiders the academic calendar over the next several months, we urge the administration to address a scheduling issue that may well be overlooked: the timing of student course selection.

We are hard-pressed to conceive of any compelling reason why course selection must always occur so early; indeed, we don't see why course selection needs to occur during the semester at all. Many schools don't require students to register for classes until right before the beginning of term. Here, however, course registration always seems to occur at the most inopportune point in the semester. We are expected to pore over the course guide while we are busy studying for second midterms, drafting our JPs, getting through our weekly reading assignments and so on.

Given that we make our initial course selections during the crunch of the semester, it is no wonder that students often simply miss application-only courses hiding somewhere in the course guide. It's no wonder students often go to their meetings with academic advisers armed with a SCORE sheet full of possible placeholders. It's no wonder those meetings with advisers are often unproductive.

The registration schedule can seriously hurt students who may want to enroll in application-only classes. This year, applications for courses that will begin on Sept. 15 were due on April 11. This means that students who decide that they want to take an application-only course over the summer — or late in the spring semester — are out of luck. It also means that if students think there's any chance they might want to apply for a course, they have to have the time to scrutinize the course guide as soon as it comes out. Students who happen to have a particularly rough week when the guide comes out may not look at course descriptions until they are freer—and then it may be too late.

It's of course understandable that professors would want some advance idea what their courses' enrollment will look like. But right now, the initial registration period — and the due dates for course applications — are unnecessarily early. We hope the revised academic calendar will correct the problem.