The struggles of registering for classes

By Ridimerb Diaz-Ramirez | Published December 7, 2023

A new semester will soon be upon us, and one of the biggest things students struggle with is registering for classes due to availability. Classes that they actually like don’t even seem to be an option.

When it comes to registering, students have to worryabout different things that can affect their attending classes or even being able to sign up for classes. 

Phylicia Hall, a senior majoring in Communications Studies, feels she hasn’t been able to pick classes she likes because of the time she has to focus on.

 “It’s more along the line of picking based on availability more so than desire,” Hall said. 

Working a full-time job during the day time, Hall feels as though they don’t offer enough variety of classes in the evening for her major which makes herstruggle to create a schedule. 

“I have to specifically look for classes at night, and that’s probably what makes it so difficult,” Hall said.

Hall’s major struggle has been completing her required classes for her major due to not being able to create aschedule that fits her schedule. This has prevented her from graduating sooner.

A meeting with her advisor to discuss substituting her required classes for classes that will still fulfill what she needs for her major and fit her schedule is what is allowing her to graduate in Spring 2024. 

Hall believes that more classes in the evening should be something that the college considers to accommodate students who need to have full-time jobs and cannot just study.

Rhea Christmas, a senior majoring in Communications, shares her difficulties when it comes to registering for classes. 

“My frustration came because I wanted to take this last class online,” Christmas said. 

If you aren’t an online student, you have to wait until five days before registration closes to sign up for an online class. 

Christmas finds this to be frightening since she feels like she will miss out on the online opportunity. Regardless of taking precautions, she signed up for the same class in person as a backup plan.

The online opportunity is important for Christmas since the hours available for this class clash with her work schedule, and she’s also a commuter who has to pick late classes; therefore taking it online facilitates things for her. 

“I don’t really want to do a 6 o’clock class, because I don’t want to get home at a quarter to 10 at night.” Christmas said.”I’m a single person, there’s no one on the other side of the door to receive me and make sure I get home safely,”

Her limited schedule also affects the classes Christmas takes. She has to stick to what is required of her major and what is available during her open time frame. 

Jenaé Owens, a senior majoring in theater, found herself struggling with the variety of professors for one specific class.

When looking into taking one of her last free elective classes for the Spring semester, she struggled with finding a class where she was able to meet the requirements. 

Once she did find an option, a psychology class, she found that the same teacher taught the same class in different time frames.

“It was only one teacher and she had like three different classes which I thought was weird,” Owens said. 

Owens found this to be a problem because it didn’t give her options. While it was nothing against the professor, it felt as though the decision was made for her that this was the only professor she was able to take.

Owens feels lucky that her manager has been able to accommodate her this time around and for the Spring since in the past she has had to stick to classes she didn’t want to take but more so that fit her work schedule.

“This time around I wasn’t forced to do that, ’cause I had already done all I needed to do,” Owens said.

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