Marjorie Hock spent a good portion of her winter break studying enrollment options.
Because the classes she wanted to take are full, the advertising senior is now considering taking an independent studies course.
Students scramble to secure classes
“I didn’t want to go through the whole class-is-full thing with the professor,” said Hock. “I don’t want to deal with it the first week.”
As Friday’s deadline for making course changes nears, students all over campus are weighing their options for last-minute enrollments to solidify their schedule.
“The first week is like the New York Stock Exchange because stuff’s happening real fast,” said Chad Waucaush, a university adviser to undergraduates. “Sometimes a course that’s not available one minute will be available the next.”
Waucaush said students looking to enroll in a filled course have the options of trying to seek an override from the department, continually checking the Web Enrollment System to see if a section of that course opens up, or simply choosing a different course.
“You just want to have a substitute course in mind and continue checking during the week to see if that class opens up,” he said.
Waucaush said substitute courses could include university requirements, major courses and exploratory courses.
Although students cannot change their courses by going online after Friday, they still have the option of going to the department for an override next week.
Some students, like advertising junior Eric Palmer, have had success talking to the professor about a possible override.
“I’m just going to the classes and asking the professors. Usually they’re pretty good about it,” Palmer said.
Several issues, including room size, number of students and type of class affect professors’ decision-making process when it comes to overrides.
“If it’s a 45-50 person class and I’m the primary instructor, I’ll pretty much let anyone in,” said Kami Silk, an assistant professor whose Introduction to Organizational Communications class of more than 250 students has been filled.
But sometimes doing students a service can put more pressure on others in the classroom, including teaching assistants, or TAs.
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“When I’m dealing with TAs, I don’t want to max out because that’s 10 or 15 more papers for them to grade,” Silk said.
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