While early enrollment for the spring semester became available two weeks ago, many students will not have their classes registered for weeks after it opened.
Enrollment consists of a period of advising needed to lift a lock, followed by registration. The registration process requires students to sift through an assortment of menus within the MyPack Portal, add their classes to a wish-list, move them to a shopping cart and finally confirm their enrollment.
Some students have expressed frustration with the different aspects of registration which must be overcome before they can enter a class.
Chad Alligood, a freshman in biological engineering, said he had little idea of how to navigate the process.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” he said. “I have no experience with registration and no one has told us anything about how to go about doing it. Last semester [the University] pretty much signed us up for what they thought we needed.”
Alligood said he felt the advising lock existed more to give upperclassmen and priority groups first picks on classes.
“[The lock] is a necessary evil,” he said. “It is so special programs can select classes first and so the University can maintain control over registration.”
According to the University calendar, seniors have the highest priority with registration that opened Oct. 16. Registration for the honors program also opened around that time.
Registration for juniors opened Oct. 21, for sophomores Oct. 27 and for freshmen it will open Nov. 2.
Jonathan Coburn, a freshman in engineering, said the registration process took some getting used to.
“It was difficult trying to figure out how everything worked,” Coburn said. “After playing around with it it’s not too bad; it could use some improvement and better formatting.”
Coburn said he saw both positive and negative aspects to the advising lock.
“Forcing people to meet with their adviser is important, especially for freshmen,” he said. “But it was frustrating because I had to wait two weeks to meet with my adviser. I felt by the time I was able to register, all the good classes would be taken.”
Louis Hunt, the vice provost of the University Registrar, said the current registration process was implemented last February as part of an evolving MyPack Portal, which began its overhaul in the year 2000.
The new portal is a version of a system being implemented at universities worldwide.
According to Hunt, the reason the system is a bit confusing is probably because it was built to serve multiple campuses instead of being tailored for the University.
“We’re all getting used to it,” he said. “But it’s probably the best system on the market and we’re ahead of the nation in its integration.”
Some new features of this system are the wish list, the ability to swap classes instead of dropping and reenrolling and to pair different lecture and lab sections.
Hunt said planned improvements include streamlining the process and utilities to virtualize tasks previously requiring excessive paperwork like grade changes.
As for pre-registration advising, Hunt said advising has always been mandatory, but the advising lock is being handled differently with the new system.
Previously, students would receive a PIN following advising and were required to enter that PIN to enroll. Now it is the responsibility of the adviser to lift the lock after the advising session.
Jewel Williams, a senior in English literature, said there were perks and downfalls with the new system.
“I like the wish list because it lets you organize your classes and you can just submit it when enrollment opens,” she said. “But it gets confusing sometimes. If you don’t know your way around a computer you won’t know what to do.”
“The old system was simpler, but the wish list does make this one better,” Williams said.
Joseph Keel, a senior in environmental engineering, said the new enrollment system was an improvement compared to his experience with the old system.
“Anything that’s new will be difficult to understand, but it’s actually quite easy,” Keel said. “It’s not any more difficult than the old system.”
Keel said there are some glitches in the new system, as well as problems like class restrictions locking out students who meet the requirements.
Lisa Marshall, academic adviser for the department of nuclear engineering, said the system is always in review.
“The quirks within it are being worked out,” she said. “Other advisers are always coming together to improve on the system and address issues to determine what is and isn’t working.”