Early Decision

Come next January, students will have one less excuse to be trawling the CUE guide for an easy fourth class the night before Study Card Day. Beginning next spring term, undergraduates will be required to pre-register for courses using a new online course-planning tool, as Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris announced at a  faculty meeting last week. It is prudent for the College to establish this system, as pre-registration is a painless way for the University to save money in a time when budgetary needs are of special concern.

The College often misjudges which classes will be “hot” in the upcoming semester, leading to an over or under-allocation of Teaching Fellows for some courses. Although this may be a lucky break for students who land in unexpectedly small sections, in general it is a waste of money; according to Harris, the College lost $1 million because of this TF misallocation last year. Thus, this move will both help the College gauge interest in classes and distribute money more efficiently.

Additionally, pre-registration allows the College to save resources in a way that will only marginally inconvenience students. Since the uploaded pre-schedule will be non-binding, students have no reason to fear that they will lose the chance to enroll in different courses if they change their minds. The process also does not seem like it will require much effort on the part of undergraduates. Noting classes one might be interested in next semester from the comfort of one’s laptop seems remarkably easy, and as a budget cut, this seems remarkably unintrusive.

In order for pre-registration to succeed, students must take it seriously. Therefore, we encourage undergraduates to talk to friends, look at online syllabi, and think seriously about their schedules before they pre-register. This will benefit the College, and will also make shopping less stressful.

To this end, we encourage professors to post syllabi and other relevant class information early, in order to help students make truly educated decisions during the pre-registration process. Presently, many classes do not have an updated syllabus posted on their course website until shopping period begins. Harris has said that pre-registration will tentatively occur in November, which is a full two months before students usually begin researching courses. Since many decide on a class because of the workload, number of major assignments, or the dates on which they fall, there is no way students can pre-register properly without having class syllabi widely available.

Pre-registration seems like a positive measure, especially considering the current fiscal environment. The proposal has been intermittently under discussion at least since 1977, and we are glad to see the College finally taking this step. We hope that both students and professors will support it in their respective ways.