2008 Woodie Awards
Registration woes plague students, not this editor
David Ashby
Issue date: 11/25/05 Section: Opinions
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There have been times during this semester that I have been so glad that I'm graduating in December. The best time, though, has been this week, as I go to all my classes and see all those freshmen and sophomores and juniors complaining about all the reasons they can't register for classes next spring.
The long, Soviet-style lines outside the registrar's office at my former school, the computers crashing, busy signals on the telephone; yes, I've been in college for five years now, and I've experienced them all.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not making fun of any of those poor, unhappy students whose spring schedules are all screwed up because half of their classes have closed.
I'm just standing by as an unbiased observer, nostalgically looking back on the days when I had to worry about signing up. Those twice-a-year rituals gave me a lot of memories, but I'd have to be pretty wasted to want to relive any of them.
Whatever registration woes you may have experienced in the past week, none can even compare to what I had to go through in the fall of 2001.
I was just wrapping up my first semester at Joliet Junior College (JJC) when I was about to register for the spring. I had heard many, many horrible stories from the two-year students about the school's registration process, but I wasn't worried.
I was going to register over the phone, and I was going to call at 8 am sharp, right when the lines opened. I even calibrated my watch with JJC's clock to ensure I would get through.
Then, on the first day of registration, as the big hand on my watch creeped to eight, I picked up the phone and called to register.
All I got was a busy signal. So, I called again. Another busy signal. I called once more. Yet another busy signal.
This charade went on for another hour before I gave up. I must have hit re-dial about 200 times. Since I couldn't get anybody over the phone, I went to my neighbor's house to register online because she had the broadband connection.
The long, Soviet-style lines outside the registrar's office at my former school, the computers crashing, busy signals on the telephone; yes, I've been in college for five years now, and I've experienced them all.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not making fun of any of those poor, unhappy students whose spring schedules are all screwed up because half of their classes have closed.
I'm just standing by as an unbiased observer, nostalgically looking back on the days when I had to worry about signing up. Those twice-a-year rituals gave me a lot of memories, but I'd have to be pretty wasted to want to relive any of them.
Whatever registration woes you may have experienced in the past week, none can even compare to what I had to go through in the fall of 2001.
I was just wrapping up my first semester at Joliet Junior College (JJC) when I was about to register for the spring. I had heard many, many horrible stories from the two-year students about the school's registration process, but I wasn't worried.
I was going to register over the phone, and I was going to call at 8 am sharp, right when the lines opened. I even calibrated my watch with JJC's clock to ensure I would get through.
Then, on the first day of registration, as the big hand on my watch creeped to eight, I picked up the phone and called to register.
All I got was a busy signal. So, I called again. Another busy signal. I called once more. Yet another busy signal.
This charade went on for another hour before I gave up. I must have hit re-dial about 200 times. Since I couldn't get anybody over the phone, I went to my neighbor's house to register online because she had the broadband connection.
