By Lauren Runkle, Staff Writer
Last semester, Susquehanna decided to switch to a live registration format, and although there were many issues with this method, none were addressed to improve the live registration this fall.
This live registration format allows students to get immediate results. It’s easier for professors and the registrar because the communication is more direct, less paperwork is needed and classes for the next semester are established more quickly. This way, students and professors can be better prepared.
Yet, the flaws from last semester still remain. The first of these being the early wake up time at 6:30 a.m., which is an hour before the earliest classes of the day.
While this longer period of time accounts for system and server errors, these could all be addressed to allow for a quicker process and a different start time.
It took me 30 minutes for my submission to pass through the server and confirm that I got into my classes. It is understandable that their server cannot handle around 600 students at once, but we are still left to wonder why they do not get a bigger one to help the process move more smoothly r.
Other universities have their live registration later at night, which would be more realistic for students. An 11 p.m. start time is not completely unrealistic if the registrar and IT departments are able to come in at night.
While it worked for me almost instantly last semester, that was not the case for this semester. The system did not recognize a couple of my prerequisites that I had taken to get into my capstone either, and with limited spots available, this was very stressful to figure out.
Thankfully, the registrar answered my email and placed me in my class quickly. This still makes me wonder if some students did not get into some classes because of the failure to recognize their previous courses. Would there be a way to improve this for subsequent semesters?
While I am starting to get used to this method of registration, I believe that we need improved servers and choose a different start time. If these are at all possible, Susquehanna should definitely do it, but if not, at least it’s only once a semester that we have to deal with this.
We can all be understanding of how this process could be made easiest for everyone, from professors to registrar to students and even IT. Hopefully these improvements are going to be addressed so we can have an easier time with the whole process.
