Courtesy: CUNY
By Ron Schuler and Marie Bloom, Registrar’s Office
Last trimester, Das Tor published an article that described various issues that students faced during the course registration process. The author of the article was invited to a discussion with Marie Bloom and Ron Schuler from the registrar’s office about the same. Since the article, the registrar’s office has taken tangible steps to mitigate some of the issues. Some solutions are long-term in nature, so their effects may be seen only in future trimesters. Post the discussion, the registrar’s office volunteered to write a detailed response to let students know what goes on behind the scenes. Read further to learn more.
Communication of registration process
The communications that will be going out to the students will be more specific to their academic program and start term.
Assignment of registration times
Currently students are randomly assigned a registration day/ time based on their start term. In the past, when we opened up the system to everyone, it was unable to handle the number of students who were attempting to register at the same time. As a result of this, we assign smaller groups of students to ensure a successful registration.
Online system schedule and actual schedule conflicts
The registrar’s office is in contact with the IT team that manages this system.
Eligibility of certain courses
- We have reviewed and updated all course pre-requisites and program requirements in the system to ensure that students who meet the criteria can register and/ or waitlist themselves for the course(s).
- For students attempting to register for courses where they do not meet the requirements, messages are displayed explaining that they do not have the pre-requisites and/ or that the course is not approved for their program of study.
- In some cases, we are unable to provide enrollment for an on-campus core course. However, we are able offer students the opportunity to enroll in the online equivalency. With the new structure of the curriculum, this should only happen if a student stops out for a semester.
Wait lists
Students who are waitlisted and moved into the course once a space becomes available, will now receive an auto email communication updating them of the change. Students who are waitlisted and have conflicts (days/ times/ pre-requisites, program) with the course will be notified that they have been removed from the wait list.
Course scheduling
There are many factors that come into play when developing a course schedule. The Registrar’s Office, Academic Program Directors, and faculty work together to develop the course schedule. Some of the challenges that they face is faculty availability, optimum student schedule for learning, and room availability.
New curriculum confusions
Communications that are sent out to the students regarding their registration day/ time will include a link to their curriculum outline and any other additional information that would be specific to their program such as modules abroad and registration instructions.
The links below are to the only programs that are being taught in the Summer.
Duals and Post Course Offerings
(Thanks to our former Features editor, Sneha Gayatri, for this important follow-up!)