A new University initiative has changed the way students all over campus get on waiting lists for classes.
When registering for classes, if a course is closed, students are instructed to try to register for that course anyway.
If there is no room in the course, students will be added to a waiting list automatically.
"One advantage is that the new waiting lists are more transparent," said Margaret Fitch-Hauser, chair of the Department of Communication and Journalism. "Now the students can see if their name is on the waiting list and where it is on the list."
In the past, students who wished to be added to a class would have to wait until waiting lists were posted. Sometimes students would have to go and physically sign a list as early as 7 a.m. on the day waiting lists were released.
Those days are gone.
Fitch-Hauser said the new waiting lists should significantly reduce the amount of manpower needed to add students to a class.
"Before this, we had to manually go through the lists and check every student's prerequisites," Fitch-Hauser said.
Fitch-Hauser said the department hopes the new system will be more efficient than the old one.
"We decided to give it a shot," Fitch-Hauser said.
The new waiting lists can be set up to automatically scan every student's name to check for prerequisites and priority.
"I need to get into a real-estate investments course which is closed," said Kevin Dunn, junior in finance. "I hope the new waiting list helps me get into the class."
Dunn said that in the past, he has had trouble getting into the classes he needed.
"It was always a pain to have to worry about whether or not I got into a class," Dunn said.
Dunn said he is happy that the University has decided to change the way waiting lists work.
"I only got into one class that I wanted," said Julie DiCarlo, senior in communication.
DiCarlo said she thinks the new waiting lists work better than the old system.
"I'm on four different waiting lists for next semester," DiCarlo said. "I like the new ones a lot. It's easier than having to go onto the department website and sign up for each class that I need."
DiCarlo said she appreciates the feature that shows a student's position on the waiting list.
"I'd like to get into all of those classes, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see," DiCarlo said.
Clark Solomon, senior in marketing, said that for the first time in his college career, he hasn't had to use a waiting list to get into a class that he needs.
"I got into everything I needed on the first try," Solomon said.
Solomon said even though he didn't need to use the new waiting lists system, he is glad the University decided to change the way things were done.
"I think it was sort of an archaic way of getting students into classes that they might need to graduate," Solomon said.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
