Enrollment order maintains fairness

By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Staff

As wireless Internet and Personal Digital Assistants are
expected to become the norm in the upcoming years, the use of
telephones and the voice of URSA may disappear.

Associate Registrar for Student and Faculty Relations Anita
Cotter, who is also the voice of URSA, said before 1989, students
enrolled through the mail. Enrollment was based solely on the
postmark date and priority was granted to no one.

“Today, there’s a program that randomly assigns
enrollment appointments within the four groups of class
levels,” said Cathy Lindstrom-Jacobson, an assistant
registrar.

Enrollment appointments are randomized within each class level
and for those with a priority pass, only at an earlier date.

Since the university began assigning enrollment to students
through the telephone, the system changed drastically.
Administrators broke down the enrollment process into a first pass
and a second pass to give students a better chance at getting into
their classes.

In the past, because there was no priority, the system was
random and many students had difficulties getting into classes they
needed to take.

During the first and second passes, priority is given first to
graduating seniors and new students.

Re-entering students who are coming back to the university after
at least two quarters, seniors and juniors receive priority
next.

Sophomores and continuing freshman are the last rungs of the
ladder.

Different factors contribute to a student’s eligibility to
the priority pass, which was instituted in 1992.

“Today, priority is based on academic honor, academic need
and service groups,” Cotter said.

Administrators expect the system to continue changing with
advancements in communications technology.

Cotter said more and more students will be using the Internet
rather than the telephone to enroll in classes, and expects her
voice to disappear in the next couple of years.

In the past, members of the student government, Daily Bruin
staff, students with disabilities, regents’ and alumni
scholars, athletes, as well as students in the letters and science
honors and AAP programs were given priority passes.

All athletes who are enrolled in at least 12 units receive
priority because they need to schedule classes around practice
times, according to Richard Herczog, director of compliance at the
department of athletics.

Professors who teach classes that fill up quickly said they have
the final say in controlling enrollment.

Audrey Cramer, director of the undergraduate research center,
currently teaches an honors collegium course on animal
communications ““ which is offered once a year.

She started to get e-mails inquiring about enrolling in her
class in early November.

“For students who could not enroll in the class, I give
priority to students who are graduating,” she said.
“It’s a very difficult thing for students and I did add
several students above the limit as I did last year.”

She said she exceeded enrollment limits by six students this
year and was contacted by one student, last spring quarter, for
this quarter’s class.

The graduate system uses a simpler system to that of the
undergraduate method of determining priority.

Students who are involved in joint programs and cross different
programs such as law and management receive priority over
others.

Because they have a particular curriculum to follow, medical and
dental students have a different system of enrolling separate to
the rest of the university, Cotter said.

CURRENT LEVELS OF PRIORITY ENROLLMENT
APPOINTMENTS Students in the priority pool and in
each class level are randomly given enrollment
appointments.