Fight priority passes; don’t settle for “˜no’

I used to hear people talk about how difficult it was for them
to enroll in the classes they needed for their major, but I never
understood their pain.

I had no sympathy for the super-senior who was only spending a
fifth year at UCLA because the classes for his major were full. All
the 300-person lectures I was signing up for were open; what were
these people’s problems?

My freshman naïveté to the politics of enrollment
appointments was changed sophomore year when I began to notice
everyone seemed to be enrolling before me.

This problem was compounded because I was no longer signing up
for a seat in Moore 100, but was instead fighting all the future
Katie Courics for a place in the already overcrowded communications
classes.

According to the UCLA Registrar’s Office, there is a set
order regarding who registers when. Priority students enroll first,
followed by graduating seniors, new students, re-entering students,
seniors, juniors, sophomores and finally, continuing freshmen.

I have had to crash classes every quarter since sophomore year
in order to get the ones I need ““ even this year when I am a
graduating senior and almost at the top of the list. I only have to
wait for priority students. “Priority students.” It is
such a vague term considering the damage it has done to my
schedule.

For a student to be given priority status, they must be
registered and fit into one of the following categories: Academic
Advancement Program, college honors, Alumni Scholars, Counseling
Assistants, Students with Disabilities, Regent Scholars, ROTC,
athletes and certain other scholarships. All these students
register on the day assigned to those with priority status,
although it is random in regard to whom is given what time on that
day. Once all these students have enrolled, the 10 UCLA students
who do not fit into one of these categories, myself included, begin
their first pass and enroll in any class left over.

For those in popular majors, like communication studies, a bad
enrollment appointment can mean missing out on a required class
that is only offered once or twice a year.

Many professors explain during the first class of the quarter
that they cannot take anyone from the waiting list, but they will
be offering the class again during the summer. For those of us who
do not consider summer a time to be going to school, not getting
into the class can mean having to add another quarter or even year
to our time at UCLA in order to finish.

Some students are relaxed about waiting until the class is
offered again, and they just take a light load in the meantime;
this option is not possible for students on financial aid or with
scholarships, who are required to take at least 12 units per
quarter.

In my case, when every communications class I needed was full, I
had to take a useless class solely for the purpose of units. After
spending an afternoon watching a documentary on cemeteries, I
decided that classes for the purpose of units were no longer an
option, and my pattern of crashing classes began.

I would not count on changes to the enrollment appointment
system of ranking anytime soon, but that does not mean you have to
resign yourself to an extra year of classes. Get yourself onto the
class waitlist and then don’t take no for an answer. I am
fortunate enough to play the graduating senior card, but if that is
not an option, show up Week 1 and then just refuse to leave.

Davis is a fourth-year communication studies student. E-mail
her at [email protected]. Send general comments to
[email protected].