Spring and interterm enrollment is nearing, and now is the time for students to start preparing for the hectic pre-enrollment period.
Pre-enrollment begins at midnight on Monday and extends through Nov. 10. During this time, students will be able to compose their spring schedules, as well as select their desired interterm course online.
Students are responsible for pre-enrolling on their own; however, contact with advisers is necessary. Assistant Dean for Institutional Effectiveness Judy Smrha said until contact with an adviser is made, students will not be able to enroll. Smrha said advisers are responsible for accessing each advisee’s Campus Connect account to enable them to pre-enroll when the time comes. She said to make this happen, students have to talk to their advisers, whether it be on the phone, through e-mail or face to face in a meeting.
Adviser Rand Ziegler said he has a few expectations of his advisees before he meets with them about pre-enrolling.
“I expect my students to come to the advising meeting and have already reviewed their next semester plan,” Ziegler said. “I would like them to come to me with a tentative list of courses they would like to take. Sometimes this list is perfect and we won’t make any adjustments, and sometimes I will have to make suggestions.”
The pre-enrollment process is designed by seniority. Students with 98 hours or more can begin pre-enrolling Monday, those with 64 to 97 hours on Wednesday, students with 30 to 63 hours on Friday and the process is wrapped up with students who have less than 29 hours enrolling Nov. 7. Ziegler said he thinks this priority order seems to be the fairest.
Smrha said specific instances may arise where certain students are able to get at the top of the list. She said for example, a two-year nursing student who needs to finish certain courses before moving on to nursing school will receive first priority.
The priority system may present a disadvantage for freshmen. Ziegler said the biggest obstacle that happens with the staggered schedule is some of the more popular classes close up before freshmen get a chance to pre-enroll. He said he has a little trick for this problem.
“We have a schedule adjustment period where adding and dropping periodically take place,” Ziegler said. “So if students check during this time, and with the luck of timing, a student may be dropping a class when another student is checking and there’s an opening for that student.”
Along with the problem of closed classes, Smrha said students may also have difficulties with the online aspect. She said when pre-enrolling, the computer may say “ineligible to enroll.” Smrha said this message does not mean the class is closed, and sometimes advisers may go in and override the message. She said sometimes at midnight on a pre-enrollment day, computers might freeze up due to a large number of users trying to access the same system at once.
Senior Leslie Kersting said she has had a personal experience with computer problems before.
“During pre-enrollment last semester I tried to get on at midnight and the system wasn’t responding,” Kersting said. “I got back on at 12:05 (a.m.) and the class was already full, so that was definitely a problem.”
Even though a few obstacles may arise, adviser Tony Brown said students should approach pre-enrollment the right way. He suggested students take classes they find interesting – classes they wouldn’t dread going to on a regular basis. Brown said with the work of the adviser and students doing their jobs correctly, everything should go well and the process can be enjoyable.
“Advising is all about planning and thinking,” Brown said. “It’s like making a Christmas list – it’s just fun.”