registering for classes in columbia university is one of the worst experiences ever in my academic life. nothing works out, there's great amount of uncertainty and you are made to run all over the place.
firstly they have irregular hours and days during which you are allowed to register online during the clss registration periods. that is such a pain in the ass. then the classes fill out quickly and they don't allow you to join the full classes. thirdly, you need to get permission for some classes from the instructors or department and there are contradiction of such information depending on the sources - what the online system, the paper information and the departments tell you can be different. so you end up doing unnecessary running around over the university, or you encounter difficulty in joining classes when supposedly no approvals are needed. and although they make it sound nice like you can take different options from different departments, some departments only allow you to cross-register for their classes after a certain date, which by then are already flooded by their own students. and although students typically want to try the classes in the first week, the stupid online system don't allow any overlapping of classes times at all, or any over-subscription to classes. it is probably for good intentions and sounds like a smart system, but it makes everything so rigid, inflexible, and difficult for the student. you worry about whether you will like the class, you worry about the classes you potentially can take if you happen to drop another class, you worry about whether you are able to join a class in time, you worry about meeting the time slots given to you to register. the worst ever, most unthinkable shit happened today - a cross-school class i finally registered for in paper and on computer since last week, after much effort, is no longer confirmed. simply because my school was informed by the other school that "the class has hit the enrol cap." is this for real? is this really a university in a developed country?
i miss the old system of signing up for modules at warwick university. warwick was not very hi-tech. we didn't have live internet counting of the number of students in each modules. it was just a simple exercise of choosing the modules you want, and click "confirm". yes initially everyone overloads like crazy, and have clashing timetables but that is because initially nobody really knows how a class is like until we attend it. we get the chance to experience the lectures, and we can add or drop a module as late as the third term. nearly all modules have no rigid fixed cap on the number of pple which makes sense. if you like a class you should be allowed to take it. the university should be the one who deal with the demand, not students. and for the few truly popular classes that have a limit, there is pre-registration the year before to ensure you get a place. over here in columbia, the lecturers themselves are not even sure what courses will be taught the next semester. i can't believe that.
in general, you will need a lot of good luck and effort just to get into all the classes you truly want here.
