UB kicked off registration for spring classes earlier this week, but while honors students and student-athletes might have had an easy time signing up, some seniors could find themselves unable to fulfill requirements for their majors in time to walk across the stage at graduation.
"I actually was worried that I might run into some problems," said Marcus Pendleton, a senior computer science major. "I think the main problem, at least in my department, is that not enough alternative requirements are offered for both semesters and some 400 level courses are only offered in the fall or spring term."
According to Robert Newman, the English department's director of undergraduate studies, some required courses like earlier literature are often harder to get into because of a lack of faculty members who are qualified to teach the course.
"Oftentimes, it is very difficult to hire qualified staff to teach Chaucer or Milton because there is a lack of interest in the course material," Newman said. "You see where the interest in the English literature lies when we have a staff of approximately 50 people and only two teach Chaucer."
Newman said there is a way for all students to avoid the problems that come with registering for necessary classes for their majors.
"My best advice to those in the English department and all other fields is to register for the most challenging and tedious required courses from the very start of your academics at UB in order to avoid problems in your senior year," Newman said. "If all else fails, the department will certainly make exceptions."
Lisa Tuyn, an advisor in Student Advising Services, said she urges students to be prepared when their registration window opens.
"Plan early. I would encourage everyone to make an appointment with an advisor long before their window opens," she said.
According to Tuyn, many freshmen and sophomores run into problems because they haven't picked a major.
"Sometimes students don't really know what major they want, so that would probably be the biggest problem for students when it comes to picking classes," she said.
Tuyn said students should be familiar with their general education requirements, and if they are locked out of a needed class, there is always forced registration.
"Even if the course is closed we would encourage students to go talk to the head of their department (about force registering)," she said.
She added that students should take advantage of registration tools on the Web that allow students to plan around their strengths, such as whether they function better in morning or night classes.
Plus, this year students will have an easier time knowing which classes are open and closed.
"Before they used to update (course openings) nightly, but they now have a new Web feature that will update it minute by minute to let you know what's open," Tuyn said.
According to student-athletes and honors students who already registered earlier this week, their sign-up experience was far from the horror some undergraduates face with BIRD and the UB's Web registration.
"I am happy to be in the Honors Program because I had to register for a class that had only ten seats for non-majors, so if I didn't register first there would be a good chance I wouldn't have gotten that class," said Kelly Masone, a sophomore speech and hearing science major.
UB student-athlete Phillip Ordonez, a sophomore undecided major, agreed that early registration is an advantage.
"Registration was awesome. Everything was available like I wanted," he said.
Registration for students with more than 89 credit hours opens Oct. 30. A full list of registration windows is available on the Student Response Center Web site.
