Toronto Metropolitan University's Independent Student Newspaper Since 1967

All Editorial Letter to the editor

Registration nightmare screws student’s semester

You would think that school would get easier as you go along — at least as far as getting used to how school works. Not true.

In my first year, I spent hours waiting in lines to register for five classes. This year, I was smarter — paying at the bank, waiting until afternoon for lines and avoiding the unnecessary ones for my four classes.

“Four” you ask? “Why not six?” I got screwed, is why. I am a marketing major, yet I have no marketing course. I’m also missing another required class.

On day one of classes, I went to the business department where I was told “no problem, you and 3000 others are in the same boat. Just phone in and register for your missing classes.”

Great! I went home and did just that, but I could not figure out how to use the phone registration system. So I called in, and the gentleman at registration told me it was a computer error or something and that I would get called back.

Day two: I went to registration and spoke to them. I thought perhaps I could even salvage the end of the week… Sorry, no.

One of my classes is packed — not one opening in any section. While the only open sections for the other class conflict with the only open sections of the classes I am already in. 

Day three. Back at the business department, I asked “what can I do now?”

“Oh, you can get day access!” Day access is night classes for day students at “no extra cost.” No extra cost, unless you consider that I work three out of five weeknights and Sunday. What are the odds that night school will not conflict with that? So in fact, my semester will cost me several hundred dollars more than my peers AND I’m not even guaranteed a spot in night school!

From what I gathered from registration, classes are not filled according to course requirements or a first-come first-served basis, but on a lottery system. My first week was a write-off since I could not even find out about night registration until this week for God knows what reason. 

Great way to start off a year, huh?

Jarrod Hoogendam

Marketing 2

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