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Coarse Selection

A Look at How Students Sign Up For Classes

By ERIC HOROWITZ

It starts with a simple email from the registrar. It slowly builds up until you’re spending all night perusing through the course listings looking for that perfect class. But now, with the registration period over and done the only thing left to do is sit back and worry about whether you’ve chosen the right classes. But don’t fret, no matter which classes you’ve chosen, you’re bound to get screwed.

That’s not to say that nobody will find a class they like. Those who often lay awake at night thinking about the cell walls in whale blubber will no doubt be satisfied with BIOL 30b: “The Biology of Whales.” Similarly, those interested in taking over the world with an army of super-robots should get what they need from COSI 35a: “Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence.”

However, for the rest of us choosing classes can be much more treacherous, as one can easily be misled by the title of a class. If you are quick to sign up for Math 28b: “Introduction to Rings and Fields” you may soon be disappointed. Instead of running around outside throwing frisbees as you might have imagined, you will be stuck in a class which is described in the course bulletin as “Z/p and other finite fields. The quotient ring A/(f). Polynomials over Z.” Then of course, there is ENG 181a: “Performing Sex, Making Gender.” All I’m going to say is that the title can be a little bit misleading, and year after year quite a few students experience the letdown of lifetime when they find out that the class isn’t what they thought it would be.

Choosing classes is even a dangerous endeavor for those smart enough to have read course descriptions. For instance, if you find that the thrill of a riveting philosophy argument pales in comparison to the excitement of walking, you might be quick to sign up for PE 33a:“Walking for Fitness. This enthralling class, which is designed to “improve your overall fitness level through walking,” may seem perfect, but you can’t be too hasty in registering. Also available is PE35a: “Power Walking.” This class is designed to “increase the fitness level of the students through a high-intensity low-impact workout,” which consists of “walking with hand-held weights.”

An extremely difficult and important decision lies ahead. Choose Power Walking, and you face the possibility that you won’t be able to handle walking with weights. Your failure to perform the core task of the course causes you to fall behind the rest of the students, thereby stifling the learning process. Choose Walking For Fitness, and you face the possibility that you may be too advanced for the class. The pace of the class pulls you down to the level of the other students, and you are prevented from realizing your true potential. For some people it is virtually impossible to know which walking class is the right one, and their semester will almost be surely ruined by making the wrong decision.

Dilemmas such as these extend to other departments as well. PHIL 22b: “Philosophy of Law” would be a great class for somebody who shares an interest in both philosophy and law. That is, unless PHIL 117b: “Topics in Philosophy of Law” is more fitting. Topics or no topics? That is the question. There is no way to know the answer and there is no doubt that the semesters of several, if not hundreds of students will be ruined by it.

Even if your sole goal is simply to learn about the renaissance you face a difficult decision. HIST 123a: “The Renaissance” is a quality course, but before signing up you must also consider FREN 122b: “The Renaissance.” Learning about the Renaissance from the wrong perspective can ruin a semester, and surely by the end of the year many students will have experienced this misfortune.

There are a few things students do to try and minimize the risk in picking classes. The most common of these is talking things over with friends in an effort to find out what classes are worth taking. However, this practice can often do more harm then good. For instance, take that philosophy class your old roommate said was both fascinating and an easy “A”. After sitting through a semester of boring lectures and writing two papers a week, it turns out him liking the class had a lot to do with the fact that the professor was his uncle. Unfortunately for you, this was something you were not able to reap the benefits of.

Then there’s that history professor who everyone says is wild and exciting. You quickly sign up for his class and eagerly await the start of the spring semester where you’ll continuously be entertained by his outrageous antics. However, when you return from break it turns out that a Christmas day spent in rehab has made him slightly less “fun”, and you’re forced to spend the rest of the year getting up early to sit through his tedious 9 AM lectures.

Though talking to friends often proves to be worthless, there is one final place students can turn, the course evaluation guide. However, I would not recommend this, since the whole guide is based on what students think about their class on the last day, five minutes before they leave, and before they have gotten the grade on their final assignments.

This all contributes to some very misleading information. Take me for example. Last semester I was looking for two relatively easy classes to fill out my schedule and I turned to the course evaluation guide. After much consideration, I selected BCHM 101: “Advanced Biochemistry” over PE22a : “Squash” because the professor of the squash class was rated .02 points higher than the biochemistry professor. I also selected PHYS 162b: “Quantum Mechanics II” over THA 1b: “The Theater in History II” because the theater class had a workload that was .04 points lower. It just so happened that the statistics in the evaluation guide were a little bit inaccurate and I had myself an exceedingly difficult semester.

There is one thing that even I will admit can help people choose the right classes. The shopping period. It gives people a chance to see the classes before they take them. But let’s be honest here. It’s hard enough going to class when you’re actually taking the class, and are responsible for the material. How can anybody be expected to waste their valuable time attending a class that they might not actually take. While the shopping period may be useful, what it basically means is a whole lot of extra class, and I want no part of it. I’ll take my chances with “Walking for Fitness.”

Eric Horowitz '06 is a contributor to The Watch