Doesn’t it just grind your gears when you prepare ahead of time to register for classes, then log in to Aggie Access only to discover that the class you need

is already full? Or maybe it’s only offered at one awkward time that does not fit into your schedule. Oh no wait, here is the best one; maybe the class not even offered this semester.  

These kinds of issues are not only annoying and inconvenient but also extremely unprofessional.

A&T has to make some serious improvements when it comes to registration. It makes no sense to offer some classes only in the fall and others only in the spring.

Students are graduating each semester and suppose the class they need to graduate in the spring was only offered the previous fall.

It is more than absurd for them to have to wait until the next fall to take the course and graduate.

At least if these policies are going to exist and these classes are only going to be offered once a year, some advance notice should be given. Sometimes advisers aren’t even knowledgeable of these class changes.  

For example, within the Journalism department JOMC 540 is only offered in the spring. If I were not proactive in preparing my schedule, I would not have known that because my academic advisor certainly did not tell me.  

For the most part, if I did not advise myself I would be at A&T much longer than May 2011.

On the other hand, the classes that are offered tend to fill up quickly or get cut because not enough people sign up for them. There is nothing worse than waking up on the first day of classes and discovering one or more of your classes have been dropped without notice.

Then after calling around to find out why, you discover it is because not enough people registered for it.

This happened to me twice during the summer and once in the fall.

I understand the need to have classes full but why should I be punished and inconvenienced?

Some advance notice would have made the situation a little better to deal with. I do not appreciate surprises, especially when they impact my graduation date.

The “best” part about registration, however, is finding out the one last class you need to graduate is full and has been since the first day of registration.

This happened to me this semester and to put it mildly I was less than pleased. However, I soon found that there were at least 30 more people in the same situation. So in pursuit of adding this Social Statistics class I was given the run around, where I went on to receive plenty of “I’m sorry,” shoulder shrugs, and “there’s nothing I can do’s.”

Surely if 30 or more people are lacking the same class, there would be no harm in adding one more class to accommodate these students.

It is not logical to demand students from various majors to take the same course and not supply enough classes for them to enroll in.  

In the end, I had to take a substitute course with about three-fourths of the class taking it as a substitute. So not only is this substitute class nothing like the class I was supposed to take, it has nothing to do with my major.

I can only imagine how much these registration inadequacies contribute to A&T’s high retention rates and graduation rates. One possible solution could be to use the method UNCG has.

They allow seniors to register first, then juniors, sophomores and freshman. This makes sense because I am a little annoyed to know that there are freshman and sophomore students sitting in the one class I need to graduate when they have 2 or 3 years left to take it.  

Even though its obvious cuts have to be made, extending students graduation date is unacceptable. A&T you have to do better.

• Shequia Cole