Registration For Classes is a Struggle

Registering for classes online at Green River College (GRC) is nothing new anymore.

Registration for classes started on Jan. 31. Online registration used to be new and confusing for many students. Nowadays, it has become more of a normal thing, but there are still opinions on how it can be improved. 

Mohini Khanal, 23, a pre-nursing student, enjoys registering online since she does not have to fill out time-consuming forms.

“Filling the forms might take too much time and might be difficult,” Khanal said. “The concern is when there is no teacher shown on the list.”

There are often cases in which professors are not listed when students are registering. This can be inconvenient for those who prefer the teaching styles of certain professors.

Even so, students tend to end up having to sign up for classes even when there are no professors listed.

Daniel Ong, 21, a domestic student studying architecture, had a similar issue to Khanal. There are required classes for his major and only a few sections to choose from, so he just had to settle with one.

“We don’t have a lot of choices so there is no option but to take the class,” Ong said.

There are some courses that offer only one section and do not even show who the professor is. This forces students to have to take that class without much time to even consider whether they should really take it or not.

Ryo Morishima, 23, a Japanese student studying accounting, also had difficulty figuring out what each class is about. The number and title of each class doesn’t give enough information about classes. Even if there is some information about classes on the GRC website, the details aren’t enough or are too generalized.

“I ask my friends who already took the class, [and] figure out what they learned in that class and see what kind of assignments they had to do,” Morishima said.

Asking other students about classes is not just Morishima’s strategy. It is also common among other students. Not only do students ask each other about course information, but about the professors.

“I first look at the professor that teaches the class and if I am available at that time,” Martin Kim, 23, a Korean student studying aviation, said. 

When Kim selects professors, he browses Rate My Professor and asks his friends about their experiences with each professor. Kim, like many other students, is collecting information before registering so that it would be easier during registration.

Students are not having as hard of a time registering online as it may seem. They tend to adapt to the situation and get used to the process.

The key to registering for classes is to rely on friends and gather information before the registration date.

Online registration has become more common and it is nothing new anymore. Even though a lot of students do not find it difficult anymore, GRC should still show a list of all the professors that are going to teach each class.