This is just my second year going to school here at good old Nova Southeastern University, but I could go on and on about all the things that the university could and should definitely fix. Most of the time NSU does not fix the things that students need, but instead gives them completely unnecessary things — when they added that AI system instead of just fixing their website.
One of the biggest issues that I have had recently is registering for classes. I dread that time of the semester because everything just shuts down as pretty much the entire school jumps on their Webstar profile to try and sign up for classes that are probably already filled. I get on the registration site ready to sign up for classes at 11:59 Sunday night, and I still have trouble getting into classes. This year, many people just got a screen full of red error text as they tried to get on to register. It is a terrible idea to try and have the entire school register for their classes at the same time while still using a server that could barely handle one user logged in.
Not only are course registration numbers not linked right, but so many courses are full even before the vast majority of students get access to these offered courses. Last year, when I was trying — keyword: trying — to sign up for General Chemistry I, all 128 seats were filled before I could even log in to Shark link. Those seats were full before registration was even open to non-athletes and non-honors students. Classes that several majors are required to take, like general chemistry, should have more seats than just a little over 100, especially in a school full of biology majors that all take chemistry in droves.
Then there is the problem of priority. The University has decided that some students deserve to be able to register for classes early. And for the most part, that is just ridiculous. For athletes, I get it. They should be able to have a class schedule that works around their practice schedule. But, then there is the Honors College. Honors students get priority for no logical reason whatsoever. They already have classes that only they can take so why should they get the first pick of all the courses on campus?
Photo: L. Donald
