Freshmen: Forget Orientation and Opening Convocation. Welcome to the College of William and Mary’s ultimate induction ceremony: Getting locked out of banner.
Thursday, the College’s course registration system crashed after it was inundated with requests by the hordes of freshmen attempting to register for their spring classes. While we all know how it feels to see the one class you’ve been dying to get into for the last month fill up, believe us when we say: You will survive.
There seems to be this intense pressure on students at the College when registering for classes. We even have our own word in Urban Dictionary for being royally disappointed in and stressed out by the registration process. Registration is just signing up for classes. There is no need to scream if the program crashes, throw your belongings at students who got into a class before the crash ruined your life or spread rumors about the police being called in to maintain order on campus. These reactions are just ridiculous.
The College is a challenging institution. When it challenges us to the point that we feel we must design the perfect course schedule with no flexibility in the classes we take, it has gone too far.
It is important to remember that registration is not over. You have several months before the second semester actually starts. This is only registration round one. Seasoned students know that, in some ways, the closed class designation means very little and does not bar you from the class. Let us remind you of the three magic words: maximum capacity override. In some cases, professors take kindly to students who show up to the first day of class requesting an override. Also, show some initiative and go to the professor’s office hours. Just calm down before you start thinking the world has ended because you didn’t get into the literary fantasy class you wanted or the class about dinosaurs you promised four of your friends you would take with them.
For some reason, we always put academic pressures on ourselves and then regret doing so later. More attention should be given to the amount of pressure students place at the College place on themselves. The difficulty of our classes or how many papers we have due in a given week seem to be a source of bragging rights. Students should move past this so that when registration does not turn out the way they had hoped, they don’t begin rioting through the streets of Williamsburg. We don’t need another revolution in Colonial Williamsburg, especially one with angry freshmen.
Freshmen, we humbly ask you to calm yourselves and realize that not getting into one class will not ruin your entire academic career. Besides, who actually retains their original schedule? Most people don’t, that’s for sure. Realize that professors are kind and are willing to give you overrides and that you’ll have other chances to take the classes, assuming you aren’t a second-semester senior. Finally, be happy that your registration was at 3:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m.
