Enrolling for classes at Citrus College has become a competition of chance. Students are now using the waitlist as a form to hopefully register for the classes they need.
However, this does not seem to have a significant improvement on the chances of a student trying to add classes before the session begins.
Students may waitlist for multiple classes, but it has been my experience the waitlist is only beneficial to those students whose registration deadline is earlier. New students who have to waitlist for classes can only hope that students who register before them change their mind and decide that they don’t want to take a class anymore.
I had the opportunity to use the waitlist firsthand during the summer semester. I was able to enroll in one out of the few classes I had waitlisted for.
I arrived at Citrus College one hour before my class started to avoid being late. When I got into my class I found a line of approximately 20 students trying to add the class. These students were both on the waitlist and add-ins.
This semester you can expect registered, waitlisted, and add-in students to fight more than ever for a spot in a class. The registered students will have more trouble getting to their destinations due to the large amount of hopeful students that are on campus taking the parking spaces and trying to add a class. It becomes the same game of odds of getting a class when classes begin.
For students who were not as lucky as me, it will be nightmare. Competing for a class will be harder and more aggressive. The waitlist is no longer in effect after the first day of class; therefore, waitlisted students will be faced with competing for available spots with the large amount of new and continuing students looking to fill holes in their schedules.
The waitlist may not be too terrible. It just does not take care of the real problem: there are not enough classes. In the words of the “Hunger Games”, “may the odds be ever in your favor.”
