‘CHAOTIC’

Students express frustration with course scheduling system

BY PAYTON MANUEL @payton_manuel04

As the spring semester continues, some LSU students are still feeling left behind when it comes to scheduling their courses.

According to LSU’s Office of Budgeting and Planning, there were around 35,000 students enrolled in the fall of 2022. Eight thousand of those students were freshmen.

With a campus as large as LSU, class accessibility is a common problem students face. Some students have expressed their concerns with LSU’s scheduling process, most worrying about the required classes they cannot currently take.

To better accommodate the busyness of scheduling, LSU works on a priority-based system, where priority is given to a student based on their classification. Once a student’s scheduling priority opens, they can request and register for the upcoming term.

“Students are encouraged to schedule courses for the next semester as soon as their scheduling priority opens. If a student is attempting to enroll in a desired course that is full at the time, [the university Center for Advising and

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Counseling] counselors will recommend that students join the course waitlist,” UCAC Director Bridget Robincheaux said.

“However, students are reminded that waitlisting a course does not guarantee enrollment,” Robincheaux added. “Students are also guided toward other available degree applicable course options for their individual degree programs.”

After being waitlisted for a required course, psychology sophomore Isabella Bruney said she felt the scheduling process was “unfair.”

“I feel like the most frustrating part is that I don’t get priority scheduling because I’m a sophomore,” Bruney said. “All of the seniors and juniors that want to take the course I need get to take it as an elective, and it seems unfair to me because I’m getting the repercussions of it.”

Bruney said LSU’s “chaotic” scheduling doesn’t work out since most students find their systems crashing during registration.

“Scheduling is just such a chaotic time since everyone is racing to get a class that they want or need,” Bruney said. “I don’t know, but I feel like if there was a solution to make it less chaotic, I feel like it would be worth a try.”

Sports administration graduate student Nathan Messenger believes LSU’s priority scheduling should remain as it is.

“I think the way they do it right now, they try to do it by seniority,” Messenger said. “So obviously the seniors are going to have first pick, but I don’t think too many things would fix the problem right now.”

Despite his views on priority scheduling, Messenger has also experienced his own issues with the backed-up system. He said he’s found himself waiting hours after his scheduled priority time before he could start registering for classes.

“I’ve had to sit there for over an hour refreshing the page until I get some classes that are on my suggested list, but classes are full by the time I do get in,” Messenger said.

Messenger suggests LSU add more professors and classrooms