Yale College course registration process for spring 2022 to begin Thursday
Course enrollment activities for the spring 2022 semester begins this week for Yale College students, keeping some changes from the fall while implementing new ones.
Zoe Berg, Photo Editor
A week into the second half of the fall semester, students are already looking ahead to spring course enrollment.
The University Registrar’s Office wrote in an Oct. 29 email to the Yale College community that spring 2022 course enrollment activities will begin on Nov. 4. Notable changes from previous semesters include mandatory simultaneous enrollment in the discussion sections and labs that accompany some lectures, a single round of preference selection rankings and the addition of waitlists for discussion sections on Yale Course Search.
“Refinements to the course registration system aim to ease the burden and uncertainty of course shopping that both students and faculty have reported, while trying to maximize student choice and predictability,” Yale College Dean Marvin Chun wrote in a statement to the News.
Canvas websites for spring 2022 courses will become available on Thursday, according to the Registrar’s website, and preference selection will open at 9 a.m. the next day for first-year seminars, multi-section courses and discussion and lab sections. Preference selection will close Nov. 11 at 5:00 p.m.
The early registration period will begin the morning of Nov. 18, the day before November recess begins. At that time, registration worksheets will open on Yale Course Search, or YCS. Students can request formal instructor permission to enroll in a course during the early registration period until the evening of Dec. 1. On Dec. 15 — midway through reading week for the fall semester — the early registration period will conclude, and YCS registration worksheets will lock.
Spring term classes start on Jan. 18, but students will have the opportunity to adjust their registration worksheets beginning Jan. 12, when the Add/Drop period opens. The Add/Drop period will end Jan. 24, less than a week into the term.
According to Chun, the Yale College Dean’s Office and the University Registrar’s Office collaborated to conduct an “extensive review” of the fall 2021 course registration process. That survey produced both “positive feedback and constructive concerns” from faculty and students alike, Chun wrote.
According to Iris Li ’24, academic life policy director for the Yale College Council, students have reported that the course registration process for the fall 2021 semester — which began in spring 2021 — was “unhealthy and stressful.” The process began late in the spring semester, with midterms winding down and reading period and final exams on the horizon. Some students felt that they were unable to devote their full attention to studying for exams or registering for courses because of the overlapping timelines, Li wrote.
“Coming off the stress of midterms, I was caught by surprise when I realized course registration for next semester was so soon,” Gillian Gold ’24, a cognitive science major in Benjamin Franklin College, said. “It’s pretty overwhelming trying to figure out which classes to take in the spring, while still focusing on current classes.”
Li wrote in a statement to the News that the YCC has been working internally and with Chun on course registration policy this fall.
Earlier this semester, Chun approached YCC President Bayan Galal ’23 and Vice President Zoe Hsu ’24 soliciting recommendations for next spring’s enrollment process, Li wrote. Chun consulted with the student leaders and proposed a suite of ideas. Subsequently, the YCC considered those ideas in an executive board meeting and crafted a policy recommendation in response, Li explained.
One of the biggest challenges students report with the course registration system, according to Chun, is the application process for popular courses with limited enrollment. These applications often require essays, which can quickly accumulate for students applying to many courses.
“Faculty have been asked to minimize course application requirements, so that from a student perspective, seeking a spot in a course should be as simple as requesting permission within the Yale Course Search system,” Chun wrote. “Instructors have been asked to make their course roster decisions upon the student’s class year, major, and, where appropriate, previous experience.”
The administration is discouraging faculty from seeking application essays, Chun said, except when “pedagogically necessary” — for example, in a creative writing course.
One challenge with the new timeline, Li wrote, is that because the early registration period for spring courses ends before students complete exams and receive final grades in their fall courses, it is more difficult for students to make “informed decisions” about future enrollments based on performance in previous courses.
Chun explained that it was not possible to schedule the early registration period during winter break because faculty will not be available to guide students or manage enrollments for their courses.
“I do think it’s a lot to ask of students to focus on their [second or third round of] midterms and juggle pre-registration concerns,” Li wrote. “However, I am glad that actual course registration occurs later, since I think if the platform opened as early as pre-registration does that it would be detrimental to the health and decision-making of the student body.”
Li noted that the new timeline will enable students to set aside time over the November recess to review the spring 2022 course catalog, a practice colloquially known as bluebooking.
According to Chun, the start date for the Add/Drop period was made earlier to allow students to adjust their schedules before the start of the term. Chun noted that the addition of a waiting list feature will make it easier for both students and faculty to navigate “sustained interest” in a course already at capacity.
Chun said he hopes changes to the course registration process will be “minimally disruptive” to benefit the College community as it navigates this transition. Looking forward, Chun added, administrators are particularly hoping to continue improving the fall course registration process for new students.
“Additional email notifications will be sent from the University Registrar’s Office as important dates approach,” the Registrar’s email stated.
The University Registrar’s Office is located at 246 Church St.