On Tuesday, Nov. 15, students received their course requests back from the registrar. Some of the main issues are that many classes are only offered one semester, some students’ seminars overlap, and there are not enough spots in courses that students need to complete or begin their majors.
Since students go through the registrar on the basis of their last name, it can be nearly impossible for one to receive all of the classes that they need, especially since DePauw is a small school.
Senior Frances Werner said she is not too pleased about the course requests because the timing of her classes is not ideal. She added that she needs to take classes that allow her to meet graduation requirements, but they overlap with one another.
“I have to take exercise physiology and it’s only offered at one time, but it overlaps with a different class that I need to graduate,” Werner said.
She said that both of those classes were only offered in the second semester, and wishes that they were always offered in the fall and the spring.
“It would be nice if they spread the timings of the offered courses out, too, so that students have a better chance of being able to take them,” Werner said.
Junior Hadley Freeman said, “I feel like we should have even more course options available to us. This also includes the need for more level 100 courses because those are the ones that tend to fill up first and are required prerequisites.”
She said the pandemic may be responsible for the lack of courses, especially because it still exists, and it may be a cause for the repercussions affecting course selection.
“Because I am a junior here on campus, specifically a Kinesiology major, I have realized the course selections are very non-abundant and specific. What I mean is, with a smaller student body here on campus compared to many other universities, classes can become competitive and sometimes hard to get into. COVID limited our number of professors and our class options,” Freeman said.
She said that a solution for this would be to add more options when it comes to course topics, alongside adding more introductory-level classes that almost every student needs.
Sophomore pre-med and biochemistry major Kaija Carr said the courses that she takes are essential to stay on track to take the MCAT.
“This semester, I had requested a course which is needed for my major and pre-med reqs, however, there was only one section of that course being taught, so I didn’t get into it,” Carr said.
She said that she now has to plan on not being in that specific course, which causes her to push many of her other courses back a semester, and she won’t have the necessary classes to take the MCAT for the first time.
“There is a reason I request the classes that I do, so to not be enrolled in those classes can be very frustrating. As well, to only offer one section of the course when there are multiple people who need the course is quite ridiculous,” Carr said.