After CSUN’s new wait list feature was added over the summer, reactions from students and faculty showed satisfaction and relief with more enrollment openings into classes.
For the Fall 2012 semester, the wait list has moved 3,492 students into 4,455 open seats in classes according to Todd Wolfe, registrar and associate director for CSUN’s Admissions and Records.
Wolfe has only heard positive things from students and staff about the wait list. The only problems CSUN had were transparent, minor glitches here and there, but nothing that affected students at all, according to Wolfe.
“The wait list gives us concrete evidence of where the demand is,” Wolfe said. “This was the first time we used the system, and it is definitely permanent and will be used in the future.”
The individual academic departments will now use the wait list data to see if additional sections of classes need to be added, according to Wolfe. The wait list numbers will also be used to assess whether to cancel low-enrollment courses or add more seats to high-demand courses.
Yegia Dzhandzhikyan, a junior studying biology, said he was excited and happy when he heard about the wait list. Dzhandzhikyan, 21, crashed three or four full classes at the start of every semester for the last two years at CSUN hoping to get enrolled.
Dzhandzhikyan was able to add six units towards his major by using the wait list over the summer and is still waiting on two more classes.
“When I got out of the shower, I had an email saying I got into a class that I really needed,” Dzhandzhikyan said. “It’s a really happy feeling when you get that email.”
In the Sundial’s June debut of the wait list, Elizabeth Adams, senior director of Undergraduate Studies, described the wait list as an opportunity for students to have more control over their schedules.
The online wait list served as a temporary holding spot in the line to enroll in a full class. If a seat opened, the student who was first on the wait list was automatically enrolled.
The placement of a student on the wait list was determined on a first-come-first-serve basis. Whoever joined the wait list first was the first to be enrolled.
The student’s registration appointment also played a part in the line placement: the earlier the appointment, the sooner one joined the wait list. The student’s required pre-requisites for a specific course were also considered.
Judith Retana, a senior studying geography, was able to add six units towards her minor with the wait list. Retana, 20, was relieved after she used the new and, in her opinion, long-overdue wait list option.
“I thought the new wait list was a smart idea and a huge time-saver, since I don’t have time to waste on my first day trying to add a class,” said Retana. “It’s about time they did this.”
All in all, the new wait list feature proved to be an enormous success for students and faculty alike.
