Students weigh in on registration

It’s registration week on campus, which means almost 17,000 students will register for classes between Monday and Friday. Students’ concerns range from knowing which classes to take to Banner crashing to getting the schedule they want.

“I’m worried I won’t be able to get into the classes I need, that the program will crash when everyone tries to register,” said freshman Sarah Sparks.

Freshman Rachel Dutson, who plans on enrolling in the nursing program, voiced her concerns, as well. She is worried about “not getting into the classes (I) want because all the upperclassmen procrastinated taking lower level classes.”

Amanda Gibb, a senior majoring in social work, is not concerned about getting into her classes.

“I’m not worried this semester because all I have to register for is my internship, which is reserved for me,” she said. “In the past I’ve had Banner crash and worried about not getting into the class I want or need.”

Banner, also known as Internet Native Banner (INB), is the web-based system used by faculty and students at hundreds of universities. According to UNC Charlotte’s IT Services, it is used to store “financial, student, financial aid, human resources and development data.”

While it is a trusted application suite used by universities like Georgetown and the University of Tennessee, it has been known to malfunction during registration week.

Like Banner, academic advisers are kept busy during registration week.

“This is by far the busiest time,” said Josh Wardle, an academic adviser for the biology department.

Wardle encourages students to “take classes that actually help (you) graduate.”

“Definitely go and meet with your academic adviser,” he said. “I think academic advisers are underutilized and they can be a great resource to students. So I would encourage students to visit them — not just a few days before registration, but throughout the semester.”

Ruth Harrison, director of undergraduate programs, has worked with students and registration for 17 years. She highly recommends that students see their advisers before Halloween. She said, after that point, an available appointment could be two weeks out.

Geri Child, general academic adviser for the chemistry and biochemistry department, agreed with Harrison on this point.

“If (students) want to graduate on time, they should be meeting with their adviser the year before they graduate,” he said. “So in your junior year, meet with your adviser.”

Child said the mistake many students make is visiting their advisers in the last part of October or the week before registration.

“In general, advisers are pretty swamped this week,” Wardle said.

Of students who meet with their advisers, Child said, “Those are the ones we find graduate on time and don’t have any surprises in their schedule.”

— brennakelly818@gmail.com