About a week and a half ago, we registered for Spring classes and I have to say it was quite an experience! We (the PhD students) had been told that we should register as soon as the window opened in order to get into the classes we wanted; especially since one of the courses most of us needed is also a mandatory course for Masters students.

I arrived on campus in plenty of time to “get comfortable” and log in ahead of the 3:00 PM window opening. I checked a couple of times before the appointed time with no luck. 3:00 definitely means 3:00. At exactly 3:00 PM, I was able to log in to the registration website. Fortunately, I had written down the numeric codes for the four courses I’ll be taking next semester. I typed them in and clicked send. The screen froze.

I had no idea what to do. Thoughts ran through my mind that the hype was only that – hype. But then the Masters student who was sitting at the table next to mine trying to register using his laptop sprung up and bolted toward the computer room in a panic. Maybe the hype was real …

I waited for 30 seconds and my screen was still not responding. I checked other sites in another window – they worked. Clearly this was a traffic issue on the registration site. In a moment of frustration, I closed the window I was using for registration and tried to log in again. After what seemed like forever (in reality, a matter of 2-3 minutes) I was back in. I reentered the codes and clicked send. This time, I got past the initial screen, but received a notice saying that my registration had already been updated.

When I checked my schedule, it turns out that my registration had made it in on my first attempt; I just didn’t receive confirmation. At 3:10 PM, out of morbid curiosity, I checked availability of the dual-tracked course. There were three sections available. Sure enough, two of the three were already full and the third had only a couple of seats available. Wow! I’ve never experienced anything like that!

So what courses am I taking next term?

PUBP 720 – Managerial Economics
PUBP 804 – Multivariate Statistical Analysis
PUBP 805 – Public Policy Systems and Theory
PUBP 850 – Seminar in Public Policy

More to come as this term winds to a close …