Registration plagued by delays

Students rose in the early hours of the morning this week to register for their classes for the Fall 2004 semester. Students could register online as early as 7 a.m., but many students voiced frustration with the system's capacity.

"Because I'm ambitious or just stupid, I got up at 7 [a.m.], went to the computer lab and stared at the screen for half an hour, and then it still didn't work," said Hopkins rising senior Christopher Tallent, who doesn't have Internet access at his house.

In the peak hours of the morning, students scrambled to gain access to smaller classes, paralyzing the Registrar's Web site.

Rising junior Ayla Turnquist said she was kicked off "at least 11 times, maybe more than that."

Students complained of staring at a blank screen or receiving an error message saying that the user's session has timed out.

"Why can't they just extend the time period?" Turnquist said.

The Registrar was unable to be reached for comment.

Tallent also voiced complaints over the Web site's capacity.

"How can it not work? It's not like it's New YorkTimes.com, there's only a finite number of people that are going to register," he said.

Even with the general frustrations, there were some students who did reach the Registrar's Web site.

Rising junior Lindsay Eastwood spent an hour and a half trying to register, beginning at 7 a.m., but she said she finally ended up going back to sleep.

"Well, it takes a while, but if you persist you can get it done," she said.

Before online registration was an option, all students were required to register in person, often waiting in line for hours. The online registration system was instituted two years ago, and according to Eastwood, the current system is "much better than bombarding the registrar."

Neil Bardhan, a rising senior in Cognitive Science, said the system is much more fair than the system of paper registration from his freshman year.

"It's better than waiting in line and saying, "Is this form correct?'" he said.

Bardhan registered later Monday, and he said he got all the classes he wanted, describing the process as "easy." Turnquist, however, remained slightly skeptical.

"This way, they just don't have to listen to us complain," he said.