Kyrie Eiras-Saunders '12 was the first in line for Phase II registration. How did she secure her spot? She dragged one of the nearby couches up to the Office of the Registrar and spent the night in Moulton Union.
"Last year I had a horrible incident where I basically didn't get any classes," Eiras-Saunders said. "So this year while I only needed to get this one class, I was going to get this one class."
Eiras-Saunders said that she arrived around 11 p.m. in order to beat the Phase II crowd and get one of the remaining spots in Assistant Professor of English Mary Agnes Edsall's Chaucer course. Last year, Eiras-Saunders said she arrived at Moulton around 2 a.m., but was still "about 30th in line."
As of midnight on Monday, Eiras-Saunders was accompanied by four first year students, who were also playing it safe and camping out.
The students came prepared for the long night, packing homework, movies and games, such as Apples to Apples.
"I don't think it's going to be too bad," said Matt Silton '13, who camped out to get a spot in a Spanish class.
When Registrar Christine Cote arrived at Moulton Union around 7 a.m., there were students clustered around the Office of the Registrar in the lobby, while Lancaster Lounge was completely full.
Despite the throng, the seven Registrar staff members manning computers were able to help the initial "224 students by 8:30 a.m.," said Cote.
"I think students were pleasantly surprised how quickly the line vanished," said Cote.
"Once we got that huge line through, anyone who came in—we could get them helped right away," Cote added.
By the time the Registrar closed on Tuesday, its staff had helped 474 students, said Cote. This figure, however, is conservative as it reflects individual students rather than the number of times they returned for more assistance.
"We probably actually worked with 550 visits," said Cote.
According to Cote, many students at the front of the line were waiting to snag courses in certain disciplines that remain particularly popular for Phase II registration year to year.
"Those students are looking for chemistry labs, that seems to be the case every semester...chemistry, chemistry labs, gov courses, econ courses, some first year seminars, some language sections...I think those are the big ones," she said.
Last spring 557 students registered for courses through Phase II, which was down from the previous year's 678. Cote projected a figure somewhere in the middle for this semester.
"We're up to about 525 total [as of Wednesday afternoon], so we'll probably end up around 625," said Cote.
In terms of camping out for courses with limited space, Cote said she was sympathetic to students' desire to do so.
If faced with the choice between waking up early on Tuesday or sleeping in Moulton Monday night, Cote said, "I'd probably do the camping over myself."
According to Cote, the Office of the Registrar has considered starting Phase II registration later in the day, though classes, sports practices and meals would conflict with any other time slot.
"At 7:30 in the morning, there's really nothing else going on and we're able to get students out in time for class," said Cote.
Though camping out in Moulton may seem like an extreme measure, Cote suggested there may be an element of enjoyment involved.
"I think they kind of enjoy it, I think it's a kind of fun thing for them," said Cote.
"I thought it would be a fun college story," said Silton.