On Monday night, many students camped out. Not for a movie release or tax holiday, but for Phase II registration. Students gathered outside of the Office of the Registrar in Moulton Union well before it opened at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday to beat the long early-morning lines.
"I think it has become some sort of Bowdoin tradition," Registrar Christine Cote said. "Perhaps it is easier for students than waking up at 3 a.m. and coming over then. Since I'm not much of a morning person myself, I'd probably be tempted to do the same thing if I were a student."
Despite the large volume of students and the specificity of their complaints, the Office of the Registrar was able to ensure Phase II went smoothly. According to Cote, 462 students came to Phase II on Tuesday alone. Cote added that the staff was able to get through 230 students in under one hour.
First year Zoe Karp was one of the students to arrive at Moulton Union Monday night.
"Of the classes I put on my original registration card, I didn't get into the two I wanted most, a math and a psych class," said Karp. "The math class I wanted only had one more spot available and the psych class I most wanted was full, and my backup psych class only had two spots open."
"Many upperclassmen recommended that I sleep over on Monday night. It paid off, though. Come Tuesday morning, I got both classes I wanted," added Karp.
Karp, who was one of approximately 20 students who slept over, was frustrated with the course registration process.
"One of the reasons I didn't get into my classes was because the computer recognized I had not filled the prerequisites, which I had with AP credit," she said.
Isaac Brower '13 took issue with the difficulty of getting into certain courses.
"Acting I has been my first choice for four straight semesters and I haven't gotten in. I have known a number of students that got in on their first try," Brower said. "It is really frustrating because, coming into college, I really wanted to explore acting. I want to audition for a school performance, but because I am not really sure how to act and I don't have much background."
Two classes were added prior to Phase II to answer high demand for other courses.
"Sometimes it's done to add a class that will attract more students, other times it's done to add an additional section of a course that was filled [in Phase I]," said Cote.
Preparing to Face Earth's Future, a sub-100 level interdisciplinary environmental studies and earth and oceanographic science course, may have been added to satisfy demand for the popular Earthquakes and Volcanoes class, which was full by the end of Phase I. The other added course was Studio 305, an advanced theater course.
Phase II closed at 5 p.m. yesterday. Students will not be able to make changes to their schedules until the Add/Drop period begins the first week of the spring semester.