The two-pass enrollment system was implemented only a year ago at UCSD, following the adoption of the same process at UCLA and UC Berkeley. The new system was intended to give students, particularly underclassmen, a better opportunity to register for some of their general education and major classes each quarter without worrying that upperclassmen would fill all available spaces in their required lectures. Without the opportunity to wait-list during the first pass, the system is also supposed to encourage students to enroll in classes with open seats.
However, first-pass enrollment only allows students to register for 11.5 units — the equivalent of two average classes, and, frustratingly, half a unit shy of a third class. As the majority of UCSD students have full-time status and will need to enroll in more than two classes per quarter, the two-pass system requires students to leave potentially vital classes until their second pass. This approach forces students to gamble with their classes as they weigh which sections are more likely to fill up than others.
For upperclassmen, the two-pass system routinely backfires in its efforts to ensure access to classes. Enrollment times for both first- and second-pass enrollment are assigned by the number of units a student has to complete — the fewer units you have left, the higher priority you are given. This idea worked under single-pass enrollment, because seniors would get first pick and could enroll in all of their classes at once.
Under a system with divided enrollment times, juniors and seniors will enroll in at least one class after the freshman and sophomores have had first pass, potentially risking losing a class vital to their impending graduation.
This becomes especially problematic in the arts and humanities departments, whose classes are popular fillers for GE requirements but are still of higher importance to students who are majoring in those disciplines. The two-pass system then gives underclassmen only a slight advantage while it potentially furthers a senior’s expected graduation time.
Modeling our enrollment system on that of Berkeley or UCLA won’t automatically give us the same recognition and prestige of either of those universities. (Division-I sports might, but that’s another editorial altogether.) UCSD students don’t need the hand-holding of a two-pass system, especially one that ultimately hinders our efforts to enroll in classes.
After an inaugural year, it’s time for UCSD to reevaluate the two-pass system and bring back the single-pass system. Single-pass enrollment worked on our campus in the past, and it’s undoubtedly the best step for our future.
