Students who are not admitted to Spring term courses will now be able to view on Banner Student how close they came to making the cut. For the first time, the Office of the Registrar has posted course enrollment priorities on the student web site.
Students can use the list to determine their chances of enrollment in any course prior to course selection.
Dartmouth's administration has no formal guidelines for how enrollment priorities should be made; rather, individual academic departments determine priorities. For instance, students are placed randomly into introductory philosophy classes, but freshmen take priority in introductory studio art classes.
"Each department does it differently, which I think is nice," College Registrar Meredith Braz said. "It is very flexible versus some systems which are more rigid, forcing everyone to do it the same way."
The government department staff determine course priorities collectively, according to department chair William Wohlforth. The department grants first priority to majors and minors and then enrolls students based on seniority, excepting introductory courses, which prioritize underclassmen.
"The logic seems to be understandable," Wohlforth said. "People who need the class for their major have some priority getting in. We are a pretty large major so we try to give students who chose our major a break."
Each instructor can allow additional students to enter his or her class, but there is no departmental pressure on professors to do so, according to Wohlforth.
The departments of comparative literature, biology, Jewish studies and education employ a similar hierarchy, allowing majors and minors first priority, and subsequently admitting students based on descending class year.
The course enrollment priorities list was first released to students in 1994 when the College began utilizing online course registration. The Registrar posted blitz bulletins with the information and copies of the list were available for students in the Registrar's office. For the past two years, the Registrar has posted the priority list in PDF format on its web site.
The course prioritization list is primarily intended to show students why they were not admitted into classes, according to Wohlforth.
"It gives them a sense of logic underlining why the priorities are set," Wohlforth said. "It helps them understand what rules were used to determine priorities. If I was a student and didn't get into a class, I would want know how that happened."
In response to the large number of students wishing to enroll in government courses, the department has increased the size of its faculty, the number of courses offered in areas of high interest -- particularly international relations -- and the number of advanced seminars, Wohlforth said.
"We have looked back over the last five years and tried to respond by increasing the types of courses in most demand," Wohlforth said. "Our numbers are showing an improvement though there may still be a significant number of students not getting into their classes of choice. Overall though, the numbers tell us things are getting better."
