With the start of the Winter term last week, many students spent the first several days of classes rearranging their schedules and shopping for courses, a number of which were already full. While over-enrollment in which courses are filled beyond their established cap sizes is a significant problem at some colleges and universities, professors and students said the issue rarely interferes with the classroom experience at the College. Last Fall, 36 of 419 courses, or nine percent of all classes, were oversubscribed at the time of course election, according to College Registrar Meredith Braz. During the Summer term, 20 of 248 courses, or eight percent, were over-enrolled, while 11 percent were over-enrolled last Spring.
These numbers reflect that over-enrollment in classes is not a significant problem at Dartmouth, Braz said.
"I actually think Dartmouth does an exceptional job of providing access to courses while keeping the class sizes small," Braz said.
The online system used for course election is designed for efficiency, a "priority system" in which students' selections are evaluated based on the enrollment priorities of specific departments or programs and not a "first come, first served" system, Braz said. "I really feel like we have a real state-of-the-art course election system here," Braz said. "We've customized pieces of it that are specifically for Dartmouth."
The decision to over-enroll classes ultimately resides with professors, who have access to an override process through which they can register additional students, Braz said.
Some, like sociology professor Matissa Hollister, choose to follow the enrollment limits set for their courses. "I've been increasingly sticking to the caps," Hollister said. "I don't usually allow much flexibility, and I've realized for various reasons for different classes that staying with the caps is better." Hollister said maintaining the 16-person cap on one of her classes, Poverty and Public Policy in the United States, is important for the quality of discussion. Enrolling more students could compel some students to "sort of hang out in the background and not really participate," she said.
For larger classes like Quantitative Analysis of Social Data and The Sociology of Work, a cap of 35 is logistically necessary in order to teach the course effectively, Hollister said. "For the larger classes the biggest issue is, in the social sciences we don't have graduate students, we don't have people doing work for us," Hollister said. As a result, students often struggle to gain access to Hollister's classes, especially Sociology 10.
Last year, 125 students attempted to join the 35-person class, she said. To sort through these students, Hollister uses an "elaborate system" that creates a waiting list of 10 to 15 "persistent" individuals who continue to demonstrate their interest, she said. Other professors make the choice to override their original caps. Government professor Ronald Shaiko, for example, moved his Introduction to Public Policy class to a larger room in order to accommodate more students. Similarly, engineering professor Lee Lynd chose to raise the cap for his Systems class in order to account for "student demand," he said.
Students said over-enrollment generally does not negatively impact their learning experience. Ellen Wu '15, currently taking two over-enrolled courses, feels that neither class is large enough to severely impact her performance. "I think it's fine because it's not over-enrolled to the point where the class is too big," Wu said. "It doesn't get in the way of my learning, it's just an adjustment." To deal with the larger class sizes, Wu said her professors have students divide into small groups to facilitate discussion.
Zach Wright '15 said that although his American Film and Music class exceeds its cap by several people, the professor continues to interact closely with students.
Institutions like Brown University and Williams College vary in their approach to the enrollment process and in the degree to which over-enrollment is a problem.
Similar to Dartmouth, Brown utilizes an online enrollment system in which caps cannot be exceeded without explicit permission from a professor.
"All of our students register online, and we use Banner for our registration," Lisa Mather, an associate registrar at Brown, said. "We can set enrollment limits for our courses, and once those get reached, students cannot register for the course unless they get specific permission."
Until 2007, all course applications were completed on paper, making it difficult to enforce the limits, Mather said.
The use of an electronic procedure that requires professors' consent for over-enrollment enables the university to handle course election more efficiently, Mather said.
At Williams College, the enrollment process begins with a pre-registration period during which students can register for classes with no assigned caps, according to associate registrar Mary Morrison.
Caps are set later in the process, and professors can then review the lists of students and determine who "gets to over-enroll," she said.
This period is followed by a "mid-enrollment" interval during which students can attempt to enter specific classes again. About 40 percent of students are dropped from courses after the pre-registration period.
"Class size has become more of an issue, and over-enrollment has become more of an issue," Morrison said.
However, over-enrollment at Williams does not interfere with students' ability to graduate, according to Morrison.
"We don't really have situations where students aren't able to find the courses they need to complete majors or requirements," she said.
