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Obviously, Gen-Ed Stands for Guess Everyone Needs Enrollment Distress

Jamie Caines
Yilan Yang
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Harvard chapter.

Why else would we have to wait until the end of Shopping Week to find out whether we got into that GenEd we wanted? Why else would we have to stress about the lottery?

I know a few people for whom the majority of the classes they were hoping to get into were GenEds. Yes, the GenEd system has been revamped. Again. But that doesn’t make it any less inconvenient. In fact, one of the Gen-Eds I shopped didn’t even have its first meeting until the enrollment deadline. How are students supposed to schedule all of their courses, sections, labs, extracurriculars, (and social life, if you’re like me and have literally no time for anything), if there is such a delay in figuring out if you made it into your desired course?

But wait, it gets better. Even more Gen-Ed courses this year were lotteried, meaning you have to wait and hope you get the lucky spot. Otherwise, you’re out of luck. (Imagine not getting into a class with a lottery capacity of 900 students. Yep, that happened for a lot of people this year.)

But it’s over, for now, I suppose. Until the spring. Let’s hope the lords of the lottery are nicer next semester.

Jamie Caines

Harvard '21

Jamie is a sophomore at Harvard studying Bioengineering, S.B. with a secondary in Computer Science. She is on the board of Harvard's Society of Women Engineers and can often be found dancing on campus, listening to music, working out, or honing her entrepreneurial skills at workshops at the Harvard iLab or in Boston.
I am a senior at Harvard College studying Applied Mathematics with a specialization in Economics, and I am planning on getting a language citation in Spanish. I am currently a co-president and campus correspondent of Harvard's chapter of Her Campus! I am also a committee chair of a student organization that works with University Health Services called HealthPALs (Peer Advisors and Liaisons). Additionally, I am a member and co-director of service in OAASIS (Organization of Asian American Sisters in Service). Apart from that, I spend a lot of my time as a Learning Lab Undergraduate Fellow at the Harvard Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. I am also the co-founder of a project at the Office of Diversity of Inclusion at Harvard. I am super passionate about math, health, and higher education! In my free time I love to work out, experiment with makeup and fashion, visit museums, and try new foods!