If you’re new to UCLA this year, congrats. You were one of almost 150,000 applicants and they picked you. The number one public university in the country wanted you. Go ahead, it makes sense to feel special. I admit, I felt special too.
Until I had to enroll in classes.
As a wide-eyed freshman, it was the most cut-throat, heart-attack inducing, brain short-circuiting thing I’d ever done. It still is. You don’t really get any better at it. But I don’t think that’s really the fault of us students.
For those of us who’ve been on the enrollment rollercoaster for a couple of quarters now, we know that UCLA’s Class Planner isn’t exactly user-friendly. It resets every time you want to look at a new class. You can’t sort by classes with open seats. And it’s not equipped to handle the amount of traffic it gets during enrollment. Staring at the cursed loading screen, waiting to enroll and experiencing violent heart palpitations is a UCLA rite of passage.
Technical issues aside, enrollment at UCLA is hellish for another reason: enrollment appointments. In an attempt to be fair, enrollment times are randomized in each grade level based on the amount of units a student has taken. This system indirectly prioritizes those who can afford to take more units a quarter, regardless of whether or not they do well in them. For some students, a part-time job or their mental health prevents them from taking more classes. By no fault of their own, they risk getting a later enrollment time. They risk not getting the classes they need.
It’s the exact situation I’ve been experiencing for four quarters now. Last year, when I was picking classes I’d take as a junior, I had an enrollment time the same as some freshmen. Despite knowing that they wouldn’t help me, I reached out to the Registrar’s Office. Their response was the same as what they say on their website. “I am sorry, but we are unable to assign an earlier, better appointment time.” Basically, if you have a concern, forget it. Enrollment times will not be changed unless they counted your units wrong. And what are the chances of that?
That enrollment, I didn’t get any of the classes I needed. When I asked the Political Science department for a Petition To Enroll code, they denied my request because it’s an impacted major. When one of the classes I’d managed to squeeze into was canceled, I told the department’s undergraduate counselor that all the other classes I needed were closed. All he said was to find one that was open. Or just wait.
Okay, so next step right? I drafted a letter to the chair of my department at the time. I made sure I was polite. I didn’t sound like I was complaining. I said that I was willing to work with them to improve my situation. I received no reply. I waited all summer just for the recognition of mine and so many other students’ plight. Nothing.
In the end, the only way I ever got in touch with someone was through an administrator at UCR. They helped me reach out to the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Academic Support at UCLA to try and help. But all she said was the same thing I’d been told a million times over. Take more classes. It seemed that no matter how many times I reiterated that I couldn’t take more classes if I couldn’t get into them, no one listened. Or maybe they listened, but they didn’t actually hear me.
I’m not alone in my struggles. Friends of mine have had to postpone declaring majors and even switch to others just to be able to get into better classes. During my sophomore year, my roommate couldn’t enroll in a class for her minor because the academic counselor hadn’t gotten around to updating her Degree Audit Report yet.
It seems that students who are paying thousands of dollars to go to the alleged premiere public university in the entire United States are being left in the lurch. Frankly, I’m shocked at the apathy I’ve faced from administrators. I’ve seen every type of reply except actual help or sympathy. Unfortunately, I don’t see a future in which things get better. UCLA keeps accepting more and more students. And just last week, they bought new land to accommodate even more. But if they can’t handle the amount they have now, how will they handle the extra students?
In my experience, they simply won’t.