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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!cbosgd!mark
From: mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: net.college
Subject: Re: C.S. Department woes -- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Message-ID: <1290@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Apr-84 22:39:53 EST
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.1290
Posted: Thu Apr 19 22:39:53 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Apr-84 07:03:18 EST
References: <787@druxj.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 31

Hey.  I attended three different universities: the University of Southern
California, UW-Madison, and Berkeley.  I can categorically state that,
when it comes to administrative procedures (such as registration), UW
is by far the best I have ever seen.  The registration process is (or
at least was in 1978) amazingly well run.  It's completely interactive.
You walk around to the departments where you want classes, and if there
is room, you are put on the list, your form is validated, and you're in.
Right there.  No waiting for weeks to see if you got in the class.  No
camping out overnight to get class cards.  You can't start registering
until you have your reg form, which you get on Monday if you're a senior
or grad student, Tuesday for a Junior, etc.  This gives priority to the
upper class without anybody waiting in any long lines.

One nice side effect of this is that people only register for the classes
they want.  None of this "well, I better register for my 5th and 6th
choices in case I don't get one of my first 4" stuff.  Overregistration
fills up the class fast so that others can't get in.  Then 1/2 of the
students drop out, many because they got some other class they really wanted.

When I went to UCB I was appalled at the registration process.  I almost
went out and bought a rubber stamp with my name, address, phone number,
and whether this info could be given out; I must have had to fill that
out on 20 separate cards and pieces of paper EACH QUARTER.  Not to mention
the fact that at UCB a TA must pay his fall tuition by the begining of
August (classes start in late September) but his first paycheck doesn't
come until November 1 (if somebody hasn't screwed that up, but that's
another story).  I mentioned how well run things were at UW.  They said
"well, sure, but UCB is a big school".  Funny, UCB has 25,000 students.
UW has 40,000.

	Mark