Reflections on round three of registration for Fall 2023 (#1226)

Topics/tags: Registration, data, unedited

Round three of registration for Fall 2023 finished a few days ago. At some point soon, we should be moving on to round four [1,2]. What’s there for me to do? I should look at the end-of-round-three data, right?

It seems that the course offerings report isn’t quite accurate. For example, it lists my CSC-151 as having -7 seats available and a capacity of 24. The course does have a capacity of 24, but it was temporarily dropped to six, which is done to reserve 18 seats for incoming first-years. I wonder if I’ve been misreading the course offering report this whole time. I also wonder what’s going on with the report. And I wish that it also showed us how long the wait lists are. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

I note that SOC/GWS-395, Gender-Based Violence, remains significantly over-enrolled. I wonder if the goal was always to have it capped at twenty or twenty-four. I can’t tell which it is, since GWS-395 is listed as ten over capacity and a capacity of 14, while SOC-395 is listed at ten over capacity and a capacity of ten. Yeah, something is definitely going wrong with the reports.

Are there any newly over-enrolled courses? Let’s see … PHI-131-02? Not new. CSC-151-01? New, but not quite accurate. (See above.) CHM-221-02? Not new. ENG-227-01, American Literary Traditions I? Newly over-enrolled (by three students). PHE-100-47? Now new. PHY-132-01? Not new. However, it’s less over-enrolled. Strange. CHM-221-03? I don’t think this was previously over-enrolled, but the other sections were. It is now marked as Balanced. I thought we weren’t balancing anymore. Strange. PHY-131-03? Not new. ART/FMS-225? Still over-enrolled. CHM-221-01? Still over-enrolled, but now by one rather than three. It’s also marked as balanced. CHM-221L-03? I wasn’t keeping track of labs. I’m still not keeping track of labs. EDU-295-01? Previously over-enrolled. PHE-100-18? Still over-enrolled.

One new over-enrolled class! All the rest seem similar enough. On to the full courses.

Wait a second! Excel seems to have eaten my spreadsheet of filled classes. Damn. Have I mentioned that I hate computers? And I hate Microsoft? Oh well, I’ll estimate as I go.

I suppose I’ll combine old and new data, doing my best to indicate which round courses filled in.

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In American Studies …

• AMS-130-01 (round 3), Introduction to American Studies. There seem to be six slots preserved for incoming first-year students. At least that’s what I get if I use the search courses utility and then combine data. There’s also a waiting list.

In Anthropology …

• ANT-260-01 (round 3), Language, Culture, and Society.
  
• ANT-291-01 (round 2), Methods of Empirical Investigation.

In Biological Chemistry …

• BCM-262L-01 (round 2), Introduction to Biological Chemistry Lab.

In Biology …

• BIO-251-02 (round 2), Molecules, Cells, and Organisms w/lab. Section 1 has two slots. Section 4 has six slots. Section 3 has 15 slots.
  
• BIO-295-01 (round 3), ST: People in Biology. I’m excited about this new course. I’m glad that students seem to be, too.
• BIO-325-01 (round 1), Fungal Biology. This filled in round 1, but now has a slot. However, it’s marked as closed, so I’m listing it here.
• BIO-366-01 (round 1), Immunology. This filled in round 1, but now has two slots available. However, it’s marked as closed, so I’m listing it here.
• BIO-368-01 (round 2), Ecology w/lab.
• BIO-380-01 (round 2), Molecular Biology w/lab.
• BIO-395-01 (round 2), ST: Medical Genetics.

In Chinese …

• CHI-195-01 (round 3), ST: Introduction to East Asian Animation. Sounds exciting. Also cross-listed in East-Asian studies.

In Chemistry …

• CHM-221-01 (round 2), Organic Chemistry I w/lab.
• CHM-221-02 (round 2), Organic Chemistry I w/lab.
• CHM-221-03 (round 3), Organic Chemistry I w/lab. As I mentioned earlier, these three sections were balanced.
• CHM-221L-01 (round 2), Organic Chemistry I Lab.
• CHM-221L-02 (round 2), Organic Chemistry I Lab.
• CHM-221L-03 (round 2), Organic Chemistry I Lab.
  
• CHM-363-01 (round 2), Physical Chemistry I w/lab.
• CHM-363L-01 (round 2), Physical Chemistry I Lab.
• CHM-363L-02 (round 2), Physical Chemistry I Lab.

In Classics …

• CLS-255-01 (round 3), History of Ancient Greece. It took three rounds for an MC class to fill? Wow! Cross-listed in History.

In Computer Science …

• CSC-151-01 (round 3), Functional Problem Solving w/lab. If we’d limited this to the six returning students that we normally cap it at, I think this would have filled in round 1.
• CSC-161-01 (round 2), Imperative Problem Solving w/lab.
  
• CSC-161-02 (round 2), Imperative Problem Solving w/lab. I think we have room for students, since we don’t tend to hold spots for first-years. So this may be a falsely full course.
• CSC-207-01 (round 2), Object-Oriented Problem Solving, Data Structures, & Algorithms).
• CSC-207-02 (round 2), Object-Oriented Problem Solving, Data Structures, & Algorithms).
• CSC-208-01 (round 2), Discrete Structures (also listed as MAT-208-01).
• CSC-213-01 (round 2), Operating Systems and Parallel Algoithms w/lab.
• CSC-213-02 (round 2), Operating Systems and Parallel Algoithms w/lab.
• CSC-281-01 (round 2), Learning from CS Alumni.
• CSC-301-01 (round 2), Analysis of Algorithms.
• CSC-301-02 (round 2), Analysis of Algorithms.
• CSC-324-01 (round 2), Software Design and Development w/lab.
• CSC-395-01 (round 3), ST: Algorithms, Society, and Ethics.

In Digital Studies …

• DST-154-01 (round 3), Evolution of Technology.
• DST-295-01 (round 3), Digital Project Development and Practice. This course sounds exciting! I’m glad to see it filled.

In East-Asian Studies …

• EAS-195-01 (round 3), ST: Introduction to East Asian Animation. Also cross-listed in Chinese.

In Economics …

• ECN-240-01 (round 2), Resource and Environmental Economics.
• ECN-280-01 (round 2), Microeconomic Analysis.
  
• ECN-280-02 (round 3), Microeconomic Analysis.
  
• ECN-282-01 (round 3), Macroeconomic Analysis.
  
• ECN-286-01 (round 3), Econometrics.
  
• ECN-286-02 (round 2), Econometrics.
  
• ECN-295-01 (round 3), ST: Behavioral Economics. I’ve heard that Behavioral Economics is an exciting new area. I’m surprised it took until round three to fill.
  
• ECN-326-01 (round 3), Financial/Managerial Accounting.

Did none of the Econ seminars fill? Strange [3].

In Education …

• EDU-101-01 (round 3), Educational Principles in a Pluralistic Society.
• EDU-101-02 (round 3), Educational Principles in a Pluralistic Society. I think we’re holding six slots in each section for incoming first-years.
• EDU-102-01 (round 3), Introduction to Participant Obsevation in Schools. It’s good to see Jonathan Larson back at Grinnell.
• EDU-295-01 (round 2), Special Topic: Mapping Racial Trauma.
• EDU-301-01 (round 3), Teaching & Tutoring Writing. Ooh! A course with Tisha Turk. Fun! Cross-listed with the Writing Lab.

In English …

• ENG-120-04 (round 3), Literary Analysis. It looks like the other three sections have many spots available. It also looks like there are five or so spots in each section reserved for incoming first-years.
• ENG-205-01 (round 3), The Craft of Fiction.
• ENG-206-01 (round 3), The Craft of Poetry. I know that Ralph is moving to SFS. Is this the last time he’s teaching this course?
• ENG-227-01 (round 3), American Literary Traditions I.
• ENG-295-01 (round 3), ST: Anthropocene Fictions.
• ENG-395-01 (round 2), ST: History and Future of the Book. Maybe Erik will offer this again when I’m next on leave in Grinnell. Or when I’m retired.

In Environmental Science …

• ENV-120-01 (round 3), Environmental Challenge and Responses.
• ENV-125-01 (round 3), Introduction to Earth System Science w/lab.
• ENV-125L-02 (round 2), Intro to Earth Systems Science Lab.
• ENV-145-01 (round 3), Nations and the Global Environment. This always fills, doesn’t it? And it has a capacity of 40. David Campbell is a compeling teacher. Ah! I see that they’ve left 10 slots for incoming first-years.

In Film and Media Studies …

• FMS-255-01 (round 2), Fundamentals of Video Production. Also listed as ART-255-01, in Studio Art.

In Gender and Women’s Studies …

• GWS-243-01 (round 3), Epistemic Injustices. Cross-listed with Philosophy.
• GWS-395-01 (round 1), ST: Gender-Based Violence.

In Global Development Studies …

• GDS-111-01 (round 3), Introduction to Global Development Studies. It looks like there are six slots for incoming first-years. It also has a waiting list of five students. Balancing those populations is hard.

In History …

• HIS-212-01 (round 3), Democracy in America: 1789–1848.
• HIS-232-01 (round 3), Medieval Europe, 400–1400.
• HIS-255-01 (round 3), History of Ancient Greece. Cross-listed with Classics.

In Humanities …

• HUM-120-01 (round 2), Introduction to Material Culture Studies. Cross-listed with Social Studies (SST).

In Mathematics …

• MAT-115-01 (round 3), Introductoin to Statistics. Cross-listed with Social Studies.
• MAT-115-02 (round 3), Introductoin to Statistics. Cross-listed with Social Studies.
• MAT-208-01 (round 2), Discrete Structures. Also listed as CSC-208-01.
• MAT-215-02 (round 2), Linear Algebra.
  
• MAT-316-01 (round 3), Foundations of Analysis.
• MAT-321-01 (round 3), Foundations of Abstract Algebra.

In Music …

• MUS-100L-01 (round 3), Introduction to Music Studies Lab. I think there’s another section.
• MUS-120-14 (round 3), Performance: Piano. I think there’s another section.
• MUS-203-01 (round 3), Rhythmic Exploration.
• MUS-208-01 (round 3), Music, Mind, & Brain.

In Peace and Conflict Studies …

• PCS-295-01 (round 3), ST: Introduction to Mediation.

In Philosophy …

• PHI-102-01 (round 3), Symbolic Logic. About seven slots are reserved for incoming first-years.
• PHI-111-02 (round 3), Introduction to Philosophy.
• PHI-111-03 (round 3), Introduction to Philosophy. About six slots in each section are reserved for incoming first-years. There are two additional slots available in section 1.
• PHI-121-01 (round 3), Philosophy for Life.
• PHI-121-02 (round 3), Philosophy for Life. About six slots in one section and five in the otehr are reserved for incoming first-years.
• PHI-243-01 (round 3), Epistemic Injustices. Cross listed with Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies.
• PHI-295-01 (round 3), ST: Philosophy & Colonialism.

In Physical Education …

• PHE-100-18 (round 2), Beginning Racquetball.
• PHE-100-19B (round 3), Rock Climbing.
• PHE-100-22 (round 3), Swimming Technique.
• PHE-100-36A (round 3), Indoor Cycling Plus Core.
• PHE-100-47 (round 2), Fishing.
• PHE-100-48 (round 3), Yoga.
• PHE-200-01 (round 3), Organization & Administration of Athletics.
• PHE-235-01 (round 3), Psychological Foundations of Sport.

In Physics …

• PHY-131-02 (round 2), General Physics I w/lab. Now I understand how these filled so quickly and why they are over-enrolled. As in the case of CSC-151, these have a lot of spots reserved for incoming first-years.
• PHY-131-03 (round 2), General Physics I w/lab.
  
• PHY-132-01 (round 2), General Physics II w/lab.
  
• PHY-132L-01 (round 2), General Physics II Lab.
• PHY-232-01 (round 3), Modern Physics w/lab.
• PHY-232L-01 (round 3), Modern Physics Lab.
• PHY-335-01 (round 3), Electromagnetic Theory.
• PHY-462-01 (round 2), Advanced Laboratory.

In Policy Studies …

• PST-220-01 (round 3), Foundations of Policy Analysis. Cross-listed with Political Sciences.

In Political Science …

• POL-101-01 (round 2), Introduction to Political Science.
• POL-101-02 (round 3), Introduction to Political Science.
• POL-101-03 (round 2), Introduction to Political Science. Now that I realize that we’re getting bad data from the system, I find myself very confused by Political Science. It looks like there are zero returning students in section 1, four in section 2, and two in section three. Did Polisci reserve all of their slots for incoming first-years? If so, that’s something advisors should have known in advance.
• POL-220-01 (round 3), Foundations of Policy Analysis. Cross-listed with Policy Studies.
• POL-262-01 (round 3), African Politics.
• POL-352-01 (round 2), US Foreign Policymaking Process.

In Psychology …

• PSY-214-01 (round 2), Social Psychology w/lab.
• PSY-222-01 (round 2), Industrial Psychology.
• PSY-225-01 (round 3), Research Methods.
• PSY-231-01 (round 3), Sensation & Perception w/lab.
• PSY-317-01 (round 3), Personality Psychology w/lab.
• PSY-348-01 (round 2), Behavoral Medicine w/lab.
• PSY-395-01 (round 2), ST: Neural Basis of Consciousness.
• PSY-395-01 (round 3), ST:Neural Basis Consciousness.

In Religious Studies …

• REL-295-01 (round 3), _ST: Rel, Race, & Evangelicism

In Science …

• SCI-125-01 (round 3), _Intro to Earth Syst Sci w/lab

In Science, Medicine, and Society …

• SMS-154-01 (round 3), Evolution of Technology.
• SMS-295-01 (round 3), ST: People in Biology.

In Sociology …

• SOC-240-01 (round 3), Social Movements.
• SOC-252-01 (round 3), Animals and Society.
• SOC-285-01 (round 2), Contemporary Sociological Theory.
• SOC-291-01 (round 2), Methods of Empirical Investigation.
• SOC-295-01 (round 3), ST: The Sociology of Law.
• SOC-295-02 (round 3), ST: Environmental Sociology.
• SOC-360-01 (round 3), Work in the New Economy.
• SOC-395-02 (round 3), ST: Social Network Analysis.

In Social Studies …

• SST-115-01 (round 3), Introduction to Statistics. Cross-listed as MAT-115.
• SST-115-02 (round 3), Introduction to Statistics. Cross-listed as MAT-115.
• SST-120-01 (round 2), Introduction to Material Culture Studies. Cross-listed as HUM-120-01.
• SST-125-01 (round 3), Introduction to Geographic Information Systems.

In Spanish …

• SPN-395-01 (round 3), _ST: Caravans, Gangs, Drugs

In Statistics …

• STA-209-01 (round 3), Applied Statistics.
• STA-209-02 (round 3), Applied Statistics. Section 3 has 2 seats.
• STA-230-03 (round 2), Introduction to Data Science. Section 1 has 5 seats, and Section 2 has 8 seats.
• STA-310-01 (round 3), Statistical Modeling.
• STA-310-02 (round 3), Statistical Modeling.

In Studio Art …

• ART-111-01 (round 3), Introduction to the Studio.
• ART-111-02 (round 3), Introduction to the Studio. There’s still space in section 3. I’m glad to see that there are also slots reserved for incoming first-years.
• ART-134-01 (round 3), Drawing. Didn’t this fill in round 2? I assumed it did. And it’s another course that has some reserved seats for incoming first-years. It also has a waiting list of eight. We need more studio art courses/faculty! [4]
• ART-238-01 (round 3), Painting.
• ART-255-01 (round 2), Fundamentals of Video Production (also listed as FMS-255-01).

In Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies …

• THD-102-01 (round 3), Intro to Dance Technique.
• THD-195-01 (round 3), ST: Stage Mgmnt Show Control.

In the Writing Laboratory …

• WRT-301-01 (round 2), Teaching and Tutoring Writing. Cross-listed in Education.

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Where do we stand for nearly-full classes? I’m still tempted to say, You can analyze the data as well as I can, and leave it at that. But it shouldn’t take me much work to list the numbers, if not the names.

With one seat remaining: ANT-104-06, ART-240-01, BCM-262-01, BCM-262L-02, BIO-325-01, CHM-358-01, ENG-332-01, ENG-395-01, FRN-303-01, MAT-317-01, MUS-213L-02, NRS-495-01, PHE-100-19A, PHE-100-24, PHY-132L-01, SPN-320-01, and STA-340-01.

I hadnt realized that there are six sections of ANT-104, Anthropological Inquiries. It looks like there are six slots in each section reserved for incoming first-years. Most sections (other than section 6) have about nine open slots.

With two seats remaining: ANT-221-01, ANT-290-01, ART-111-03, BIO-251-01, BIO-325L-01, BIO-366-01, BIO-366L-02, BIO-390-01, CSC-151-02, CSC-151-03, GWS-211-01, HIS-202-01, HIS-271-01, HIS-314-01, HIS-335-01, MAT-218-01, MUS-120-02, MUS-120-08, MUS-120-11, PHE-100-05, PHE-100-26, PHI-111-01, POL-320-01, POL-356-01, PST-320-01, SPN-295-01, SPN-343-01, and STA-209-03.

Wow! That’s a lot.

With three seats remaining: ANT-395-02, ARB-295-01, ART-242-01, CSC-341-01, EAS-295-01, ECN-374-01, ECN-375-01, ENG-121-01, ENG-207-01, ENV-125L-01, GLS-295-01, GWS-111-03, HIS-295-01, HUM-101-01, HUM-295-01, MAT-220-01, PHE-100-23, PHY-131-01, PHY-232L-03, REL-226-01, SOC-111-05, SPN-105-01, and THD-195-02.

With four seats remaining: ALS-122-01, ART-315-01, CHI-101L-01, CHM-129-02, CLS-231-01, ECN-236-01, FRN-313-01, GWS-111-01, HIS-268-01, LIN-114-02, MAT-215-01, MAT-218-02, MUS-120-16, MUS-120-42, PHE-100-25, PHI-102-02, PHI-231-01, PHY-456-01, PSY-113-02, REL-268-01, and THD-110-01.

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Are there things that puzzle me in all this? I’m puzzled that ANT/BIO-220, Racing Through Genetics, is still open, with surprisingly many slots available. It’s rare that you can get a course taught by faculty across disciplines (Anthropology and Biology, in this case). It’s rarer still that you can take a course taught by such excellent faculty.

I’m frustrated that the report page doesn’t clarify how many slots are actually available for returning students and how many are reserved for incoming first years. We need that information for advising. At least I need that information for advising. Maybe I’ll put in a ticket to get a revised report. I should ask about wait lists, too. I did discover that the very tight cap on Introduction to Political Science [5] is documented on the policy page; I need to read that more carefully next time. We need our cap of six returning students per fall section of CSC-151 documented better.

I discovered that I’m easily confused, especially when I’ve been on leave. I kept seeing Jennifer Shook listed in Theatre [6], and, for some reason, I confused her with the Jennifer Snook in Sociology.

I learned about some new special topics courses. In the past, I scanned through the list of special topics courses to see what new things were happening at the College. I didn’t do so this year, probably because I’m on leave. Possibly because I’m too busy with all the other aspects of registration. But I saw enough interesting special topics that I should make a point to starting doing so again next year.

I see that some departments are in as bad shape as CS. We have all our 200- and 300-level courses full, except for two slots in CSC-341 [7]. Psychology has all their 200- and 300-level courses full, except for five slots in PSY-260-01, Cognitive Psychology w/lab. As far as I can tell, Sociology only has one upper-level course open, with 13 slots in SOC-270-01, Gender and Society. If there are other departments in similar situations, I’m sure my readers will let me know.

Am I done with this season of musing on registration? Perhaps. We’ll see if my muse calls me back to this subject.

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Postscript: Now that I’ve discovered that I misunderstood some of the data , I’ve added disclaimers to my earlier musings.

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[1] Round four officially opens at 7 a.m. on May 1.

[2] At present, a message says something like Fall ’23 Registration, Round 1, will open shortly. Sorry for the delay.

[3] I’ve been writing Strange a lot, haven’t it? I suppose that makes sense; many things about Grinnell are strange.

[4] Sam is a broken record.

[5] Six slots total, across all sections.

[6] More precisely, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.

[7] You remember the long name, right?

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Version 1.0 released 2023-04-30.

Version 1.0.3 of 2023-04-30.