With the end of the semester finally in sight, UT students are currently scrambling to register for classes. Each year, students face the same rush to simultaneously reload a page at a certain time while typing in a plethora of complicated unique numbers in hopes that by the time they finish typing, their next class won’t already be taken. 

The University of Texas needs to adopt a new registration program, such as the Enterprise Information Systems enrollment service used at Texas A&M that requires one button to register an entire class.

UT’s registration system is time-consuming and extraordinarily stressful. Because of how easy it is to type incorrect numbers or fill in classes in the wrong order, these mistakes could mess up a student’s entire upcoming semester, and in some extreme cases, graduation dates. Additionally, students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, such as myself, often find the unique numbers portion of the process unnecessarily difficult.

Government freshman Melina Olivas has already experienced full classes, last choice professors and genuine stress over her registration.

“It feels like a free-for-all and nobody knows what’s happening,” Olivas said. “Since it takes longer because we have to put in the unique numbers and stuff, sometimes all the courses that I need are taken, and the only classes that will fulfill that credit are only open to certain majors. It’s like, ‘Oh, well I need this, but it took too long to make a list of all of the unique numbers that I wanted.’”

However, registration is not nearly as difficult at some colleges as it is at UT. Brittany Stair, A&M student and communications freshman, said her experience with A&M registration has been nothing but easy and at times, fun.

“We have a thing called a registration worksheet where we can take classes and then add them to a sample schedule that we want,” Stair said. “Once your registration worksheet is approved by an adviser, you can just click (to) add on all of the classes at once on your registration worksheet to register.”

And that’s it. Before registration, you fill out a registration worksheet, it’s approved by an adviser, and then you click one button per class at a designated time and it’s done with. No unique numbers, no refresh page, no lists of classes you might need if your unique number took you too long.

Kathleen Harrison, the communications manager for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, said in an email if students are frustrated by any of UT’s services, they are welcome to use Texas One Stop and Ask Bevo as resources.

“The launch of Texas One Stop, Ask Bevo and other online resources are part of the strategic updates we have been making to bring upgraded technology to our students,” Harrison said. “Future updates to our student systems are being planned and reviewed across the institution.”

While gathering student input is important, it is up to UT to frequently review how it conducts registration. Because registration is a massive stressor that often collides with a busy part of the semester and can put students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage, UT must adopt a better system. 

Gomez is a journalism freshman from Lewisville, Texas.