Registration, major declaration updated

As of last year, Pacific offers an online way to add and drop classes. Prior to last April, students filled out paper applications for course registration and later adding or dropping of classes. The program was a huge hit among incoming and returning students this fall.

One of the most important benefits of being able to add or drop classes online is that it permits students to do so themselves without the authorization of any faculty or staff, given they meet the standard requirements or prerequisites for said course.

This is all possible so long as it takes place before the Friday prior to when classes start. If a student wishes to drop a course online after this date, they may do so electronically. If they wish to add a class, they must first receive written permission via signature from the professor of the course. This means a trip to the registrar’s office to pick up an “Add/Drop” form, following the process of the past.

“It is a success,” said Registrar Anne Herman. “We look to continue using it in the future.”

New and returning students can select their courses online in the spring, which are available through Boxer Online.

For years, the registrar’s office has been the place to go when determining a major, but this is no longer the case. When declaring a major, students now go through the Advising Center Director, Gretchen Potter.

She considered the new declaration process a success and said, “There’s always room to improve, if there’s a problem we will work to sort it out and find a better way of handling things.”

Potter expressed enthusiasm regarding how the program was running and explained how things have changed from years past.

Returning students will remember that they were required to fill out three different forms, which were sent to two different offices in order to declare their major. The new program simplified the process and is far more efficient for both the faculty and the student body. Now, only one paper is required and it goes through Potter in Bates House.

Potter said, “I can only see it going farther.”