It was the Friday before Thanksgiving week. I was worrying about what to wear so I didn’t contract hypothermia on my way to Spanish class and trying to figure out who was going to be picking me up to drive me back home for break. I wasn’t worried about my classes for the spring semester. I had enough problems without adding course scheduling on top.
I had already registered, almost a month ago, on Halloween morning. The complete and utter panic that engulfed me that week had been banished to the back of my mind where it would stay until the next registration, or so I thought.
At 1:46 p.m., I received an email saying that my Intermediate Creative Nonfiction course (ENG 323) had been canceled, and I would be dropped from the class sometime that afternoon.
My immediate reaction: What. Just. Happened?
I scanned the rest of the email, which suggested a handful of other creative writing courses I could enroll in. They all ran from 1:15 p.m. to 2:35 p.m., meaning it was a time conflict for me.
I panic-ran from my last class of the day to Armstrong, where I sat for two hours searching the Miami University database for another course to enroll in to reach 16 credit hours. Nothing was working. I couldn’t enroll in a lower-level course because they were full, and I couldn’t enroll in other courses because I hadn’t completed the prerequisites.
I walked back to my dorm, wracking my brain for some hidden class I could slot into my schedule. I spent another hour angrily typing away on my computer. Finally, I came across Topics in Journalism Studies (JRN 310). It was an honors section, but luckily it required no prerequisites. It was also a class that would satisfy a requirement for one of my majors.
I registered for the class immediately, even though I didn’t know what it was about. My laptop screen reloaded, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched “Registered: 16” flash across the bottom.
I later asked my creative writing professor if she knew why the class had been canceled. Although she didn’t know the exact reason, she did mention a new Miami policy that stated the minimum number of students required for a class had gone from 12 to 15. At the time my class was canceled, 11 people were registered, including me.
Despite it being fairly obvious that the minimum enrollment wasn’t met, Miami did not attempt to notify enrolled students the class would be cut if no one else signed up. Additionally, Miami’s new policy on minimum class sizes isn’t posted anywhere for students to view.
I’m glad that registration worked out for me this time, but in the future, I’d appreciate a “heads-up” email.
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Shannon Mahoney is a first year student with majors in creative writing and strategic communications, and a minor in journalism. She is part of the editorial staff for Inklings Arts and Letters. She also works as a tour guide.
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