Course election will open at 7 a.m. rather than 8 a.m. on Feb. 7, according to an email to the student body sent by the Office of the Registrar on Jan. 17. The time change will go into effect for spring course election and will also apply to course election in future terms, as well as add/drop period.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, Registrar of the College Eric Parsons wrote that the primary reason for the change was to “avoid overstressing our systems.” According to Parsons, faculty and staff typically begin to log into the DartHub and Duo security authentication systems by 8 a.m. That, compared with the influx of students logging in for course election, causes strain to the system, which occasionally results in crashes.
Parsons wrote that a course election start time of 7 a.m. would allow students to select courses without competing with faculty and staff who are also using the system, which will hopefully keep the system from crashing.
He added that another reason for the change was to allow students currently enrolled in 8L or 8S classes to select courses before they must go to class.
“Moving the time to later in the day isn’t an option, as that would be a distraction for students who are enrolled and have courses at that time,” Parsons wrote. “Dartmouth faculty members do not want students missing class or disrupting class in order to complete their registration.”
Lauren Kayari ’25 said she recognizes that this time change may be helpful for students who have drill for language classes at 7:45 a.m., but that an 8 a.m. add/drop time does not otherwise interfere with scheduled classes for most students.
Kayari and Julia Banuelos ’27 said that they have experienced system crashes during add/drop and have found them to be frustrating after waking up so early.
Banuelos said she found the crashes to be highly stressful because all students are rushing to pick their classes before the available slots fill up, so any delay could mean all slots are filled up by other students.
However, the new times for course selection and add/drop may be more difficult for students not located in Hanover, Kayari said. She noted that she had to wake up at 5 a.m. to participate in add/drop during her off-term in California in the fall, which would be even more difficult to do going forward.
“When I’m on the East Coast, it’s not going to be as big of a deal because it’s only an hour,” Kayari said. “But [on] the West Coast, I think that’s going to be a little bit more of an issue because getting up at 4 a.m. to pick classes is not very ideal.”
Marco Dumsky ’27 said he believes that changing course election and add/drop times to an earlier slot will not affect student athletes as much. As a member of the men’s baseball team, Dumsky said he is used to early morning wakeups, as the team conducts daily practices that sometimes start as early as 6 a.m.
Dumsky said that he believes that the change will be harder for students who are not athletes, as they are not used to such an early wake up.
The other option discussed by the Office of the Registrar was to have course election and add/drop begin at midnight, as was the case before 2020. Parson said that their decision to move it to the 8 a.m. time slot in 2020 was “well received from students, as well as faculty and staff.”
The time was made in 2020 to allow staff and advisors to be “available for students when selecting courses,” according to Parsons.
Banuelos, however, said she believes that having course registration open at midnight would be more convenient for herself, as well as many students.
“Most college students are already up at that time, and therefore, it would be more accessible for more students,” Banuelos said.
Parsons wrote that the Office of the Registrar is “committed to hav[ing] staff available” at 7 a.m. during course election and add/drop to answer questions from students and help with any technical difficulties that may arise.
Correction Appended (Jan. 27, 1:25 p.m.): A previous version of this article stated that students expressed frustration over the earlier start date for course election and add/drop. The title has been updated to reflect that the time for course election and add/drop has been moved up, not the date.
