No-drop classes at GTech

I see some of these in the Mechanical Engineering curriculum. What is the rationale? Why these classes?

I’m speculating, but the ME major at Tech is one of the most popular majors and I suspect that having people drop core required courses makes it difficult to ensure that everyone in the major has a chance to graduate on time. There are only so many slots in those classes each semester and if someone drops a class they will enter the next semester/year needing to retake it, which means fewer spots available for the students coming up behind them. Registration for classes at Tech is based on hours, so the students who dropped a class would often have more hours and priority over younger students for those spots. So if a lot of people in the class ahead of you drop the class and need to retake it, there is suddenly not room for you to register so that you can stay on track to graduate, which isn’t really fair.

Thank you.