<p>My son is a junior at a prestigious medium sized university, no need to name the specific university right now. As a junior he was supposed to be able to register this past weekend for next semester's classes ahead of the sophomores and freshmen. However, the registrar made a mistake and my son was unable to register with his class.</p>
<p>In fact, he was aware of the registrar's mistake last week, in plenty of time to fix it. He made numerous attempts to correct it through the registrar, but was ignored until after the weekend, when his class had already registered. On Monday the error was corrected (probably in about two minutes) and he was told that he can register in a few more days, after all of the current students are done, which means that he will not get his choice of classes. Obviously, for a senior, this presents possible serious problems as it can delay his graduation and/or he may miss out on opportunities to take specific classes. </p>
<p>He has now tried to get some reasonable solution from the registrar and has been totally rebuffed. Their arrogance has been amazing. They have actually accused him of seeking "preferential treatment," when it is clear that he only wants fair treatment. </p>
<p>They are basically saying "Even though it was our error, and even though you told us about it in time to correct it, we chose to ignore you so tough luck."</p>
<p>Is there anything we can do to get some fair play from the university? If the registrar chooses to just ignore my son, is there any way to persuade him to listen and compromise. Is there any way at all to get his attention and get him to take this seriously? Can we go over his head? If so, who do we contact? What would we say?</p>
<p>Any suggestions at all about how to get this rectified would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Have him go to his advisor and see if they can register him or guarantee him places in the classes which he needs. Advisors usually can override the parameters set by the registrar.</p>
<p>I am so sorry. At some schools, a professor can override closeouts. Your son might want to try that. It might be helpful if he took with him emails showing that registrar screwed up.</p>
<p>have him create his schedule asap. go to his advisor asap. have a timeline of events. do NOT wait to registor. go above regitrars head. as a senior he has earned this right. if you go in with a plan, and go to the top, it should work out.</p>
<p>If this happened to my D I would advise her to send an e-mail to the advisor and the dept. head as suggested above. Explain the problem and the steps she had taken. I would forward the paper trail cited in post #3. Good luck! Pls. update us how things turned out.</p>
<p>I am so sorry to hear this happened I unfortunately had a similar situation occur. I would suggest what the others have suggested. Print out any emails, evidence, etc. and print out an unofficial transcript showing his credit hours (since they will be significantly more than sophomores/juniors it will show he should have had priority).</p>
<p>At my school the director of undergraduate advising for my department handled all of these requests. Unfortunately the registrar is almost always useless. At my large university the registrar advisors/representatives have no idea what they are talking about and just regurgitate policies. I would go directly to the department/his advisor and explain the situation. IME, as long as fire codes are not exceeded, then the student is capable of getting into a full or closed course. If that doesn’t work I would try directly emailing the professors teaching the sections of the class he needs to get into. Typically professors are understanding of the situation and can start an unofficial wait list or pull some strings and get the student enrolled in the class. If you bring emails showing a professor grants admission to the class, there is really no reason the student shouldn’t be allowed to register. Talk with the department directly and I’m sure he will get the classes he needs. If all else fails, the dean’s office is also a resource.</p>
<p>Talk to the professors. Most of them will let you sit in on the class, and put you at the top of the list for adding the class when kids start dropping.</p>
I unfortunately had a similar situation occur. I would suggest what the others have suggested. Print out any emails, evidence, etc. and print out an unofficial transcript showing his credit hours (since they will be significantly more than sophomores/juniors it will show he should have had priority).</p>