Waking up at 6:45 a.m. is not particularly fun in most circumstances. The excitement level is not helped by the rationale behind the lost hours of sleep being course registration on a newly introduced website, but this past week, students begrudgingly set their alarms to do just that. Although Workday theoretically has an easier user interface than past course registration techniques, the general annoyance at its newness and initially clunky navigation has not helped its public image.
Both faculty and students alike seem to be struggling with the new system, despite the copious amounts of help sessions offered by the Registrar’s office. Many faculty members admitted to being frustratingly unfamiliar with Workday’s system as registration approached, and they attempted to help students navigate it or answer questions. One department’s somewhat sassy email provided a list of classes that would likely be offered in the spring of 2026 to help with fall registration plans, saying it was “not by our choice, I assure you” that the full year listings had not been made available.
It appears that very few rising seniors, who had the earliest registration window, had trouble getting into the classes they needed. Their biggest annoyance, after figuring out how to navigate the system, seems to have been selecting classes while abroad due to potential time differences. Rising juniors struggled more with getting the classes that they needed. Based on numerous conversations, humanities students seemed to have better luck than S.T.E.M. students getting the classes they need. One biology major I spoke to only got one out of four of his first-choice classes. The only class he was not waitlisted for was Organic Chemistry, which is one of the College’s large lecture classes with three sections of roughly thirty-five students each; despite this, many others who are required to take the class for their major were placed on a waitlist. This student, after being placed on the waitlist, frustratedly turned to one of his many backup “Saved Schedules,” a helpful feature in Workday that allows the user to create multiple class lists in case one is full.
For rising sophomores, who had the last pick of students currently on campus, the proportion of students who got all, or even half, of their first-choice classes seems to be even lower. In the group of current first years that I spoke to, the humanities versus STEM divide remained, with the STEM students having a harder time getting into their required classes, preventing them from fulfilling necessary prerequisites.
In discussion with advisors, however, many students were assured that the College would do its best to accommodate and allow students to take the classes they need, just not necessarily on the timeline they may want. For example, many students look to fulfill their natural lab requirement before their senior year, but this year, rising juniors anxiously watched the lower-level labs fill up, turning to their professors, who assured them that they would get a lab in their senior year. The College does want to continue to have students graduate on time, after all.
The “first come, first served” Workday system coincides with other academic changes, such as the elimination of the Economics Minor starting with the class of 2028 (for students class of 2028 and younger, Economics will only be available as a major due to high demand for those classes). We are also seeing the continuation of the College’s housing crisis as adapted spaces and forced living situations continue to be prevalent, as well as the ongoing dining struggles.
The College recently boasted on its Instagram page that a “record-breaking 20,144 students applied to Colby” with a seven percent acceptance rate for the class of 2029. As our community continues to grow, its resources are being forced to grow as well. Keeping the rates of these two growths equal seems an increasingly important and challenging task.
– Charley DiAdamo `27
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