It’s time to register for classes and your registration day is pretty late as compared to your friends and classmates that haven’t made the Dean’s List three semesters in a row like you.
Students with high GPAs should be entitled to priority registration over students with lower grades. These students have demonstrated hard work academically and deserve a reward for excelling in school.
The question that comes to mind is how exactly does California State University, Stanislaus assign registration dates to each student every semester?
According to Enrollment Services, registration dates are determined by seniority and completed units.
The only students currently entitled to priority registration are Promise Scholars (students from foster homes who need financial, academic and personal assistance throughout their college career), veterans and disabled students.
A student’s GPA is not even considered in registration appointments. Grades are too important of a factor to not be included in this criteria.
It is not fair that students with low GPAs can receive earlier registration dates than those who have great grades. The students that are slacking are taking up seats in classes that honors students miss out on because of later registration dates.
Other universities, like California State University, Chico, have incorporated this idea into their registration process for their honor students.
It is a great way to reward the students that have worked hard to attain academic excellence.
“I think that sounds like a good idea,” Sydney Riley (junior, Biological Sciences) said. “My sister goes to Chico and she’s in the honors program there.
“All of the honors students have priority registration so she always gets the classes she needs, but in return she has to do an honors thesis at the end of her program and she has to take extra classes. So it’s like an incentive, but she is definitely rewarded.”
With priority registration as a reward, students will try harder to get better grades. The possibility of getting first dibs on classes as a result of good grades would help push students to achieve just that.
“It would make it easier to get out on time,” Riley said. “So it would definitely be an incentive to keep your grades up.”
On the other hand, it might not seem fair to some people that students with higher grades get priority. Students who are struggling academically can argue that it’s more important for them to pick classes first because they obviously need to pass the class with a better understanding of the subject.
“The students who are currently struggling in school are going to continue struggling because they will not be able to get into the classes they need if higher GPA students are filling up the classes,” Cynthia Palomares (junior, Kinesiology) said.
Still, students with higher GPAs have shown consistency in working hard in all of their classes.  If students are struggling to maintain their GPAs, then they obviously have had trouble in multiple classes.
Ever since our days in grade school, we have been rewarded for good grades either by a teacher or by our parents.  Even though getting a Dean’s List certificate is always nice, I feel that this change in registration would be a more appreciative gesture.
This reform is not to discourage those who aren’t excelling, but to give students a beneficial reward for succeeding.   Although I am advocating change in the registration process, seniority, disability and Promise Scholars should remain unchanged criteria.
Upperclassmen should still get the first registration dates over underclassmen, but students with the highest GPAs within their class level should have priority registration.
Getting good grades has its rewards, so make grades the ultimate goal and someday they may lead to priority when picking classes.