October 10th, 2002 | The lowdown by Janet Cheng

The Archaic Academic World

The week before classes officially begin is typically known as "Freshers Week" where all the freshmen get a chance to join societies (clubs as we call it in the United States), find out more information about campus, party party party, and register for classes.

When I visited my home department to see my tutor (ie: counselor) the secretary asked how we registered for classes in the States. When I replied, "By computer," she laughed and sent me off with a "good luck." I had no idea what I was in for.

Apparently, students here still register with paper forms. Their home department (their major) chooses out two-thirds of their classes and the rest are deemed electives, where students may choose to take two classes not related to the home department. During the Academic Fair (the first few days before registration and during registration) students may visit each department's table and sign up for their electives. Then the whole process of actually registering kicks in and you realize how much time you've actually spent in the queue.

After frantically rushing around to the four different departments in which I wished to take classes, I was finally able to get the go-ahead to register. I walked down to the Sports Centre to join the queue. After waiting about five minutes, I asked a volunteer whether I was in the right line or not. Thank goodness, because I was actually in the wrong line. I joined the queue to pay fees before I register and then I hopped ahead to the main queue.

The registration card given to students is a perforated section of your registration document. Students bring in their own passport photo and in the queue, volunteers cut these photos down to size. Then you turn in your forms and the registrars (I'm beginning to think they are just random people pulled from the street) tear off the card, stick on your photo with regular tape and then laminate it. The card itself won't fit into your wallet and is so flimsy it probably won't even withstand the wear and tear of being put in one's pocket.

Nonetheless, I finally finished my registration after only one hour and spent the rest of the day wandering around campus and shopping down in the City Centre. My flatmate registered the next day at 9:00 and she spent about five hours in the queue!

If you ever plan on studying abroad in England, especially Leeds, be prepared to brave the mess of students in the Sports Centre who also do not know where they are headed. The whole process is inefficient, but I am proud to say that I survived!