By Matthew Muir | Staff Writer
Baylor University students collectively make thousands of schedule changes over the course of each semester, especially during the first few weeks of classes.
Baylor’s office of the registrar keeps statistics pertaining to adding, dropping or being waitlisted for classes. Hannah King, associate registrar for business operations and analysis, provided statistics for each of the most recent fall and spring semesters.
In each of these semesters, nearly 3,000 Baylor students made changes to their schedule during the first five days of classes. These changes included adding, dropping or moving onto or off of the waitlist for a class. The statistics also showed more than 2,000 total dropped classes each semester from the sixth class day to the 50th class day, which is the last day to drop a class without failing a course.
Brazoria senior Griffin King made schedule changes during both the first five class days and later in the semester during his time at Baylor. Griffin King said one of those changes occurred around the 50-day mark in the semester when he dropped a math class to preserve his GPA and retake the course for a better grade.
“It wasn’t a great learning environment— not to say I wasn’t to blame too,” Griffin King said. “I made a C-something on the first test and then the second test was another C. I didn’t want to make a C in the course.”
Griffin King’s situation is not uncommon. Hannah King said university records show spikes shortly before the twelveth class day, which is the last day to drop a class without it being marked on a student’s transcript, and before the 50th day.
Griffin King said his other schedule change came earlier in the semester when he dropped one elective in favor of another.
“If I recall correctly, there was an opening in another class,” Griffin King said. “I’m not clear on which one it was but it was much more appealing.”
New Orleans senior Rutger Fury also said that he has made schedule changes during a semester.
“One time I added an Air Force class in the first week of school and I did it because I wanted to try out the Air Force,” Fury said. “It was like an ROTC course but not affiliated with ROTC.”
Fury also said he dropped a cycling course during the first week of class, describing it as “too heavy of a commitment” for him to take at that time.
Griffin King sees the ability to drop a course as a useful tool for students to take advantage of.
“If you’re in a really intensive major that requires lots of hours in few semesters, then perhaps it would be better to stick it out and tank the C, but otherwise just roll out,” King said. “Exhaust all the resources possible… if you’ve done all that and it comes down to it and it’s ‘I’m going to make this terrible grade or I’m not going to pick up my minor because of it,’ just drop it.”
Fury also said that in some situations, dropping a course can be the right thing to do.
“No shame at all – it’s a smart move,” Fury said.
