Throughout this last summer, I worried about what classes I should take during my first year at Notre Dame. But now that I am here, I am left to worry whether or not I even have a choice. The freshman class registration system is seriously flawed in many respects. (I exclude other classes' registrations because I am not familiar with them; that does not mean they are not as equally insane.)

I like to consider myself a realist. I know not everyone can be perfectly happy with their schedules, but that shouldn't mean that some students have to be miserable. I was one of the unfortunate souls who was scheduled to sign up on Dec. 3 at 4 p.m. As I frantically searched for open classes — any classes — I began to realize how absolutely terrible my spring semester was going to be. I am currently facing the prospect of having all my academic classes on the same three days (which wouldn't be so bad if I actually wanted to take those classes).

My point is: Why should I, and other students like me, be penalized by some asinine class raffle simply because the First Year of Studies program is not creative enough to come up with a just system?

Now I don't claim to have all the answers, but there has to be a better way. Perhaps students could register in intervals of two classes at a time so as to allow a more equitable distribution of the courses. I'm not sure what the solution is, but then again, I'm not being paid to come up with an answer.

One would imagine that for the average yearly tuition of $34,900 the University should be able to accommodate our academic aspirations. I certainly don't plan to pay $60 a class for courses that I didn't even want to take. I doubt much can be done to make matters better for us freshmen, but for the sake of classes to come, I hope the First Year of Studies program gets its act together.

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