03-17-94 Wait List Added to BRUTUS

WAIT LIST FEATURE IMPROVES SCHEDULING FOR OHIO STATE STUDENTS

     COLUMBUS -- Another giant step has been taken toward
resolving the "closed course" problem at The  Ohio State
University.

     A wait list feature has been added to BRUTUS, the
university's computerized registration system.  Beginning with
scheduling for spring quarter, students who are denied admission
to requested courses because of lack of space in the classes may
choose to be placed on a waiting list.

     When spaces become available -- through drops by enrolled
students or the addition of extra seats by the department, BRUTUS
automatically runs through the wait list and matches the waiting
students with the appropriate classes.  Students are then
notified that they have been admitted to the class.  This
eliminates the need to petition instructors, travel from section
to section looking for an opening, or constantly call BRUTUS to
see if someone has dropped the course.

     The wait list is the second major enhancement to BRUTUS this
year.  The first was a system to give priority to students who
had been closed out of a requested course in the previous
quarter.

     University Registrar Gene Schuster said that students should
see a marked improvement in scheduling.

     "Both enhancements to the registration system should make a
tremendous difference," he said.  "They should ease student
anxiety concerning closed courses.  The central wait listing
facility can replace the efforts of departments or individual
faculty members who have tried to run their own wait lists.
Furthermore, the university will now have a much better idea of
exactly how much demand there is for a course and can plan
accordingly."

     As of Monday (3/14), some 3,600 spring quarter students had
already been moved by BRUTUS from the new wait list and into the
classes they sought.  The wait list is active until the end of
the first week of classes, so that as students drop classes
others can be added from the list.  Those who do not make it off
the wait list will be given priority next quarter if they request
the course.

     In winter quarter 1994, 80 percent of undergraduate students
were scheduled into all of their requested courses.  Schuster
estimates that the wait-list feature will improve this figure to
about 95 percent for spring.  These figures to compare to a 70
percent rate at the height of the closed course problem in 1992.
                                #

Contact: Gene Schuster, University Registrar, (614) 292-1556.


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 17 Mar 1994 09:55:17 -0500 (EST)]
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