Registering for classes was not an easy task this semester. Scheduling for the spring semester has always been difficult but this year has more students vying for what seemed to be fewer classes.
Each department has to go through a selection process trying to place certain classes in different time slots, scheduling the teachers almost as much as the students. Some classes are only offered once every spring and some are on a tri-semester rotation. It may not be easy to create a schedule, but there are some interesting classes in the various departments through out the school.
Cabrini offers a liberal arts education to all students, whether they have majors or not. To fill the requirements of the liberal arts program students must take certain classes to fill the core and distribution requirements. The core requirements consist of competencies in English, math, science, IST, and foreign language. A student must take classes to fill both these requirements and the requirements of the major. The distribution is there to fulfill the goal of each evolving into a liberally educated person.
The history and political science department offers at least eight different introductory classes for non-majors. Every class the department offers is open to all students; there are no majors’ only courses. So even though there is not a lot of variety, there are a lot of classes for the average student.
Some departments do not offer classes for non-majors. The education department is offering more classes this semester than last but none can be taken by anyone other than education majors. This makes it easier for the department to offer more classes, and that makes getting classes as a student easier.
Other departments offer a lot to students trying to fill the core, and end up leaving their majors searching for the classes needed to graduate. The English and communications department is like this. Majors are sometimes left searching for the credits they need to graduate while a non-major sits in an English class just to fill their distribution.
The psychology department offers six different classes to fill distribution credits. Three of which are introductory level courses; all are already full. The others are 200 and 300 level courses.
The end result of the distribution of the core courses is that some senior and junior students are being closed out of their classes, which are required for them to have for their major, while other non-majors are registering to merely fulfill their core requirement.
