Starting this semester, all Pitt-students have a wait-list option while trying to enroll in classes.

According to UPJ Registrar Christian Stumpf, the wait list is a new feature.

“The system is being implemented through all Pitt campuses,” Stumpf said. “When students are doing online registration, if a class they want is full and there’s still room in the wait list, they can put themselves on the wait list.”

According to the Pitt University’s Registrar Office website, the wait list option is available only when all seats in a class have been filled and the section closes.

“When a class search is performed to include these closed classes, users will notice a yellow triangle beside classes that have available wait list seats.”

Stumpf said students would be notified of an opened seat via their campus email address.

“It’s an automatic process,” he said. “If a student who is already enrolled in that class drops it, the system pushes down the number one person on the wait list into the class and an automatic email is generated to the student who was on the wait list.”

According to the website, seat numbers depend on the enrollment capacity of the class.

“If classes have an enrollment capacity between 10 and 19, then there are 10 wait-list seats are available. For Classes with 20 or more seats, 20 wait-list seats are available.”

The website also said that, when a student does not meet the criteria to enroll in the class, the next student is to be selected on the wait-list.

After students resolved an issue that prevented them from being auto-enrolled previously, they have opportunities to be auto-enrolled the next time a seat is made available.

According to the website, students are encouraged to use a ‘swap’ feature.

When the intended class time conflicts with another scheduled class, the student is to be automatically enrolled in a non-conflicting section.

“Students can remove themselves from a wait list by dropping themselves from the wait listed section in a self-service enrollment within the add/drop period.”

Nikka Patterson, a pre-nursing sophomore, said she likes the new feature.

“I think that the (waitlist) is a great idea. It helps people out a lot,”  Patterson said. “When we don’t have the wait list, you have to go on there every day, keep tracking and wait till someone drops the class. But now, it is so much easier.”

Patterson also said she had spent three weeks trying to get into the Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 course last semester.

“I went to the Registrar’s office and they fixed it (class enrollment) for me,” Patterson said. “I’m taking it (Anatomy and Physiology 1) now, but it took me a long time to get in.

“It would help me out more this semester because there was an American history class I was going to take this semester and I couldn’t get in to it because there were way too many people and, by the time someone dropped out, it was too late.

Carly Fecik, a biology sophomore, said she likes the new feature, too.

“I think it is good, because as opposed to keeping track to see if a class is open, you know you are on a waiting list, so you have a chance getting in.

“I haven’t had the problem yet because all my classes were general education, and they have a lot of those classes,” Fecik said.

Students can place themselves on a wait list for up to eight credits, according to the university registrar’s website.

Fecik said she questioned whether the credit limits for wait-listings are necessary.

“I think that’s stupid,” said Fecik. “I don’t understand why it matters how many credits you are waiting for.”