Education Policy, Business and Technology

A Class Registration Bot Backfires

Inside Higher Ed: Registering for college classes can be a frustrating and stressful process for students. Many colleges and universities operate a "first come, first served" enrollment system that means latecomers for in-demand classes will either have to wait until the next time the course is offered or hope other enrolled students drop the class and free up spaces.

With competition for space so fierce, students need to be strategic. Some students stay up all night to be online the minute class registration opens, prioritizing more popular classes as their first choice to have a better chance of getting in. Others try to sweet-talk professors into giving them a spot in a class or allowing them to bypass restrictions on the number of students allowed in the course.

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