Students registered for Professor Kathleen McNamara’s Inventing Europe seminar next semester will be faced with a dilemma about a week into spring semester: should I stay or should I go? Is this class for me or would I be better off switching into a different one? The only problem is, Prof. McNamara’s class will have met only once before the add/drop period ends, leaving the students with little to base their decision upon. Classes begin on January 7, but students only have until January 16 to add or drop courses, an all-too-short eight-day shopping period. The solution to this problem is simple. Georgetown’s current add/drop period should be extended so that it lasts for a period of two weeks to ensure that every class meets at least twice.
The current eight-day add/drop period often doesn’t give students enough time to accurately gauge their interest in the class and the quality of the professor. It’s especially bad for once-a-week classes that meet on Tuesday and Wednesday like Prof. McNamara’s seminar that will have met once before add/drop ends, forcing students to make their decisions based solely on a class period filled with a dry course overview, a syllabus synopsis, and awkward name games. Lectures and discussions, which enable students to make an informed choice about the class, usually don’t begin until the second meeting. By ensuring that every class has met twice before add/drop ends, students can better decide whether or not it’s something they want to take. Even worse, it’s not unheard of for a class to still not have met by the end of the add/drop period due to a variety of circumstances, such as a professor’s schedule. Extending the period lessens the chance that a student will choose a class blindly.
Georgetown would have good company if it gave students a longer add/drop period; many other colleges of our caliber allow students to add or drop a course without penalty for up to two weeks, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, George Washington University, and American University.
Recently, Georgetown received the dubious distinction of being ranked the fourth most expensive college in the country, with tuition for this school year amounting to more than a whopping $37,000, or around $3,700 for a typical three-credit course. With prices like these, the administration should at least make sure students are able to get the most possible bang for their buck by choosing courses they actually want to take—and all that’s necessary is the addition of another couple days to the add/drop period.
