Rajan Tavathia
The MC counseling and administrative departments implement an efficient, annual procedure in order to accommodate the desired course selections for 2,000 students on campus. Many are unaware of what occurs behind the scenes during the period of course requests.
The online course request process enables all Sundevils to choose which classes they wish to be enrolled in the following year. Given the immense course catalog and flexibility extended to students at MC, this intricate process grows arduous for counselors at times. Preparations for the course request process begin in November at the Sun Center.
“The frustration for us is that we do not always have the funding necessary to offer the amount of seats in classes as we would love to,” MC counselor Kimberly Bronson said. “Problems arise when sections become full or if a class is only scheduled for one period of the day.”
Sun Center staff are not the only figures tasked with ensuring students are placed in the courses they request.
“Mr. Tubbs and Ms. Dargitz are both our schedulers. They work all summer long to create sections,” MC counselor Charmaine Ferrer said.
Tubbs and Dargitz create a conflict matrix in order to establish the class schedule.
“They run a conflict matrix, so when they build the master schedule, classes are formed so that the greatest amount of schedule requests can be met,” Bronson said.
The counseling staff emphasize that students following the instructions provided when inputting course requests can minimize extra work for counselors.
“There cannot always be a number of sections created to allow everyone who signed up to take a class to be enrolled in it, which is why entering in three alternates is extremely important,” MC counselor Husani Whitlock said.
The lack of inputting alternate elective choices on course requests is a common occurrence amongst MC students. Though many are unaware, failing to input alternate electives can lead to significant consequences. .
“Entering alternates is really important because otherwise, we are left to guess what a student may want as their backup choice, as it is not uncommon for a student to not be able to get their first choice elective,” Bronson said.
The counselors also point out that filling out course requests on time is extremely crucial.
“Students often wait until the last minute and forget to enter their course requests or fill them out completely, which can lead to huge problems,” Ferrer said.
Students will be able to request classes through Synergy on February 7, and have until April 1 to do so. Bronson, Ferrer, and Whitlock encourage all students who need support to visit the counseling course on Canvas, which holds videos and FAQ pages on course requests and AP classes.
