Psychology majors face struggles when registering for classes

A large number of psychology majors and small class sizes make it difficult for these students to register for classes.

Upon returning from a fall semester abroad, junior Hilary Rushton, a psychology major, was only able to enroll in one upper-level psychology class for the spring semester. Because the number of students is much greater than the number of spaces open in classes in this department, sophomores and juniors have to compete with seniors to get a place in more advanced courses, Rushton said.

This chain of events can lead to seniors having to take most of their upper-level classes during their last year, she said. The problem is sometimes complicated further because certain classes are only offered one semester of the year. It can come to the point where a student has a one-shot chance of getting into a class, Rushton said. Rushton's faculty adviser, Andrew Newcomb, is worried whether she will be able to get in all of the classes that are required for her major, she said.

Beth Crawford, the chairwoman of the department of psychology, agreed that registration had been a challenge for the department for the past few registration cycles. The enrollment of students studying psychology has fluctuated over the years for reasons that were not easy to predict or control, she said. Three years ago, psychology classes were being canceled because the spaces were not filling up, she said.

For next year, the psychology department has raised the capacity level for almost all classes, Crawford said. It has also added courses to create more available spaces at the 300- and 400-levels to accommodate students and attempt to reduce registration difficulties.

When faculty members have to teach more classes, they end up mentoring fewer students in the psychology labs, Crawford said. This year, the department expects to graduate 52 majors, of which 44 have done at least one semester of mentored research, she said. It is a balance between trying to accommodate as many students into classes as possible while still allowing each student the same academic opportunities.

Contact online assistant Rebecca Wilson at rebecca.wilson@richmond.edu