Overcrowded classes limit options for students

Author: Adam Dede

Overfilled classes have left many students scrambling for second and third choices in course selections. This is due, in large part, to the size of the class of 2011, and although the long term recommendation of the Strategic Plan to add 25 more faculty members will help as current first years move through Middlebury, the current tightness has caused problems.

"As soon as we knew that the fall class was going to be big, we knew we had to address it," Dean of Faculty Susan Campbell said.

According to Campbell, the difficulty is that her office did not know the size of the incoming class until the summer, which, in the academic community, is very late to hire new faculty members. With last minute efforts, Campbell was able to add classes in English and American literatures, Spanish, economics, psychology and math.

"We're lucky that we have some talented colleagues who live in the area," Campbell said.

Even with the College's efforts to add classes and faculty, the registration squeeze has left many students frustrated.

Jeronimo Riefkohl '11, for example, has been shut out of International Politics in both the fall and spring semesters. Riefkohl's spring semester registration has also left him shut out of a Spanish film class and an Islamic history course. Currently he is taking French, Greek Philosophy and Environmental Science.

"I couldn't find a fourth class that I wanted to take," Riefkohl said.

Riefkohl suggested that Middlebury should adopt a registration system similar to Stanford University's in which students are given a certain number of points to effectively bid for the classes they want. Thus, if a student wants a certain class he will put a large portion of his points on that class, while possibly sacrificing his chances to get into other classes.

Some have also suggested that faculty should simply allow more students into already full classes, an idea Campbell sees as a step in the wrong direction.

"We don't want to increase class sizes if we can help it," Campbell said. "Class size influences both student experience and faculty work load."

Instead, Campbell is working to hire more faculty to provide for the needs of the swollen student body.

"Next year, the number of faculty will be five larger than it is this year," Campbell said. "We'll continue to try and add new courses where we need them."

Campbell said she hopes to have Strategic Plan of 25 new faculty positions implemented in five to seven years.

Some students, however, will likely still face problems, especially in smaller departments, such as Arabic, geology, and environmental studies, which have been growing in popularity and pose a challenge for Campbell when hiring new faculty.

"There just aren't many people in Vermont qualified to teach Arabic," she said.

Kristoffer Williams '11, who attempted to get into both Conservation Policy and Nature's Meanings, was another student left scrambling for schedule substitutions, but, in his case it was all for the best.

"I feel like even though I didn't get the classes I wanted I ended up taking classes that I really like, which I never would have thought of taking before," Williams said.

Even with the current scheduling difficulties, however, it is likely that by next year most issues will have been taken care of with new faculty hires, provided the class of 2012 is kept to within reasonable bounds, an issue Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett is currently grappling with.

"It's interesting, this is kind of an admissions perfect storm in some sense," said Clagett, who went on to explain that with Harvard and Princeton dropping their early decision programs and many colleges taking loans out of financial aid packages the admissions yield will be hard to predict.

Clagett also noted that this year's applicant pool is the largest the College has ever seen and the most well qualified. Normally, these factors would cause a lower yield, but last year's high percentage of matriculating students proved that predictions can be wrong. Clagett views the high yield as a good long-term sign for Middlebury.

"It's a tremendous credit to Middlebury that we had an increase in our yield last year," said Clagett. "It would be great if we got the same yield as last year again, and it would speak volumes for what Middlebury represents."

This year the admissions office is preparing for the possibility of another high yield by admitting 250-300 fewer students.

Clagett also noted the likelihood that the wait list will be utilized in filling out the class of 2012.