Thirty-seat classrooms filled with up to 100 students on the first day. Students starting the semester with six units, desperately trying to get to the minimum 12. Lines at computer labs as students repeatedly check to see if just one spare seat has opened up.

The beginning of the semester should be a time when students ease back into school. Instead, too many are merely starting to figure out how their schedule will look as a result of an antiquated and ineffective registration system.

Sure, WebReg, a part of Student Link on the UA Web site, has replaced the even worse RSVP as a system for students to add the next semester's course load to their schedules, but because of departments electing to bypass the system and use their own methods, the problem is exacerbated.

Granted, it's understandable why so many departments, such as political science, journalism and the Eller College of Management elect not to use WebReg. Despite its capabilities, WebReg in its current form presents several deficiencies. It basically works as a free-for-all for anyone allowed to register. It doesn't enforce pre-requisites to courses or even make sure students are in the correct major. Departments have no way to make sure their own students have seats.

The UA administration has failed to address the fact that, because of WebReg's shortcomings, there is no rigid method for adding courses. And more importantly, there is no university-wide policy for wait-listing students for courses, one that gives each UA student an opportunity to see where their chances lie to actually get that last class they need.

What's odd is that Student Link is otherwise such a capable tool. It's archaic to sell ourselves with the notion that Student Link, a system that now has the capability of telling students how many times this month they've purchased lunch from Chick-Fil-A versus Panda Express, doesn't have the ability, if implemented correctly, to offer an adequate and uniform wait-list policy for adding classes.

University of California, Los Angeles uses its Student Link equivalent to wait-list students, giving students a clear understanding not only of their chances of getting into a class prior to the start of a semester, but a clear vision of which classes might be worth crashing and which ones not, pending their wait-list positions. University of California, Berkeley has a similar system implemented as well.

While we cannot eliminate the simple fact that we have shrinking resources to handle a growing student population, we need a system that allows students to see where they stand when registering for classes, not one that creates more uncertainty.

Opinions are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Evan Caravelli, Brett Fera, Caitlin Hall, Ryan Johnson and Jesse Lewis.