ACC is extending a course waitlist option to all departments beginning with fall 2012 registration.

While many courses already have or are adding waitlists, the option will remain at the discretion of the individual departments. Faculty can check with their department’s administrative assistant to find out whether their courses have a waitlist.

“Several departments have worked together during the past year to successfully implement waitlisting,” says Dr. Kathleen Christensen, vice president of student success and support systems. “Waitlisting has provided a more equitable and systematic process for students to register for high-demand classes, and we’re pleased to be able to offer this option collegewide.”

As students register for classes through Online Services, they can add themselves to a waitlist when a course is full. They are added on a first-come, first-served basis, and the list is capped at eight students.

As registered students drop the class and a spot becomes open, waitlisted students are notified via ACCmail. Emails are sent automatically at 5 p.m., and students have until midnight the following day to register. If the student fails to register, the next student on the list is emailed. Students can remove themselves from waitlists for classes they no longer want. They cannot waitlist more than one section of the same course.

Open seats are filled from the waitlist during regular registration only. Waitlisting ends with regular registration, and any student can register for open seats during the add/drop period.

ACC’s course schedule indicates sections that have waitlists. For example, a class with 36 enrolled students and a capacity of 36 will appear as 36/36. Courses with waitlisted students will appear as 36/36/4 (36 enrolled/36 capacity/four students on the waitlist). Sections that do not offer waitlisting will retain the current format (36/36).

Waitlisted students will appear at the end of an instructor’s roster with a “w” as their status. When the waitlist is cleared at the end of regular registration, the waitlisted names disappear. Waitlisted students do not appear on Blackboard class rosters.

Faculty should direct students wanting to register for full classes to Online Services to add their name to a waitlist as applicable.

Administrative assistants involved in the pilot say phone calls from students wanting to be squeezed into a class have declined dramatically since waitlisting was introduced.

“Waitlisting is a great benefit for students and staff,” says Gillian Waterston, senior administrative assistant for the Computer Studies & Advanced Technology Division. “Luck and constant monitoring of the schedule are removed from the equation. From an administrative standpoint, there is very little to do as the student adds themselves to the waitlist and then concludes their own registration process.”

For more information about waitlisting, visit ACC’s Waitlist webpage.