Registration, Logged on

The Office of the Registrar has finally entered the Internet Age. With the introduction of online registration this year, the registrar has eliminated the old registration process, a process which was costly and unnecessarily aggravating. And while there is more the registrar can and should do, the office should be commended for establishing online registration.

When Barry Kane came to the Office of the Registrar, he promised to start online registration here, as he did at Yale a few years ago. The transition makes sense for several reasons. First, online registration is much more cost-effective than in-person registration. Online registration eliminates the expense of paying for retired teachers and others to oversee the process; it also gets rid of the high cost of paying workers to stuff almost 10,000 envelopes, and saves those same people from the extreme tedium of such a task.

Most importantly, online registration is more convenient for students. Undergrads can now register at their leisure, instead of feeling like cattle herded through Sever Hall. There was no important reason to have students register in person, and thankfully the transition has been made.

However, some tweaks are needed. With the new online system, students must still print out study cards to get professors’ signatures for the classes requiring them. If students subsequently change their schedule, they must print out another card and collect the signatures again. This problem could easily be remedied. Instead of requiring signatures, the registrar should instead create a website allowing professors to approve students to take their classes.

The Registrar should also embrace other online tools. For example, students should be able to add/drop courses online. This would simply be extending the convenience of online registration further.

Additionally, the Registrar should allow students to request transcripts online. While students have access to their academic records online, this is not sufficient. Transcripts are necessary for job applications, internships, and scholarships. By requiring requests for transcripts in writing, the Registrar is creating an unnecessary obstacle for students. Furthermore, security concerns could be easily addressed by requiring undergrads’ Harvard IDs and PINs. Students at other colleges already have the ability to ask for transcripts online, and there is no reason Harvard undergrads should not.

The Office of Registrar has taken a step in the right direction by creating online registration. Now, it should continue to allow students to do more and more online, thereby reducing costs and making students’ lives just a little easier.