Have you tried turning it off and on again?

As if there weren’t enough waiting and wishing in life, SSOL now has features that let you do both. For classes that is. Julia Goodman chronicles her attempt to use the new Wish list and sort-of-new waitlist features.

Okay, log into SSOL. Shit, what did I just change my password to? Oh, got it. Click on “Registration,” I assume…has it only been a semester since we’ve done this? How do I manage to completely forget how to do this every time? Good, “Continue with Spring 2014 Registration.” Anyway, let’s see what happens when I try to register for my English seminar. I can’t because it’s not a registration time for me, but there is a blue panel with a button that says “Add Class to Wish List.” Click.

Now this class is on my Wish List, which means absolutely nothing except that when I finally can register, I won’t need to enter the call number again—I can just click a button on the home page of the Registration section of SSOL. Right now, there’s no button, just a box that says “WaitList Available.” When I can register, if the class is full, I will still be able to put myself on the Wait List. The process for a student to get from a waitlist into a class is a little more helpful, according to this email we got a couple days ago from Barry Kane. Not according to the experience I remember from the beginning of this year, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Supposedly, each time a student drops the class, the first person on the waitlist is automatically registered for it. This will happen, but you have to make sure your status says you are on the waitlist. “WaitList Pending” means you are soon to be added, but are not yet on the list. Once you get on the waitlist, you will also be able to see how many people are on the waitlist with you (but not your position on the waitlist; that would be far too easy).

And that’s about all I can do until it’s my turn to register. Just a helpful hint: this system isn’t replacing the old one. Even if you’re not on the waitlist, you can still be added to any class if you get the right signatures—usually from the professor teaching the class and the head of the department it’s in. This generally involves flattering and begging, rather than attempting to cheat a Kafkaesque numbers game. The wish list is your friend, but only if the real people ignore/reject you should you put your faith in the waitlist.

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