Two roommates sit on opposite ends of the room, the glow of their laptops illuminating their faces in the darkness of the morning. It is 7:29 a.m., and registration for classes for the spring semester is about to begin. Fingers are hovering over the refresh button, and eyes are darting to the clock in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The minute ticks by and a few minutes of furious clicking later, one roommate shuts the laptop. 

“Got anything?” one asks, barely looking up, facing a parade of “closed” classes on the screen.

“Nothing,” the other replies flatly. 

For students at Wake Forest, a scene like this has become all too familiar. 

Workday is a relatively new registration system at Wake Forest, debuting in the spring of 2024, and its reviews and results have been less than stellar. Despite being praised by the school as “user-friendly” and “efficient,” many students (and professors!) have found it far from helpful. 

Workday’s layout can be confusing and overly complicated for those familiar with the old system, the Wake Information Network (WIN). During peak registration times, the system often shuts down or presents a loading sign exponentially, making students miss crucial seconds while their needed classes fill up. Students must fight tooth and nail for spots in courses required for their majors, their graduation requirements and certain honors programs. 

Crux of the issue

The first thing Wake Forest is sure to boast about on campus tours is the benefits of its small class sizes. I can almost recite the speech about how the small classes “foster close professor-student bonds” and encourage “a stronger sense of community among students.” 

As cited on the Wake Forest admission website itself, “99% of undergraduate classes have fewer than 50 students.” 

But at what point do these facts and figures start to work against us? The crux of the issue may be the limited spots and times available for high-demand classes

I’m not saying small classes are bad. In fact, I love many of my small classes here at Wake Forest because they offer invaluable opportunities for in-depth discussion and the formation of friendships and mentorships. However, when a prerequisite, introductory level class or graduation requirement only has two course times listed with only 30 people allowed in each, the problem of small classes makes itself clear. 

Workday compounds this problem tenfold

Instead of providing students with the promised flexibility and ease, Workday is woefully problematic throughout the chaos of registration. The system isn’t designed to accommodate the thousands of students on the site and the many buttons you have to click to even view a class’s true availability. It is a complete waste of time. 

Workday reserves certain seats in classes required for majors and minors in that subject — which is not inherently a bad thing. However, while these spots are still unfilled, the course is listed as open. This leaves your average student who has not declared with no shot of getting in. 

This confusion can waste precious seconds during registration in an already cutthroat race for spots.

But this issue isn’t just organizational, it’s emotional. The afternoon following the chaos of registration, I headed to the Office of Academic Advising and met half of Wake Forest’s student population there. I spoke with some friends of mine who had meticulously scheduled out their four-year plans only to have Workday stomp all over them. The students I saw were frantic, anxious and hopeless. Many thought of switching majors to fulfill graduation requirements or taking four math classes to lose the title of “part-time student.” 

Many students leave registration feeling helpless because this system is not designed to help students succeed. For many, missing one critical class affects not only that one semester but could substantially set them back, throwing off their whole academic trajectory. Workday has turned registration into more than just a scheduling issue. Now, registration fosters a deep sense of powerlessness as students watch their control slip from their grasp. Students’ carefully laid out plans are now at the disposal of an unreliable system. 

Workday is not only bad for the students but for the professors of Wake Forest as well. 

Faculty have little control over the registration process as a whole. Professors have very little ability to help struggling students. Due to Workday’s convoluted waitlist system, professors have lost the ability to immediately add students to classes by overriding the system’s constraints. The process of adding a student to a class that they need has become a long bureaucratic ordeal instead of what should be a simple and stress-free process. Workday has turned registration from a nuisance into a logistical nightmare. 

It’s time to hit refresh

Now it’s not all doom and gloom. Workday can be fixed. It just needs help — maybe a lot of it — from the students, professors and administrators of Wake Forest. I believe this system could work well for Wake Forest’s campus, it just needs to be tailored to fit our population’s needs. 

A more transparent system is crucial for Workday to become a viable option. Students should be able to easily see if a class is full or reserved for specific majors. The current system’s opacity around this subject only serves to frustrate and confuse. 

Furthermore, more autonomy and freedom should be granted to the professors. Wake Forest has to trust its faculty to understand a student’s specific situation and make a decision to override the system and allow the student into the class. Workday is not a person, and it can never fully weigh the complexities of student life, but a professor can. 

But change has to happen outside the system too. 

Wake Forest should consider offering more class sections for high-demand courses, especially those crucial in popular majors or requirements for honors programs or graduation. I do not mean to wipe out all small classes but instead offer perhaps slightly larger ones for must-take classes. If this is not a feasible solution in all cases, offering more sections of the important courses would allow for smoother registration processes while maintaining the integrity of small classrooms.

Of course, these are just a few possible solutions. I’m sure the students and professors — who know the system’s flaws better than anyone since they experience them first-hand — have more insight and concerns that I have not touched on. So, I would also encourage an anonymous feedback survey so that multiple voices are considered, and the best system for everyone is created.

Improving the registration process at Wake Forest requires some work from everyone but this is important work that needs to be done. At the end of the day, registration shouldn’t be an intolerable pain but instead a necessary evil.