Students itching to head home for the long-awaited Thanksgiving break have at least one imposing hurdle to jump beforehand: the pre-registration process.

The procedure involves a wide range of moving parts, requiring students to juggle time slots and curricular requirements.

On the system level, MyAccess is embarrassingly lackluster and is missing key course information. The current website makes a feeble attempt to aggregate critical information in one convenient hub for students. Each course listed in the MyAccess catalog includes a course name, class size, meeting time and location. But many listings do not provide class descriptions or textbook information.

It is difficult to select a course based on title, time, class size and professor name alone. Without detailed course descriptions, students can be forced to make an almost blind decision without the necessary information to decide on the classes best for them. As a result, students rely too heavily on add/drop periods, an opportunity for class experimentation under tight time constraints. If all classes came with in-depth course descriptions, students could preempt some of the early-semester anxiety during pre-registration.

Providing students with clear, convenient book lists on MyAccess would streamline the process; a change would allow them to compare bookstore prices to those of other vendors – not to mention alleviate financial concerns. Much to our chagrin, MyAccess does not make book lists readily available during pre-registration. Rather, book lists are held off until the last minute, often leaving students in a scramble to get their texts before classes get under way.

But the shortcomings of pre-registration are not confined to website protocol. Many students are unaware that the pink carbon paper forms they fill out at the end of each semester are intended to contribute to a professor evaluation system set up by GUSA. The results of all the evaluations are, theoretically, compiled into a database accessible through the Office of the Registrar’s website.

But still, the database’s page is more like a labyrinth than it is a user-friendly resource. The evaluations are intended to be a tool to help students weigh their class options. But the database cannot achieve that purpose if it sits in a dark, forgotten corner of the registrar’s site. Moreover, even if you find the database, the evaluation results are presented in an overwhelming spreadsheet.

Instead of intimidating students with a document that is longer than some novels, GUSA should work with the registrar to create a more efficient and navigable system. Students should be able to locate the database quickly from the main registrar site and then search the results for specific professors.

While it may be difficult to compile solidified course descriptions, syllabuses and book lists prior to pre-registration, preliminary listings would better equip students to choose their classes. The university has a responsibility to the student body to take on this arduous but necessary task.