Illusion of Class Registration

I want to start my post with apologizing for it being late. I could come up with some excuse, like I was just so traumatized by the bomb threat or I’m not going to be manipulated into doing something on time. But really I just forgot, sorry. Today all the sophomores picked their classes for next semester. This is always an extremely stressful process. Everyone wants to get into the same easy classes and ends up scrambling when they don’t get in. My biggest issue with this is the show that Hamilton puts on about it. On the tours you always hear about the open curriculum and how this gives you so many different options. This is supposed to be one of the great defining characteristics of Hamilton. So why does it feel like I have no options every time I go to register? You need a prerequisite for this class, this one has 20 spots but only 2 for juniors, and this one is only offered for specific majors. It’s such an illusion of choice. You’re supposed to be able to learn whatever you want in college, but really it’s limited to those certain classes that the college has chosen. And there are so many limitations that you really don’t have many choices at all. Another illusion here is the fact that you have so much time to take a lot of different classes. At my first advisor meeting I was told I had 32 classes to take while here, and it sounded like so many. I remember being worried I would run out of easy classes to take. When you factor in going abroad, your major, maybe a minor, and maybe pre-med or pre-law requirements you don’t get to chose any of your classes anymore. For my last semesters here at Hamilton I will be able to pick 1 class, all the others have been decided for me by requirements. I chose to do this, so this is fine, I’ve accepted it. However, it is completely unfair that we market our school in a way that gives people such an illusion of choice when there is very little choice at all.