For some students, scheduling for Spring Semester has been an additional source of anxiety associated with the semester switch.
The two courses Maggie Frankenberg, a fourth-year in psychology and Spanish, needs to complete her degrees are only offered at one conflicting time. She said she never had a scheduling issue like this one on the quarter system and is worried she might not be able to graduate on time with both majors completed.
“I’m really close to finishing both of them,” she said. “I just don’t want to sacrifice all the hard work I’ve done so far.”
Frankenberg met with a psychology adviser who recommended that she change her Spanish major to a minor, she said.
“My huge potential conflict is do I continue on with my Spanish education, or do I just settle for the minor and graduate on time?” Frankenberg said. “I just don’t want to spend more time or money as an undergraduate.”
Despite students’ potential scheduling conflicts, advisers in the College of Arts and Sciences have seen the same number or fewer students in their advising office compared to when the university was on the quarter system, said Mary Ellen Jenkins, assistant executive dean for Arts and Sciences advising and academic services.
The advising group in the College of Arts and Sciences “feel that it is no harder (for students to schedule) than before,” and think “it just might take a bit longer since students have to schedule more classes at a time,” said Libby Eckhardt, spokeswoman for the College of Arts and Sciences, in an email.
“In the past, advisers were typically booked for appointments two to three weeks in advance, and that is holding true this semester as well,” Jenkins said. “Our walk-in hours have not been as busy as they were under quarters, but we expect that to pick up.”
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college at OSU. About 80 majors, almost 40 departments and more than 2,000 faculty and staff are housed within the college.
However, many more students have scheduled appointments with advisers in the Fisher College of Business this semester compared with past quarters, said Robin Kraus, a student office assistant at Fisher Undergraduate Advising.
Fisher Undergraduate Advising has established same-day appointments to combat the flood of requests, “so we can see more students per day,” Kraus said.
Students in Fisher can sign up for a 15-minute appointment and meet with an adviser the same day. Students must sign up the morning of the day they wish to meet with an adviser.
Some say they’ve benefitted from meeting with their adviser this year.  
Carlos Mendez, a first-year in biomedical engineering, said that when he had problems registering for a math course, he contacted his adviser, who was able to get him into the class.
“She actually helped me,” he said.