Although the Fall 2015 semester has not come to an end, it is important that students at San Diego State University are knowledgeable about the process of the new online wait list system.

For the Spring 2016 semester, SDSU will be implementing a new online wait list system that will eliminate add codes, force-adds, and students will not have the opportunity to crash courses.

What does this mean for students?

Students in a sophomore or junior standing will no longer be able to pay freshman students to save classes for them until their registration date.

You can be really cute, nice, or have amazing persuasive skills, but lobbying a professor to let you crash the class that you need or want will no longer work.

Students no longer have to undergo the awkward hand raise of shame when the professor asks, "Who is here to crash the class?"

Students may have to accept the fact that they are not going to get the classes that they need or want for the Spring 2016 semester.

However, it is important for all non-graduating students to understand very important details in regards to the online wait list system:

Each student can waitlist for up to four classes and can gain admission through waitlist only four times. When a space becomes available, the person on the wait list is automatically enrolled. So, students must be really sure they want the class they are requesting on their wait list.

Students can monitor their wait list online at any time, change it whenever they want, and know exactly where you are on each list. If students have a time conflict, they will automatically be dropped from the conflicting course when they are enrolled in the wait listed class. So, students must be sure of the implications of any class they wait list.

Students must also attend the first day of class. If students are absent, they will automatically be dropped and their space will likely to be immediately filled by someone else from the wait list. To get back in the class, students would have to try the wait list and they will be ranked as if they were entering the wait list for the first time.

Students should attend the first day on any class of their wait list. If the wait list puts students into a class (regardless if they noticed it) and they miss the next meeting of the class, they can be immediately dropped by the professor. Students in the major and those who need it most (determined by credit units earned) have the most priority. As a result, the priority if students may move up or down depending on the relative priority of other students coming into or leaving the wait list for a particular course.

Automatic adding from the wait list ends after the first five class days. After that, professors (or the director) would have to manually release seats. However, faculty do not have access to the identity of the students on the wait list.

All in all, by gaining a better understanding of the online wait list system, students are encouraged to be savvy about the wait list process and to carefully monitor the wait lists that they join.