New Course Review site up despite kinks

At the most recent incarnation of the Penn Course Review, all systems are go.

"It seems to be going well so far," Engineering senior Stephen MacCrory said. "There have been a few bugs, but people seem to be liking it overall."

MacCrory, who rebuilt the site along with fellow Engineering senior Howie Vegter as a computer science senior design project, noted that minor bugs, including incorrect listings under the Electrical Engineering Department, were fixed today.

Overall, most seemed pleased with the site, which -- with the help of the Undergraduate Assembly, Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and Student Activities Council -- was relaunched yesterday after being down since the summer. The Penn Course Review, originally offered in print, was made into a free, online publication last year with fewer features.

According to Engineering freshman Jonathan Lehr, the site has an "innovative interface" and is user-friendly.

"It's also easily accessible and helps people get opinions which is a benefit for those of us who don't have older siblings or know many upperclassmen," Lehr added.

Though technically sound, the Review still has something of a gap in its coverage reviews of Wharton School courses may not be available until late November, according to MacCrory.

"For someone who may have to take a good deal of Wharton classes, there's really no point in having the Course Review, since... the deadline for pre-registration is Nov. 9," Wharton junior Irena Hsu said.

Wharton sophomore Chirag Mahatma concurred, saying that "I'd like to know what other people think about classes I'd like to take."

MacCrory explained that although data on Wharton courses has been collected, the information is being held up on the Wharton end.

Wharton Professor Deborah Stagg is "going to send us the numbers, but she had some issues with the way the Course Review had been run in the past, how some of the reviews were written," MacCrory said.

Though exact figures on the number of visitors to the site are unavailable, MacCrory said, "I know a lot of my friends are using it, and I saw a lot of people in Huntsman Hall using it today."

Some students feel that the potential of the site,

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