For students, requirements trump interest

Popularity is not always measured by the number of people you attract — especially when it comes to this semester’s course selection.

For many students, the incentive to enroll depends less on interest and more on the necessity of the curriculum.

This semester, the Office of the University Registrar reported a total of 715 students enrolled in PSYC 001, “Introduction to Experimental Psychology,” the highest number of any course at Penn.

Within the College, it is followed by ECON 002 with 422 students and CHEM 102 with 393 students. CHEM 054 and MATH 104 rounded out the top 5 with 344 and 336 students respectively.

Out of these, only PSYC 001 reached its enrollment capacity.

Students believe that this is because PSYC 001 is a requirement for many majors and minors and has a reputation for being easy. In addition, it fulfills both a Wharton general education distribution and a College sector requirement.

“I’m sure a lot of people take it because it’s known for being easy to get an A in. A vast majority of your grade comes from the midterms and you can drop the lowest of the three,” said College freshman Max Silverman, who is currently enrolled in PSYC 001.

Attesting to the popularity of the course, College freshman Angela Jang said she e-mailed professors and spent “every second on Penn InTouch” earlier this semester, trying to catch an opening in the course which had been closed for weeks.

Enrollment numbers alone, however, cannot demonstrate the demand of a course.

GEOL 103, “Natural Disasters and Disturbances,” generated so much demand that professor Frederick Scatena had to increase enrollment by ten percent, order more material and hire an extra teaching assistant. Scatena said he kept approximately 30 students on a waitlist for the class, but capped enrollment at 220 when the bookstore ran out of books.

Similarly, all six sections of MUSC 050 are at capacity due to tremendous student interest. College sophomore Sam Simon said she failed to get into the course even after she signed up for four different sections during advanced registration.

She added that she subsequently e-mailed the professor to seek a place but did not succeed.

Classes with the greatest number of enrollments are not always the highest rated.

For example, MATH 104 enrolls more than 300 students each semester but averaged a 1.91 out of 4.0 on Penn Course Review last year.

In comparison, classes that don’t fulfill a particular sector or major requirement maintain small enrollment despite being consistently well-rated.

Most English courses — creative writing ones in particular — dependably rate above 3.5 on Penn Course Review and enroll less than twenty-five students every semester.

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