New Semester's Greeting

Before I enter University of the Philippines (UP), I used to hear rumors about the difficulties of students in enlisting for a subject they want to get. At first, I didn't take it seriously for I had an easy time enrolling during my first year in the university, but now, I finally understood it when I experienced the notorious student activity called prerog.

My first time to enroll in UP went just fine. I easily got the subjects I want to take and the only struggle I faced was the long line in Office of the University Registrar (OUR). All in all, just like what I have said, I had an easy time both in enlisting for a subject and in enrolling. But after a fortunate year, I finally experienced the horror of preroging when I started my second year. I will never forget all the challenges I faced during that horrifying enlistment period.

Since a lot of students are studying in UP and the administration cannot do the enlistment manually for it is more effort and time consuming , we have this online website called CRS where we can pre-enlist to choose the subjects we want to take. This enlistment usually is a month-long period or shorter. After this period is the moment of truth, the time when we will see how many units and what subjects we got. As for me, I only got nine units after the second batch run of this semester, so the my last resort to get enough units is to prerog.

During the second day of enlistment, I immediately went to Econ to fall in line for an Econ 100.1. When I arrived there at 6 AM, the line was already long. I think I am the 30th person in line. Even though it seemed so impossible, I didn't lose hope that I will get this subject so I waited there for seven hours, until 1 PM. Unfortunately, I am not lucky that day, I wasn't able to get it. They just told us to return early tomorrow for new announcements if they will open another class for that subject. I left econ with a heavy heart and made my way to prerog for another subject. I went to the Faculty Center for a Kas 2 class. Approximately, I am the 40th person when I arrived there. I am trying to lengthen my patience that time because I am so tired and stressed. Many people came after me waiting for a sudden miracle from heaven. When I am finally the first in line, the proctors cut it and said that there is only one slot left so the unlucky ones should go and find fortune in another class instead. I am so delighted because I am the last one to have a slot, but destiny is truly unpredictable, the proctor told me that they just made a mistake and there's actually no slots left. I left that place with a heavier heart and an exhausted body. I am really hurt with the false hopes they gave me. The perfect word for this is “paasa”. I took a rest that time and looked at CRS, and I discovered another heartbreaking thing, my Hum 1 class was dissolved. I panicked intensely that time so I rushed to the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) to find another subject. I went to the prerog area for English classes. The administrator there told me that only English 11 and English 12 classes are available. At first, I was hesitant to take any of the said subjects because I just want an English 1, so I waited there, taking for granted the available subjects. After five minutes, another student came and asked if there were any English 1 class available. The proctor told him that there is only one remaining slot so the student who just came felt happy. I felt so cheated that time so I complained why they said to me that there's no slot for Eng 1 when in fact, there's still one. They quickly added me to that class and apologized to the student whom they gave false hopes. I also said sorry to that guy and told him that I am really in need of that subject. I ended up that day retaining my nine units.

During the last day of enlistment, I needed to cancel my Stat 101 for an Econ subject since they have conflicting schedules, but luckily, I was finally able to get Econ. Also that day, God blessed me with a Kas 2 class. I ended up having 12 units, but that was still underload so the only thing I could do is to have the teacher's prerog. I did it for all Geol 1 classes, but I wasn't able to get even one of those. I also did teacher's prerog for Stat 101 since I cancelled it. Even though it's embarrassing, I shamelessly asked the professor in front of his class if he's accepting prerog. Fortunately, he accepted all of the students in need, but asked us to perform and share to them our talents. I swear I just want to disappear that time.

Because of these prerog experiences, I realized that in UP, it is not only studying that is difficult, but also the things you weren't expecting to be hard, especially the new semester's greeting, the enrollment.

Cyrishlyn Aira E. Malubay

(Exemplification/Illustration)

Source (Photo):
http://www.annarbor.com/news/line-started-for-expected-crowds-interested-in-university-of-michigan-graduation-tickets/