Every year, many students complain when registering for courses. They make complaints because they paid tution, but they couldn’t take major courses. This problem is especially serious for students who have a double major. Actually, there are lots of departments with students who gave up a double major because of the high competition rate for main courses in those departments. Indeed, is the double major system in Kyonggi University well-organized? Moreover, let’s find out about the huge difference between Kyonggi University and an other university.

First, the Pharos interviewed Kim Joo-Young, a student in the class of 2016 in the Department of Management in order to get the opinions of students directly.   

1. What is the sign-up process like when registering for courses in other departments?

Students in other departments have their registeration delayed because the students of a particular department have the opportunity to register first. Then students from other departments can apply for other major courses. After that, all students can register in the same way at the time of changing courses.   

2. Have you had any trouble in registering for courses?

I think it is hard to take the major courses of other departments. Indeed, I knew it was hard to apply for courses I wanted, even the courses which accommodate extra students. In addition, it is almost impossible to apply for those courses before taking courses in my major. Most students were trying to register online until the final moment. Although they visited a professor later, they sometimes still couldn’t take the courses.

3. Is it easy to keep up with the lessons and adapt to the courses in other departments?

It was not hard to keep up with the courses because the content of the subjects I had was basic. Also, the professors taught students well. However, I couldn’t get enough information about the personalities of the professors or the courses. It was even hard to find a member in a group project. Although professors recognized this problem, it had an effect on students’ scores. Therefore, I was under pressure because of that problem.    

The Pharos then interviewed student K, who is majoring in Korean language education at Ewha University in Seoul, in order to compare our double major with those of other schools.

1. What is the sign-up process like when registering for courses in other departments?

In our school, the application process for all classes is the same as for major courses. Moreover, the date and time of application vary by year, but you can just do it on your own. However, a department that has a lot of students that have a double major such as the Management and Communication may be excluded from the normal application process.

2. Have you had any trouble in registering for courses?      

I haven’t had a big problem because I am taking a double major in a less competitive department. As I mentioned earlier, however, I heard that there are many popular courses in some double majors for which the competition is fierce.

3. Is it easy to keep up with the lessons and adapt to the courses in other departments?

I’m not having much difficulty because I have just started my double major. Also, I’m still taking first and second year courses. However, I think there is something strange going on because the content is different from what I used to learn in my major. Nevertheless, I’m interested in it, so I think it’s okay. The hardest part to adjust to is the atmosphere of the department. My double major has a small number of students, and they’re already pretty close to each other. In addition, there aren’t many students who have double majors, so I feel somewhat lonely. This is not a big problem in large departments, but I feel a little awkward in every class.

As we have seen, the biggest difference in the dual majors of Kyonggi University and those of another university is the difficulty students have applying for classes. The fewer classes there are, the more difficulties students have applying for classes. It may be impossible to increase the number of classes immediately. However, if schools cannot open more classes, they need to increase the number of students they can take per class. To ensure the quality of education and the right of students to attend classes, the double major system needs to be reviewed. Universities should guarantee students the right to attend as many classes as they want to, as they are the masters of their education.