Program notifies of open classes

Boston University students who couldn’t get into a class because it was full now may be able to for a price.

School of Management junior Ariel Levy and College of Arts and Science sophomore Asaf Manela saw the problem and created a program to help students get into the classes they want.

According to a statement by Levy, RegAssist.com is in its third semester of operation, though program designers sent mass e-mails to students last week to expand use of the program. The website is geared toward BU students who are unhappy with the results of class registration.

By signing up with RegAssist.com, the classes students want are monitored constantly and students are notified when a seat becomes available.

‘Although the BU web registration is practical,’ Levy said in an e-mail, ‘our service attempts to more precisely and efficiently serve the needs of students seeking a specialized schedule ordinarily unattainable through current methods.’

Officials in the Office of the Registrar would not comment on the program and said they are still ‘looking into its impact,’ after finding out about it last week.

The program’s designers said in the past, RegAssist.com’s success rate has been high. After the first 10 days following registration, RegAssist.com was 56 percent successful at getting students into their desired classes, they said.

And success rates go up as time goes on, Levy wrote, because of ‘students changing their decision in the classes they are taking or decide to stop holding that ‘fifth class’ for just-in-case reasons.’

Past semesters have seen success rates as high as 81 percent, he wrote.

Though RegAssist.com monitors classes, the system cannot actually register students for their desired classes. When the classes become available, the students are notified via e-mail or text messaging. Students can then log onto the Student Link and register for the class through WebReg, Levy wrote.

Levy said the system monitors not only the availability of classes but also whether its clients get into the classes.

‘The e-mail we send to the students has a link, asking whether or not they were able to get into the class,’ Levy said. ‘If the student is able to get in, we stop the search on the class. However, if they aren’t able to get into the class, we continue to monitor for openings.’

But RegAssist.com does cost money. Students must pay $4.99 per class section they want the system to monitor. The payment is required in advance and is payable through PayPal, an online payment site, Levy said.

The payment is non-refundable, despite the fact students may not be able to get into the classes they want.

On the website, Levy and Manela urge the students to ‘be confident in the system.’

‘It will hopefully work out for you, as many students tend to drop classes the closer we get to the start of next semester,’ the website says. ‘You shouldn’t have to bother hitting the refresh button 10,000 times, as we will do all the work for you.’

RegAssist.com has been advertised through flyer distribution, e-mails and ‘face to face conversations with friends and random students,’ especially last week, Levy said.

‘We have been told by friends, family and faculty that the service is highly creative, innovative and helpful,’ he said. ‘We have received thanks from students currently abroad, satisfied customers and various other members of the student body.’

Though the feedback has been predominately positive, there are some students annoyed by unwanted e-mails sent out through RegAssist.com.

But Levy said last week’s e-mails will be the last unsolicited ones.

‘We have taken certain measures to protect the privacy of people on our mailing list,’ he said. ‘We only sent a few hundred e-mails to friends of friends in hope that they would spread the word. Furthermore, we promise not send anymore unsolicited e-mails.’