4/4

Today was my last enrollment day!  My entire class woke up at 6:55 this morning to enroll in our courses for next semester.  My roommate and I sat with our pointers hovering over the “enroll” button as we waited for the clock to turn from 6:59 to 7:00am and the system opened up.  That minute always feels like an hour.

As we waited, we reminisced about our freshman year enrollment day. First years enroll last, so it can be very difficult to get into certain classes.  People used to camp out in the library or the computer lab so they wouldn’t have to rely on the wifi in their rooms.  At about 7:01am, I remember hearing cheers rolling through Wheeler from those who got all four courses they wanted… and shouts from those who didn’t.  Everyone updated their Facebook statuses to fractions like “4/4” or “3/4” (or, in the worst case, “0/4”) so that we could celebrate and commiserate together – and then this process was repeated, every semester following, over and over again.

So, why do I love enrollment day?  Despite being a small, academically rigorous community, Holy Cross students are not very competitive with each other.  We tend to like discussion, sharing, and working together.  But enrollment – enrollment is where we get a little competitive.  We get up at the crack of dawn, we race each other to press the button, and we pray like we’ve never prayed before that our internet connection will move a little faster than our neighbors’ – all so that we can get into whatever cool seminar or lab we are just dying to take.

Then, the little bit of competition that enrollment day creates results in a whole lot of camaraderie.  This morning, I celebrated senior year with my roommate and we enrolled for the last time.  At 7:01, the Facebook statuses and tweets were rolling in.  A friend of mine who lives across campus sent out a Snapchat of the sunrise.  And, yes, I enrolled successfully:  4/4.

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