College life is many things: fragmented freshman friend groups, midnight ramen followed by a doomed exam, naps on the Quad, a scornful pile of laundry and Tide PODS. Among these quintessential college experiences, one stands out: the famed shopping period, when students freely explore classes before committing to their schedule for the semester…

That is—so I’ve heard.

At Cornell, there is no shopping period. Instead, here on top of the hill, students pre-enroll in courses months before the semester begins. While this system may seem efficient, it also charges students with a winding receipt of pressure, missing assignments, a frantic start to a semester, and a Russian roulette game of guessing workload and syllabi. It’s time to rethink this approach.

The shopping period is a microcosm of university. Fast-paced, bustling, and messy, the shopping period is a laboratory for possibilities; students can test out their various “futures”—how early they need to wake up, how many hours they must spend in the library—without committing blindly. The immediate pressure of diving into coursework is alleviated while courses are being finalized in this week of “open-houses”.

Harvard University was once the crème de la crème of the shopping period: allowing students to “try-on” courses before registering. Yet this icon of college life is dwindling. In 2022, Harvard

© Cornell Daily Sun