I love being declared

Because it means I actually get into classes!

I generally loathe the registration period where I sign up for classes that I want that aren't full but are for declared students, but this semester, it took a mere 4 minutes AND I came out satisfied at the end.

UC Berkeley's registration system is designed like a giant compromise. Telebears, as it's called, only lets you sign up for 10 units (two classes, typically) between April and July-- this is Phase I. Theoretically this allows everyone the opportunity to prioritize the hard-to-get-into classes in Phase I, while leaving open the bigger or less desirable classes until Phase II between July and August.

The problem with people like me is, I like small classes, and Rhetoric is no English. So if I want small classes, I have to pick two that I really like or that my adviser is making me take, then wait a few months and attend the first week of the packed classes and blow professors in their office hours to be let in. I gotta tell you, that week is taxing.

So you always get a couple classes that you either really want or must take, and then the last two or three are always up in the air until the first two weeks of classes, when everything starts to work itself out.

This is one reason why I hate the small department in the big university.