Students' service responds to scheduling woes
Caitlin Mahon / Correspondent
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Page One
Frustrated with the current registration system since his first year at the University in 2004, Steve Fernholz began developing software to allow students to register for classes with ease last April.
As a result, the Web site RUClassMate.com is now available for students to purchase to help make scheduling classes a breeze.
A Biomedical Engineering major graduating a semester early, Fernholz developed the system from scratch with the help of his brother, Massachusetts Institute of Technology student David Fernholz, and high school friend and University of Pennsylvania student, Brian Quimby.
"The development of an application like this is a team effort from start to finish," Quimby said. "Both Steve and I have strong backgrounds in computers. Building the service was simply a matter of applying our knowledge to a real world problem. We didn't like how inefficient and difficult Webreg was either."
Development lasted five months and the goal of the three developers was to have a version available for fall 2007 registration.
"We had some early adopters of the application then, and we're seeing the increased interest now with spring registration," Quimby said.
Fernholz began advertising the program with flyers on campus and through Facebook, and 175 students have purchased the system for the cost of $7.99, Fernholz said.
"So far, I've received a positive response and a lot of interest from students," Fernholz said.
Although the site has generated interest, some students feel the site is not all that great.
"The site is a little confusing and kind of comes off as 'unsafe,' but I feel that if the creator of the site along with Rutgers pair up and tweak it a little this would help out students so much," said Maggie Nelson, Douglass College junior.
She said the idea of this kind of site is amazing, and she would be willing to pay $7.99 the service.
The cost of the service is a small price to pay with the convenience it offers, and there are plans to reimburse students who purchased the program in the future if the University decides to pick up the program as a replacement of Webreg, Fernholz said.
As a result, the Web site RUClassMate.com is now available for students to purchase to help make scheduling classes a breeze.
A Biomedical Engineering major graduating a semester early, Fernholz developed the system from scratch with the help of his brother, Massachusetts Institute of Technology student David Fernholz, and high school friend and University of Pennsylvania student, Brian Quimby.
"The development of an application like this is a team effort from start to finish," Quimby said. "Both Steve and I have strong backgrounds in computers. Building the service was simply a matter of applying our knowledge to a real world problem. We didn't like how inefficient and difficult Webreg was either."
Development lasted five months and the goal of the three developers was to have a version available for fall 2007 registration.
"We had some early adopters of the application then, and we're seeing the increased interest now with spring registration," Quimby said.
Fernholz began advertising the program with flyers on campus and through Facebook, and 175 students have purchased the system for the cost of $7.99, Fernholz said.
"So far, I've received a positive response and a lot of interest from students," Fernholz said.
Although the site has generated interest, some students feel the site is not all that great.
"The site is a little confusing and kind of comes off as 'unsafe,' but I feel that if the creator of the site along with Rutgers pair up and tweak it a little this would help out students so much," said Maggie Nelson, Douglass College junior.
She said the idea of this kind of site is amazing, and she would be willing to pay $7.99 the service.
The cost of the service is a small price to pay with the convenience it offers, and there are plans to reimburse students who purchased the program in the future if the University decides to pick up the program as a replacement of Webreg, Fernholz said.