"At those universities which I'm familiar with, preregistration does not preclude shopping," she says. "It gives you a ballpark figure."

Ryan suggests that a drop-add period, with no penalty attached, would provide administrators with enough information to make more accurate estimates of class size.

But Law says the success of such a system is unlikely. Many undergraduates, she says, would not adhere to preregistration decisions because "there's no incentive for the students to take it seriously."

Pilbeam says preregistration raises logistical problems as well. It would require that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) prepare its course catalogue in the spring--too early to be feasible.

Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brendan A. Maher says he is planning to create a database to assist in teaching fellow assignments. The database, which Maher says will be available in the fall, will contain lists of available teaching fellow openings, as well as lists of graduate students looking for employment in the FAS.

And Pilbeam says a solution may be to cut back on the number of courses that require sections at all, and to support more graduate students through stipends.

"My guess is that we wouldn't need to shift a lot of resources in order to create a kind of cushion," he says.

Pilbeam says he and Maher are currently talking to faculty members about the extent of the graduate students' problems.

No matter what solution finally emerges, it will be too late for Ted Ruehl, a third-year Comp Lit graduate student. Although Ruehl had several job opportunities lined up, when the confusion of shopping period cleared, he found that he was out of a job.

"For the life of me I couldn't find teaching," Ruehl says. "And I tried very hard."