The Ateneo has employed the random number system since 2003. It is a system where a computer randomly generates a number that determines the "place in line" of a student. It replaces the deemed inefficient, first-come, first-served system that has been used for several years already.
Improvements
Gone are the days when a student will go to school at four o' clock in the morning and start to line up for registration at eight. There are no more complaints regarding people cutting in line, and claiming that lines get thicker, not longer. If they unfortunately get a high number, students can now still sleep and arrive during their expected time of arrival. No one has to go to different departments and sign up for their class. Everything is concentrated in one computer room per school. Nitski* of AB COM attests to this, "I could finish the entire registration in under twenty minutes without any trouble at all."
What it does not solve
Random is defined as lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance. However, there are a lot of instances where students observe that the random numbers seem repetitive, or floating around the same range. Some boast that they never got a high random number in their entire stay. Others, like Wallace* of BS MCT complains, "I never got a good number ever. This forces me to take the well-known terror teachers or the avoided ones every semester. Would a student like to have Arcilla, Calasanz, and Parco at one time?"
There are also "couplings", two or more students who seemingly are always "paired" during registrations. Some even noted that well-known students are seemingly "prioritized" and usually have a lower number compared to the average student.
It also does not solve the perennial problem of majors conflicting with the core subjects due to students' high numbers. This usually affects the Science students who only have one schedule for their majors. High numbers usually spell doom to the students that some opt to do late registration in order to avoid waiting for hours and the teachers that are left by that time. Students are willing to sacrifice a little bit of cash to prevent falling into a class where they'll abhor for the entire semester, a moneymaking scheme deemed by some.
No one knows
The registration committee only knows one thing about the random numbers, that they are generated by a computer. Beyond that, no one knows exactly how random numbers are picked, the process it undergoes. No one could explain why there are instances where the same students get the lower numbers more than the others.
Refinement
Despite its improvements, the random number system still has its flaws and needs to be further refined. A student's suggestion brings up the idea of a circular random number system where it takes advantage of the four divisions created by the expected time of arrival. For example, a school is divided by fifties. A student, in the first semester of his third year, his number falls in between 50-99. In the next semester, his number can fall in between 1-49, 100-149 or 150-200, never again 50-99. If he gets 1-49, then in his fourth year, he could only have a random number in the range of 100-200. Using this process, every student will have the experience of having a low and a high number throughout his third and fourth years where random numbers play a vital part in their registration since they usually do not have predetermined subjects. This suggestion removes the "unfairness" the random numbers seem to bring.
* Names have been changed to protect the people involved
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