Is the change in Course Registration in Harvard due to information cascade?
College course registration is both a concerning and fascinating part of every college students. And among the many courses that are offered by each college, some courses attract most students. There is generally no apparent explanation for why some courses draw so many people unless the courses are required. However, the attraction of many students can also be due to the information cascade effect. This is very clearly demonstrated from the change in course enrollment in Harvard University.
In 2013 fall registration, most students were enrolled in Economics 10a:”Principles of Economics”, having total 764 students enrolled. However, in 2014 fall registration, most students were enrolled in Computer Science 50:”Introduction to Computer Science I”, which had 818 undergraduate students enrolled. This most popular course, however, had only 86 students registered in 2008. And, the interest in subject cannot be a reason for this growth as statistics show that majority of the students enrolled have no coding experiences before.
A possible explanation for this is the information cascade. Assuming Harvard students are knowledgeable about the current job market, Harvard students have heard about computer science being more popular in the job market. This fact alone is enough to attract couple of students. However, the key factor for the boost in size is that students share information about what courses they are enrolled in. Consider student A and B and C who are in their registration period. And, assume student A and B are both taking CS50 in order to be more appealing candidate for the job market. This information is given to student C. Even if student C does not consider CS50 a valuable course, high signal from both A and B are strong enough for student C to register for the course. This cascade continues, and more students who vaguely know what computer science is, enroll. Even if students are just enrolling in CS50 since it is an easy course, which it may or may not be, same cascading pattern occurs. Students enrolled in CS50 will ask the friends to join the class, reasoning that the course gives out multiple ‘A’s compared to other courses.
It is very unlikely that all 818 undergraduate students registered for CS50 due pure interest in the subject. However, due to many high signals given by the friends, information cascading happens, which ended up in a historically high number of students registered for this course. And it seems that, as more students are registering for the course, taking CS50 is becoming a “trend” that many Harvard undergraduates now follow.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/9/11/cs50-breaks-enrollment-records/