Professor Steve Phipps pours champagne at the wine tasting preceptorial in 2004. (Geoff Robinson/DP)

Each semester since I arrived at Penn, I have tried to take a preceptorial. But I've still never been to a preceptorial.

I've come to learn that the preceptorial system is ludicrous. Here's why:

This semester, my final semester at Penn, I am particularly irate. Many of my close friends and I signed up for the wine tasting preceptorial. And boy was I excited when I registered on Penn in Touch and the course appeared on my schedule.

But yesterday, I received and email from the preceptorial committee informing that I was on the waitlist for the course.

Yup, I was PO'd when I got this. My housemates were also waitlisted.

College senior Mandeep Kalra, head of the preceptorial committee told me in an email interview that that there were 20 spots available in this preceptorial for the 900 people who signed up. This means that there are 880 people on the waitlist. That translates into 880 pissed off seniors, about 1/3 of the class!

But budget constraints don't necessarily limit the number of students able to enroll in preceptorials. According to Mandeep, the budget for this year was $20,000 and will hopefully increase in the future.

What irritates me even more than the fact that I didn't get into the class is that Penn In Touch didn't tell me that the class was full. All semester I planned to spend my Wednesdays in March sipping wine (during spring break for starters, and continuing upon return to Penn. Registration for preceptorials should operate like regular registration — you should find out immediately whether the class is full or not.

Maybe we shouldn't all be bitter- there's still room in the knitting preceptorial for any interested parties.