Admin told student to switch classes mid-semester — until one email pitted her own rules against her

There is no university administration that doesn’t experience conflicts and challenges. How staff handle them can make all the difference. One student (u/micahmelon), however, found themselves stuck in a frustrating back-and-forth with university staff after becoming the target of what they believed was an unnecessary power trip. In a May 12, 2026, Reddit post, they shared the story of how their university’s Admin Officer tried to push them into switching classes mid-semester, until they did something to flip the script.

 
A schedule that worked better

The student, a Mass Communications major, chose two mandatory classes under the Management faculty because the schedule worked better for them. Unlike the Mass Communications section, which held classes on Fridays from 8 to 10 a.m., the Management section met on Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m. Since the student worked weekends, the Friday class added two extra hours of travel and became difficult to manage.

A group of university students stands in the classroom while the teacher discusses something with them (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Ivan Samkov)

The sudden class dispute

It wasn’t unusual for students to switch between sections. However, in week four of the semester, they received an email from a lecturer, Mrs. N, who said she had just found out they weren’t allowed in the class and would need to switch to the Mass Communications faculty section. Due to this, the student had to keep bouncing between the two departments. "When we finally met the admin officer, she was super rude and condescending. She even called us selfish, kept interrupting us, refused to explain anything properly, and just kept repeating, 'You can’t, you can’t, you just can’t,' when we asked her anything," the student wrote.

When asked repeatedly why they were being asked to move to another section in the middle of the semester, she told them that it would mess up the end-of-semester report. On the other side, Ms. Z, a faculty member from the Mass Communication section, told them that the admin was incorrect and shifting sections wouldn’t impact their report.

The admin backs down

In the meantime, the admin urged them to get permission from Mrs. N to attend her classes. Mrs. N, as she told them, had no objection to them attending her classes. But it seemed the admin had some favorite students who wanted to shift from Ms. Z’s classes to Mrs. N’s classes, which is why she was insisting they change their section. Frustrated, the student ultimately reached out to Ms. Z, the lecturer for the Mass Communications section, who was shocked to learn the administration’s reasoning. 

She explained that grades were collected across divisions anyway, making the forced switch unnecessary. Since it was already the fifth week of the semester and assignment deadlines were approaching, Ms. Z refused to take the student into her section. The administration eventually backed down, and the student stayed in their original class.

Education should be flexible

Had the administration cooperated in the beginning, the student wouldn’t have had to go through so much turmoil. Research published in the International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research suggested that poor administrative management can lead to a chaotic, “rigid machine” like environment that dwindles students’ performance. A survey of students published in the NIU Journal of Social Sciences documented that 67.3% of the participating students agreed that they are satisfied with their administration, while 19.4% said they were dissatisfied. 13.3% were unsure or neutral about what they felt about the admin.

Readers' reaction

In the comments section, Reddit readers said the issue was likely stemming from the admin officer’s favoritism towards certain students in Ms. Z’s class. Clipping the Reddit group’s name where the story was published (r/MaliciousCompliance), u/DoppelFrog said, “This isn't even compliance. You didn't do what you were told to do.” u/1January1970 opined that, “These people work for us, we pay them for the education. They tend to think its a privilege to go to school.”

More on Scoop Upworthy 

Teen who stood up for trans student in tears after administrator locks him in room, calls cops

High school administration joins dance team for a stunning recreation of the viral 'Barbie' dance

Creative student wanted an assignment extension — so she sang a catchy for her professor