you just have to wonder

I teach a really large non-majors lecture course (n=300) that is heavily impacted because another department decided to list my course as the only one taught in the fall that fulfills a requirement before a student can declare their major at the end of fall semester.  The juniors are always freaking out about this, as if it is a surprise.

My class also fulfills a breadth requirement, and tends to be a preferred way to fulfill this requirement for some of the students in the hard sciences.

I let them petition to get 10 spots that I hold.  It is always with amusement that I read the desperate pleas of these students who *really* need my class.  I don't quite get why some students write things like, "this class is the only class that fills that breadth requirement on campus that meets during the time I have available" or "I don't really care about the subject but I have to take this class or I'm literally f&*?ed for declaring my major at the end of the semester". 

Or call me by the entirely wrong name, or use "Mrs." instead of "Prof."

Those things don't get them very far as I widdle those 50 requests down to the final 10...