Wait List Policy PDF

A course wait list is a list of students who wish to register for a course or for a section of a course that has reached its authorized capacity. Course wait lists are generated and maintained by the Office of the Registrar for one week after the start of the semester.


Information, Policies and Procedures Related to Course Wait Lists:

  1. Any eligible student wishing to enroll in a course that has reached its authorized capacity may request to be added to one section of that course's wait list. The student is not automatically added to a course wait list unless the student makes this request.

  2. A student may not register for a section of a course AND be placed on a wait list for another section of the same course, nor may a student be wait-listed for multiple sections of the same course. Doing so restricts the Office of the Registrar from determining which section the student wishes to be enrolled in. The result being that a student may be dropped from a desired section. Therefore a student should not enroll and waitlist for different sections of the same course OR waitlist for multiple sections of the same course.

  3. A student is waitlisted in the order in which s/he attempts to register for the course.

  4. Any student with a financial hold will not be allowed to enroll in a course from the wait list.

  5. Wait-listed students will not be assessed a late charge, provided the original attempt to register is processed prior to the first day of the semester.

  6. A student on a wait list is not officially enrolled in that course and thus is not eligible to receive a grade in that course.

  7. Through the first week of the fall and spring semesters, a student on a course's wait list will be automatically enrolled by the Office of the Registrar in that course on a space available basis according to the order in which the student was placed on the wait list at the time s/he attempted to register for the course. For the summer semester the time period is shorter due to shorter sessions. Please see semester calendar published on the Registrar’s website for applicable dates.

  8. When the Registrar automatically enrolls a wait-listed student in a course, the Office of the Registrar will send to the student's official university e-mail address a notice to review their updated schedule in MyView.

  9. Course wait lists are maintained only through the end of the first week of the semester; therefore, after the first week of the semester, the Office of the Registrar does not automatically enroll a student in a wait-listed course, even if space is available in the course. After the first week of the semester, a wait-listed student must follow the University's add-drop procedure in seeking permission of the instructor to enroll in the course.

  10. A student on a wait list may attend the wait-listed course, if seating is available and with the instructor's permission, through the last day for enrolling or adding a course, in the event a space should become available for that student to register for the wait-listed course. These dates are published in each semester's schedule of courses.

  11. The decision to add a student to the course after the first week of the semester rests entirely with the course instructor. If the instructor decides to allow additional students to enroll in the course, s/he is not obligated to enroll students from the wait list before considering other students who may not have been on the wait list during the first week of course. The instructor may consider a range of factors, including availability of space in the classroom; other teaching obligations; the student's capabilities and past performance and the student's learning/degree-completion goals.

  12. After the last day for enrolling or adding a course, a student who is not officially enrolled in a course should not be allowed to participate in the course and will not have a grade recorded on his or her transcript for that course.