Waitlist FAQs

A waitlist prioritizes students who will be first to be enrolled in a class that is full if seats become available. Not every class has a waitlist and not every student who joins a waitlist will be enrolled in the class. Once a student adds themselves to a waitlist, an enrollment process is run daily and enrolls students based on seat availability, their waitlist position, and other criteria
such as prerequisite fulfillment and absence of time conflicts in their schedule.

If the class has department or instructor consent, you will need department or instructor consent to join the waitlist. If the class does not have department or instructor consent, you do not need permission specifically for the waitlist.

No, putting your name on the waitlist for a class does not indicate that you are enrolled in the class. You are waiting to see if a seat becomes available to you. If your position opens and you meet all other qualifications, you will be auto-registered for the class and you will receive an email informing you of the enrollment into the waitlisted course.

No, being on the waitlist does not count towards your semester totals. The class will only count toward your semester totals if you are eventually enrolled in the class.

Yes, you can only waitlist up to 10 credits. Once you are waitlisted for enough credits that adding an additional waitlisted section would bring you to or over 10 credits, you will receive an error notifying you that you cannot add your name to another waitlist. At this point, you can decide to drop off another waitlist to make room for this course’s waitlist

The Registrar’s Office does a prerequisite check on all upcoming courses once grades come in at the end of the semester. The process notifies students who do not meet the prerequisite that they should drop off the waitlist. If a seat opens up the waitlist process skips students who don’t
meet the prerequisite

The waitlist does not check for time conflicts. However, you will not be moved to an open seat in a class if you have a time conflict with a class you are enrolled in.

You may not be able to add yourself to the waitlist for one of the following reasons:

• You have reached the 10 credit waitlist limit
• You are already enrolled in another section of the same course
• You have not met the prerequisites for the course
• The waitlist capacity of the class has been reached
• You are attempting a third repeat of the course

Yes, you can take yourself off a waitlist for a class following the same procedures you would use for dropping a class. If the class has more than one section, e.g., a lecture and a lab, you will be dropped from the waitlist for all sections.

No, we cannot do this. You can put yourself on the waitlist again but not at the same position.

The waitlist position number indicates the order that students joined the waitlist. The waitlist process enrolls students in the course based on who has completed prerequisites and does not have a time conflict. Students might not be auto-enrolled in the order that they appear on the position list.

Your chances of being enrolled in a course from a waitlist depend on your position on the waitlist, if prerequisites for the class have been satisfied, and whether you have any time conflicts or are currently registered for a different section of the class. In addition, the number of waitlisted students who ultimately get enrolled in a section depends on whether seats become available through students dropping the class or the department increasing the capacity.

If a seat opens up and you are next on the waitlist the system will check to make sure you do not have any time conflicts and are not enrolled in another section of the course. If everything checks out you will be automatically enrolled for the course section.

Yes, the process skips students who are already enrolled in another section of the course.

Discuss your options with your academic advisor. If your advisor advises it, you may petition to be allowed to take excess credit by completing the Excess Credit form from the Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising. If approved, you will be allowed to enroll in the excess credit course if a seat becomes available.

You will be notified via email once you have been auto-enrolled from the waitlist

You might not be able to register from the waitlist for one of the following reasons:

• One of your current classes has a time conflict with the waitlisted class
• You have not met the prerequisite for the class
• You have a financial or other hold on your account that prevents enrollment
• You are enrolled in the maximum number of credits for the semester

If a seat opens up in one of the sections and you are the next most qualified student on the waitlist and have no obstructions, then you will be automatically enrolled in that section. The other sections’ waitlists will skip you because you are already enrolled in the first section.

The waitlist process stops running on the 5th day of classes for that semester.

Email notifications are sent prior to the start of each semester reminding students on waitlists to remove themselves from those waitlists if they no longer wish to be enrolled. Students are also notified by email if a seat becomes available and the waitlist process enrolls you in the class section. If the deadline to drop an individual course has not passed you can drop the course with the W grade.