Registration

Registration Procedures

Event	When it happens	What you do
Pre-Registration	Week 8: Monday, 9AM – Friday, 5PM	Select & rank courses
Pre-Registration Results	Before or During Finals Week	View results
Online Add	Monday following finals week, 9AM – Friday of Week 1, 5PM	Add courses online
Online Drop	Monday following finals week, 9AM – Friday of Week 3, 5PM	Drop courses online
Adding Courses Requires Instructor Consent	Friday of Week 1, 5PM – Friday of Week 3, 5PM	Add courses via consent

The above dates apply to Winter and Spring Quarter registration. Autumn Quarter registration occurs over the summer. Please refer to the calendars and schedules provided by the Registrar’s Office here for detailed information about specific dates for each quarter.

Incoming first year students register for their first quarter of courses in the my.UChicago portal over the summer, following their first meeting with their newly assigned academic adviser. Continuing students submit their pre-registration requests through My Planner. Students can review the pre-registration checklist here.

Students select and rank their preferred courses and an algorithm is run in the registration system to maximize their top choices based on several factors, including seat availability, to create the student’s schedule. Students can rank up to ten courses of interest, with a ranking of “1” indicating the most desired. Students interested in multiple sections of a course may select and rank multiple sections of interest. Pre-Registration requests are then “resolved” and registrations are added to students’ schedules. The Pre-Registration process does not guarantee enrollment in any course. For additional guidance regarding using My Planner for pre-registration, visit the University Registrar's webpage. 

Students who are returning from a leave of absence or suspension must be approved to resume before Pre-Registration begins in order to participate. Students should discuss their registration plans with their College Academic Adviser. For more information about the resumption process, visit https://college.uchicago.edu/taking-time-away/resuming-studies. 

Students planning to graduate in the current quarter, students who have scheduled a leave of absence, and students who will be abroad for the next quarter cannot participate in Pre-Registration. This process is only available for degree-seeking students. Students at large (SAL), international visitors, and Graham School students may not participate in Pre-Registration.

Students may add or swap courses online through My Classes until 5:00 p.m. on Friday of the first week of instruction during a given quarter. Additionally, they can continue to add or swap courses online if granted instructor consent until 5:00 p.m. on Friday of the third week of instruction. Drops may be made online through My Classes until the latter deadline.

During the add/drop period, students may add or swap into courses for which they meet the prerequisites, seats remain available, and instructor consent is not required. Online add/drop is processed in real-time, and enrollment works on a first-come, first-served basis. Courses may open or close instantaneously. The system does not permit students to be registered for more than 400 units (i.e., 4 100-unit courses) during a single quarter, nor does it allow students to register for courses that have time conflicts. If students are interested and qualify for a course overload, they may petition to add a fifth course here. If there is a time conflict for essential courses, students may submit the simultaneous enrollment petition here.

During the add/drop period, students may not drop below 300 units (i.e., 3 100-unit courses) per quarter as full-time enrollment is required of degree-seeking undergraduates. Students who no longer intend to complete a course after this date should contact their Academic Adviser regarding withdrawing from the course.

Watch this video for more information.




Students who cannot register themselves for a course through the typical "add" process may be added to a course via instructor consent, which is given at the discretion of the instructor and not guaranteed. Common reasons for students obtaining instructor consent:

• Course is full but the instructor will allow an additional student to join.*
• Student has completed higher level coursework but has not completed the formal course pre-requisite requirement.
• System issue preventing the student from adding a course on their own in My Classes (example: undergrad trying to add a graduate course)

For Autumn, Winter, and Spring Quarters, the consent process opens in my.UChicago when Add/Drop opens. Courses may be added via consent through the online "request" button in My Classes or the printable consent form.  Approved consent forms can be submitted via email at registrar@uchicago.edu or in person to the Registrar’s Office through Friday of Week 3. After Week 3, students may not add any class except via the late registration change petition, which is only approved in extreme cases. Note: If petitioning for a late add, you must also provide a signed instructor consent form.

Submitting an online consent request does not mean that you are registered for the course. It only means that you have requested to be added to the course. If you receive approval from the instructor to register for the course, you will be required to log in to my.UChicago to accept the seat in the course. You will have 24 hours from the time of the instructor's approval to register for the course. Failure to register for the course within the 24 hour window will result in loss of the seat and you will have to submit another request to add the course.

Please see additional information from the Registrar's Office regarding the instructor consent process below:

• Checking the Status of Your Online Consent Request
• Withdrawing a Consent Request
• Declining an Approved Request
• Accessing the Printable Consent Form

*Instructors may not exceed the maximum capacity of the assigned room for the course. Also, some courses and seat counts are maintained at the departmental or divisional level and instructors may not have the authority to provide consent.

After the close of the add/drop period for the quarter, students may not make any further schedule changes barring verified schedule errors approved by petition. For further guidance, students are encouraged to consult their Academic Adviser and submit a Late Registration Change Petition to the College Academic and Student Services Office via email (casso@uchicago.edu ). Petitions to add courses without completed consent forms will not be accepted. Approved petitions will result in a fee assessed by the Office of the Bursar.

There is no official auditing status in the College. Students who wish to sit in on a course without enrolling for credit must obtain the permission of the instructor. Even if granted, the course will not appear on the student's transcript. While some graduate and professional school courses at the University offer an official auditing status (bearing a grade of "R"), this option is not open to College students interested in those courses. Students auditing a course are expected to abide by the add/drop deadline should they decide they wish to enroll in the course. 

Many Core course sequences are identified as providing auto-enrollment (i.e., "course rollover"), which means that students are automatically enrolled in the next course and section in the sequence the following quarter provided that the section continues with the same day/time meeting pattern. Some sections may be discontinued or combined with other sections, or meeting times may be changed from one quarter to the next. Students who are registered for an auto-enrollment course do not need to select or rank that course during the pre-registration process.

Students may drop certain auto-enrolled courses during pre-registration. Students are restricted from dropping Humanities courses during Winter Quarter pre-registration and should discuss any section changes, drops, or adds for this sequence with their academic adviser. Drops made in these courses cancel the auto-enrollment for the remainder of that sequence. If a student drops an auto-enrollment course during pre-registration and then wishes to re-enroll in it, they must select and rank that course or attempt to add the course during the add/drop period. Students who wish to stay in the sequence but change sections may be better served by attempting to 'swap' the course during the add/drop period as opposed to dropping the course during pre-registration and bidding to enroll in another. Once dropped, re-enrollment in any course is not guaranteed. 

Advanced undergraduates may register for courses in the following professional schools at the University of Chicago: 

• Booth School of Business
• The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
• The Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies
• The Law School
• The Toyota Technological Institute

Students in the College may enroll in graduate division and professional school courses with instructor consent. In all cases, the registration, class schedules, and exam policies for these courses are those of the graduate or professional school: students are expected to follow the rules, procedures, and deadlines of the divisions or schools in which they are registered. For details visit Registering for Courses.

Students and instructors can arrange Reading and Research (R & R) courses when:

• The material being studied is beyond the scope of a particular course
• When students are working on material not covered in an existing course, or
• When students would like to receive academic credit for independent research.

R & R courses (29700 or 29900) are graded on a Pass/Fail basis or with a quality grade in accordance with departmental guidelines.

Registering for an R & R Course

• Obtain a College Reading and Research Course Form.
• Determine the proper course and section number.
• Ask the instructor to sign the form, or, if filling out the electronic form, obtain an e-signature or an email from the instructor for consent. Students registering for a B.A. paper with a faculty supervisor in a department outside of the student's major must also obtain the signature of the director of undergraduate studies in their major. For BIOS 00199 and 00299, the BSCD Undergraduate Research and Honors Chair signs in lieu of the program chair. A second signature is not required for BIOS 00297.
• Submit the R & R form to the Office of the University Registrar by Friday of 3rd week. If using the electronic form, this may be emailed in. Note: If using an email from the instructor in lieu of a signature, this email must be attached along with the filled out form.

Guidelines for R & R Courses

• First-year students may not register for R & R courses except by petition to the Dean of Students.
• Students registering for extra-departmental R & R courses must receive approval (per the R & R form) from the undergraduate program chair of their major, rather than the chair of the department in which that course is offered.
• Registration for more than one R & R course in the same quarter is permitted when the subject matter is different. In other words, students may not receive more than one course credit per quarter for a single project.
• Students may not receive academic credit for paid work in a research environment or elsewhere, although an unpaid internship that has a significant on-campus academic component may be eligible for R & R credit. Consult a College Adviser for more information about this option.

Undergraduate students can start enrolling in Summer Quarter courses typically starting in mid-February. Students must confirm their interest in summer courses by submitting  the Summer Activation Request Form in My.Uchicago.  For further information, go to the Summer Session Registration page.