Frequently Asked Questions

Pre-registration is when you submit your requests for Autumn Quarter classes, indicating preferred courses, times, and/or sections. Your official registration and Autumn Quarter schedule will be based on your requests submitted during pre-registration. There are two important dates for pre-registration: June 20-23, when you will submit your Humanities sequence preferences, and August 14-18, when you will request the rest of your courses. 

If you will not have internet access during pre-registration for your Humanities course, you will be assigned to a sequence based on availability.

If you will not have internet access during pre-registration for your remaining Autumn Quarter courses, let your adviser know during your summer meeting so you can discuss your course preferences. 

There are two important dates for pre-registration: June 20-23, when you will submit your Humanities sequence preferences, and August 14-18, when you will request the rest of your courses. Please review the Online Orientation Module #2 (found on your Canvas site) for detailed instructions on how to select and rank your preferred HUMA sequence. Instructions for the second round (August 14-18) will be available closer to the date.

If you will not have internet access during pre-registration for your Humanities course, please contact collegeadvising@uchicago.edu PRIOR to June 20.   

If you will not have internet access during pre-registration for your remaining Autumn Quarter courses, please contact collegeadvising@uchicago.edu or your assigned adviser PRIOR to August 14.

Every first-year student and many transfer students takes a Humanities sequence -- your schedule is anchored around your enrollment in Humanities. Many of your other courses (math, science, and language) depend on placement results that won't be available until later in the summer, thus we allow time to get those placement tests taken, graded, and posted in order to help you register for the appropriate courses. Pre-registering for your Humanities sequence first also maximizes the chances of getting into your preferred sequence. 

There is nothing you need to do. If you will not have internet access during the June pre-registration period, you will be automatically assigned to a Humanities sequence based on availability.

If you will not have internet access during pre-registration for your remaining Autumn Quarter courses, let your adviser know during your summer meeting so you can discuss your course preferences. 

Placement tests: Take the Math, Chemistry, and relevant language placement tests ASAP and notify your adviser once you’ve completed them. The math placement exam is mandatory for all incoming students, and it is strongly advised you take any language placement test you have experience in, regardless of whether you plan on continuing with that language.

AP Scores: Log into your college board account and have your AP scores sent to us ASAP. Our CEEB code is 1832. AP Scores can affect placements, so it is important they be sent on time.

You should contact your Academic Adviser as soon as possible to see if they can set up a make-up meeting with you. Meeting times will be based on your Adviser's limited availability. 

Nope, the algorithm that sorts out course enrollments doesn't consider timing. Requests submitted on Monday at 9:30 a.m. CDT will be treated the same way as those submitted Friday at 4 p.m. CDT.

No, there is no way to guarantee registration in all your course requests. It’s not realistic for everyone interested in a particular course to get a seat in a particular section due to seat and timing limitations. You are likely to not get 100% of the classes you request. There are strategies you can employ to increase your odds, though, including 1) making sure you don't request courses for which you don't have the prerequisites, 2) requesting alternative sections and back-up course options, 3) requesting courses at a variety of times, and 4) being thoughtful about how you rank and prioritize your selections. 

No, pre-registration for incoming first-years is restricted to courses commonly taken by first-year students. This means it's primarily courses for general education requirements, but you'll also be able to request some other courses that are particularly well-suited for first years. If you're a transfer student or in an unusual situation where a higher-level course makes sense for you in your first quarter, plan to request some back-up course options and talk to your Adviser about next steps.

HUMA 19100 is a writing seminar that is part of your registration for your Humanities class. You don't have to request it separately. It will be added to your schedule early on in Autumn Quarter by the Registrar's office. The times will be arranged with your Humanities instructor after the class begins.

Labs and tutorials will be assigned automatically around your other course enrollments. There is no way to indicate your preferences for days or times.

They'll be released in the portal on or around September 11.

Our goal is for you to have a complete schedule before you arrive for O-Week so that you can focus your energy on settling in and getting acquainted with campus. The more thorough you are in the course request process, the more likely you'll end up with a schedule that works for you. On occasion, conversations with the relevant department during O-Week will result in adjustments to your original placement, and that typically requires a schedule change to swap out the course based on the old placement in favor of a class reflecting the new one. Your Academic Adviser will help you navigate this when you meet with them during O-Week.

If you start in four courses and decide after a week or so that it'd be better for you to take three, that's fine. You have until Friday of 3rd week to drop a class without it appearing on your transcript. If you're considering this, be in communication with your College Adviser to ensure that you don't unintentionally drop something that will cause problems for you later on.

No, you'll want to go through pre-registration like other first-years. If you've submitted your transfer course information by mid-June, as requested, you should receive information from the Advising Office later in the summer about the outcome of your credit evaluation. There's a very good chance that you'll need a number of Core courses, so you'll be able to request some of those during Autumn quarter pre-registration. If you receive partial credit for something like Humanities, you'll need to complete it by starting a Hum sequence in Autumn and taking however many courses you need to satisfy the requirement. You may not be able to request relevant major-specific courses during pre-registration, but you can discuss a plan with your Adviser during your O-Week one-on-one meeting.

Yes. Since pre-reg for Humanities classes takes place before transfer students will receive their transfer evaluations, it’s important for you to select a Humanities sequence. If you do end up receiving transfer credit for humanities or social sciences, you may drop the class and select another.

Your UCID number is an 8-digit identification number that will likely start with "12." You can find it on the top of the email you received from Dean Ellison in early May. Your CNet is your UChicago email handle as well as the username you use to log in to campus resources online.

A placement exam is designed to identify the most appropriate first course for you to take in a particular subject (Math, Chemistry, Computer Science or languages other than English) by gauging your aptitude and prior knowledge. These online tests have been carefully designed by our faculty to ensure that they find the course that is an appropriate level of challenge for you. The goal is to push you to learn something new without completely overwhelming you. You cannot change your placement or register for something that doesn't match your official placement without express permission of the relevant department.

Everyone needs to take the Mathematics Placement Exam, regardless of math background, intended major, or plans (or lack thereof) to take math during college. Anyone interested in taking Chemistry, regardless of AP scores, should take the Chemistry Placement Exam. If you have prior experience in Computer Science and would like to pursue further study, you should take the Online Introduction to Computer Science Exam. If you've previously taken coursework in a language other than English, it's recommended that you take the appropriate language placement test, as well, even if you don't expect to resume studies immediately, or at all. See here for information about all these placements.

Placement tests are available on Canvas. Once you have claimed your CNet ID, you'll receive a notice a few days later that your placement tests are available. When in Canvas, you will see two enrollments - one of these is the language tests and the other is titled STEM. The mandatory math and optional chemistry placement tests are both located in the STEM course. The tests should be completed by July 21. If you miss the July 21 deadline, complete the placement test ASAP, but be aware that you may not have a placement set in time for your pre-registration window.

It may be helpful to review basic concepts or vocabulary prior to taking a test. Cramming or other intense practice before you take a placement test may result in a placement that is inappropriately high. Note that these tests measure skill in problem solving as well as general knowledge in subjects. It is more important to understand broad, central concepts than to memorize details. Placement tests are not designed to be competitive tools, but rather opportunities for students to assess themselves honestly.

Each test will provide information regarding the use of texts, notes, dictionaries, calculators, etc. Students are expected to submit responses that are their own and that reflect their ability in a given subject.

Students who need accommodations should contact the Student Disability Services (SDS) office as early as possible and well in advance of the deadline for completing the tests. SDS may be contacted by telephone at 773-702-6000 or by email at disabilities@uchicago.edu. Visit https://disabilities.uchicago.edu for more information.

Most of them are. Generally speaking, assume that once you start a test, you need to finish it in that one sitting. Be sure you plan to take the tests when you have an uninterrupted block of time!

Online placement tests must be taken prior to matriculation. Because most online placement tests impact Autumn registration, they should be completed by July 21 so that placements can be available in my.uchicago.edu prior to the start of the pre-registration period. Placements will be visible in your Student Portal on or around August 11.

Online placement tests do not award credit for past course work, nor may they be used to meet graduation requirements. They are designed only to identify the most appropriate course for you to take. Accreditation exams, which you will take during Orientation Week, do have the potential to award credit.

Contact the College Advising office. Be sure you include your name and your eight-digit UCID number.

They'll be in the portal on or around August 11.

In the case of Math coursework, you should register for the course indicated by the Mathematics Placement Test. The Math department is confident in the insight the test provides about your background knowledge, and they (and we) encourage you to try the course into which you place, even if you're apprehensive. If it becomes clear early in the quarter that it's not a good fit, talk to the department about adjusting your placement. Students with a strong math background who think they should be taking coursework beyond Calculus should see the next question.

For questions about placements in languages, Chemistry, Computer Science and Physics, see the appropriate department during O-Week. Your adviser will have information about consultation hours.

If you place into MATH 15300 Calculus III via the standard Mathematics Placement Test, you'll be invited to take the Higher-Level Mathematics Exam, which (as you might guess from the name) can place you into math courses beyond Calc. Find more info here.

Your Physics placement is determined by your math placement and AP scores, if relevant. It does not obligate you to take Physics.

Assuming it's a language we do offer at UChicago (and odds are that it is - we offer a lot of languages), you'll need to talk to the placement coordinator when you arrive on campus. See here for information.

You can (provided you have the proper placement), but that doesn’t mean you have to. College isn’t high school; taking honors courses isn’t necessary to demonstrate what you know or how well you know it. At UChicago, honors sequences are designed as rigorous introductions to a subject for those interested in advanced study, and they are often particularly well suited for those interested in research. 

In general, we encourage you to do the highest courses for which you have the prerequisites, but you're not obligated to take an honors course if invited to do so. You may or may not decide that it makes sense for you based on your goals for the course and how valuable an additional time investment in that subject would be for you. If you do decide to add an honors class to your schedule, you might consider adjusting your course load to ensure you have time to devote to the honors course.

If you're invited to take honors Calculus, be aware that there will be a higher-level math meeting during Orientation Week we'd recommend attending.

Assuming you're invited to more than one, it's possible. However, we do recommend you be cautious about doing so, since each of those will be a significant time commitment. If you're interested in doing this, we generally recommend doing only three total classes in Autumn, if at all possible. We encourage you to talk through the pros and cons of this plan with your Adviser over the summer.

There are always students who take the first quarter of an honors sequence and decide that it's not the right fit for them, which is totally fine. It's generally feasible to opt into the standard variant of the sequence come Winter quarter, but we'd recommend discussing it with your Adviser during your Autumn Quarter meeting.

You will be able to speak with the language coordinator for your language during Orientation Week to arrange your enrollment in the course. Try not to choose other courses that are at the same time so that, if you are able to add the class later, you won't have to change anything else in your schedule.

A concise guide to the Core can be found in the Degree Requirements section of this site. Additional details and information about courses that satisfy each requirement can be found in the College Catalog under “The Curriculum.”

All majors have a specified set of requirements needed to complete the major, and some of those requirements extend into the general education portion of the curriculum. Many – but not all – of these majors are in the Biological and Physical sciences. It’s extremely important that you familiarize yourself with the College Catalog, as this is where every major’s requirements are listed in detail, and failure to take the right courses even during your first year can mean certain majors are no longer doable. If a major does specify how you need to complete any general education requirements, it will be included on their program page in the Catalog under "Summary of Requirements." 

Note: if a requirement says e.g. "PHYS 13100 or above," it means PHYS 13100 and PHYS 14100 are acceptable, but lower numbers (PHYS 12100) are not. If it says e.g. "CHEM 11100 or equivalent," any General Chemistry I course (CHEM 10100, 11100, or 12100) is fine.

No. The Core is an integral part of the UChicago education, and courses satisfying those requirements are specifically designed for that purpose. All students are responsible for satisfying all seven Core area requirements, plus the language competency requirement, before they can be awarded a degree from the College.

Your Academic Adviser is a great place to start! You'll receive information on how to contact your Academic Adviser by late June, but Advising staff will be available for quick, general questions starting May 1 at (773) 702-8615 or via email at collegeadvising@uchicago.edu. During your first year at UChicago, you'll meet with your assigned College Adviser during Orientation Week and then once each quarter.

The sequence structure allows courses to build on each other term-to-term and creates a cohort among students in the class. As such, the requirements must be completed with courses from a single sequence, and those courses must be taken in consecutive quarters. So, no, you can't jump between sequences. This is why it's necessary to rank your preferences for multiple sequences that interest you in Humanities this June. Otherwise, you risk being enrolled in a sequence you may not have otherwise selected. It's also worth keeping in mind that many sequences change substantially from quarter to quarter, so even if it doesn't initially seem like a good fit, you may find it more to your liking as you continue. It's possible you might be able to switch to a new sequence before you start the sequence, but that's not always feasible. You can ask your Adviser about this during O-Week, but you are best off giving yourself a range of options during the pre-registration process.

There’s no right or wrong answer to this question. It all depends on how comfortable you are with fairly hefty reading loads and regular paper-writing. If you’re considering a major in the social sciences, it may not be a bad idea to take SOSC in your first year so you’ll be prepared to explore major courses in your second year. Many prospective humanities majors also opt to take HUM and SOSC together in first year, but if you’re thinking about a major in the natural sciences, it's very unlikely that that you'll have room in your schedule for SOSC until second year. Students thinking about taking SOSC during first year could take Civ instead. There are a number of sequences appropriate for first years. However, taking all three (HUM, SOSC, and Civ) at once tends to be a heavier reading load than is feasible. A good scheduling tip if you are taking HUM and SOSC together is to put one sequence on Mon/Wed and the other on Tues/Thurs to spread out your reading load.

Sequences are generally meant to build from course to course, so you are expected to take them in a particular order. You shouldn't plan, for example, to take the first quarter of a SOSC sequence and pick the rest up next year. Some Civ sequences are an exception to this. In cases where the faculty have decided that it's fine for you to take the courses in any order, it will say so in the sequence description in the College Catalog.

If you're starting a brand new language, yes, you'll need to complete the full beginning level. If you have prior knowledge in a language other than English, however, the requirement can be fulfilled in several different ways. They're described in the Language Competency section of this site, and you can find fuller details in the College Catalog.

If you plan to take Chemistry, you must take the math in which you’ve placed. This may not apply if your Math placement has you starting with a high-level mathematics course beyond Calculus.

You can find basic information about AP credit in the College Catalog.

There’s a very wide variety of faculty across the College who teach in Core courses. Some of them are tenured faculty whose names you might  recognize. Some are doctoral students. Harper-Schmidt Fellows are postdocs from around the country; it’s one of the most sought-after postdoctoral teaching fellowships around. What they all have in common is a dedication to the goals and values of the Core, regardless of their experience. While having a full professor in your first quarter might be a neat experience, they often only teach for a single quarter. Advanced graduate students and Harper Fellows may teach a sequence for an entire year. Getting to know an instructor for that long can be very enriching and rewarding – and can also lead to a heck of a recommendation for internships or other programs.

Make friends with the College Catalog early on. It can answer countless questions. Each department has a page under "Programs of Study" which includes a description of the requirements and a "Summary of Requirements" for quick reference. In addition to outlining the requirements for the major, the Summary of Requirements will also tell you if the major expects you to take particular courses to satisfy any of the Core requirements. The Catalog will also provide information on courses planned for the year. Perhaps just as important, contact information for the Departmental Chair, the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies, and/or other important departmental administrators can be found on each page in the catalog that describes a particular major. 

Nope. Not at all. Being undecided is totally fine. Spend your first year working on Core requirements. Think about what kinds of courses and material you most enjoy. Bounce ideas off of your College Adviser. Attend special lectures offered around campus. Attend the College major open houses that occur throughout the year. The curriculum is designed to give you plenty of time to think and experiment.

The key thing is to not cut yourself off from programs you might be interested in, which means that if there's any possibility that you might want to pursue an academic program that requires Calculus, for example, you should take it, or if you're entertaining a pre-health option, you should take General Chemistry along with your Calculus. That way, you give yourself the option of pursuing the program with the more restrictive requirements, and if you end up in a major that doesn't have specific expectations for the core, you can still use those credits to make progress toward completion of your core requirements. Not sure how to figure out if a major specifies how you are to complete Core? See the previous question.

With some exceptions, many majors do not begin until the end of first year or even second year. Remember, though, that a number of majors do specify how you are to complete certain core requirements as preparation for study in that field. So while you may not be taking courses in the major at first, you will be taking courses as preparation for the major.

Students typically take most (if not all) core courses in their first few quarters, but there are some classes that are particularly well suited for first years. That includes ECON 10000 Principles of Microeconomics, LING 20001 Intro to Linguistics, MUSI 15100 Harmony and Voice Leading I, CMSC 14100 Intro to Computer Science I (primarily for students interested in majoring in Comp Sci), and other courses meant to begin initial exploration of an area of study.

Once Autumn Quarter class times and locations are confirmed, you will be able to view them in the portal or at http://coursesearch.uchicago.edu. If you're talking about big picture scheduling (i.e. "I placed into GRMN 10300 and am not sure if it's offered in Autumn,") then you can find that in the College Catalog by navigating to the corresponding program page and searching the course listings at the bottom of the page. Each course will list what quarter the department anticipates offering that course. 

Nearly all courses in the College carry 100 units of credit. Units are the standard measurement of credit at UChicago (as opposed to semester hours, for instance). A quarterly schedule consisting of 300 or 400 units of credit is the equivalent of 3 or 4 courses and considered full-time enrollment for that quarter. A total of 4200 units of credit is the minimum number of units needed to graduate, and at least 3800 of your total credits must be earned via course enrollment, as opposed to things like AP credit.

Three or four courses (300-400 units of credit) is considered full-time. If you don't come in with any AP credit, you'll need four courses in at least six of your twelve quarters to hit the 4200 units of credit needed to graduate. Lots of first year students take three courses in Autumn quarter. 

No, 300 units (3 courses) is the minimum number possible, and 400 units (4 courses) is the maximum allowed. If you need to make some adjustments to your schedule during first week, you might temporarily drop below three, and that's fine. You need to be sure you're enrolled in at least three by the add/drop deadline. You cannot, however, temporarily go over four courses, even if you're just trying to adjust your schedule. 

Courses numbered 10000 are ordinarily general education or introductory courses. Courses numbered 20000 are intermediate, advanced, or upper-level courses that are open only to undergraduates. Courses numbered 30000 and above are graduate courses that are available only to undergraduate students who obtain the consent of the instructor. Higher-numbered courses within each of these categories do not necessarily indicate increasing levels of difficulty. For more information, see here.

This is called cross-listing, and when the numbers are in the 10000 and 20000 ranges, it generally indicates that the content of the course is relevant to students in multiple disciplines. In all but a few cases, these are just different labels for the exact same course. For instance, the Public Policy class called Environmental Law (PBPL 23100) is listed in the Catalog as having "Equivalent Course(s)" numbered LLSO 23100 and ENST 23100. In this case, Public Policy (PBPL), Environmental and Urban Studies (ENST), and Law, Letters, and Society (LLSO) have all assigned numbers to this one course, and it could reasonably count toward any of those majors.

Upper-level students may have already registered for courses for Autumn, which means seats in many courses may be taken. However, a lot of the classes first year students take (Humanities, Calculus, General Chemistry, etc.) will have minimal seats taken, since it's less common for students to take any of them in subsequent years. Some things, like SOSC, may look like they're at capacity, but the seat counts will be raised specifically to allow first years into those course sections.

Other times, the class in question may not have much - if any - space available. It's possible that a few seats might open up for during the add/drop period (during the first week of classes) or can be accessed with instructor consent, and you can talk to your adviser about that in greater detail during Orientation Week. However, you shouldn't plan for either of those methods in your first quarter. This means that if you have your eye on ARTV 10100, and it only shows that there are 3 seats left, you know you should have some back-up options in place. You may not get that class this term, and that's fine - you'll have your chance at it in future quarters.

You can find a link to them in the class schedule. See here for more information.

The College requires a minimum of 4200 units of credit to receive a bachelor's degree. Of total credits earned, at least 3800 must be earned by course enrollments (i.e. taking an actual course, including transfer credit). So if you come in with 600 units of AP credit, that's great and it'll give you a head start toward the 4200 credits needed to graduate, but you'll still need to take at least 38 courses.

For Autumn 2022 incoming first-year students, any course taken at the University of Chicago in Summer 2022 will count towards the overall number of credits needed to graduate as general elective credits. Courses taken in Summer 2022 cannot be used to meet Humanities, Social Science, or Civilization Core requirements. See the College Catalog and Summer Session FAQ for more details on transfer credit rules and summer course options.

The College offers a number of resources for international students to aid in the adjustment to life abroad. The Office of International Affairs can help with all logistical aspects, including visas and Optional Practical Training. For students for whom English is an additional language, the English Language Institute offers short courses to bolster speaking and writing skills; and the Core Tutors are an excellent source of help as well. You may also want to consider International Pre-Orientation before the start of Autumn Quarter. This is a chance to meet fellow international students and begin to discover Hyde Park and the city of Chicago.

Absolutely. Both Humanities and Social Sciences courses have dedicated writing assistance. Humanities courses have a mandatory writing seminar attached, in fact. Additionally, the College offers the Core Tutors program, a drop-in scheme for help in a number of subjects, including math and writing. Instructors also hold office hours where you can ask questions and receive help. It’s never too soon to start interacting with your instructors.

There is a process you must go through in order to officially set up accommodations through the Student Disability Services (SDS). The one caveat to this process is that accommodations will not be immediate. It will take time to set up any accommodations, so you should engage with the process as soon as you determine the need for accommodations from SDS.

Yes! You will be assigned to your Academic Adviser sometime towards the end of June. You will be required to meet with your Academic Adviser (either via phone or video conference) before Friday, August 11 in order to participate in Pre-Registration. If you have questions before you get your Adviser assignment, you can contact the College Academic Advising Office.

See here for information regarding confidential resources on the University of Chicago campus.

Yes, without a doubt! You can find a broader list of student resources by looking here.

Remember that your Autumn Quarter schedule is not final until September 15, so changes may occur as other pre-registration processes run. You will also have a chance to meet with your adviser during O-Week if you need a schedule change to accommodate a required major course.

Students will not be able to drop their Humanities courses themselves during add/drop. The ability to change Hum sections/sequences will be very limited and will only occur in special circumstances, such as to accommodate a required class or switch to a different mode of instruction for students who need remote sections.

In some cases, if your top choices were full, you may have been registered in one of your low-ranking choices. Since all students must have a Humanities course, if all of the sections you requested were full, then it is likely you were registered in a section that you did not bid on but that had open seats available.

Students who do not participate in pre-registration for a Humanities sequence will be placed in a sequence at random.