Waitlisting

Student walking by fountain.What is Waitlisting?

Waitlisting gives students the choice to "get in line" for a closed class section and be notified if a seat becomes available. If you waitlist, you will not automatically be registered. If notified of an available seat, you must take action and register. If you don't register by the expiration day/time indicated in the notification email, you will be dropped from the waitlist. Not every class section has a waitlist option.

Here is How the Waitlist Works

If a student attempts to enroll in a closed class that has the Waitlist Option:

  • The student received the "Closed – # Waitlisted" message.
  • The student has the option to elect to waitlist the closed class section.
  • You can view the available seats/waitlisted seats in My Portal Self-Service under "Look up Classes."
  • If the student elects to waitlist he/she is not registered.
  • When a seat becomes available in the class, the first student on the waitlist is notified via their My Portal email.
  • You do not have to keep checking the Schedule of Classes to see if a seat becomes available.
  • The student has a specified time period noted in the email to add the class in My Portal.
  • If the student decides not to register or the time period expires, the next student on the waitlist will be notified.
  • To see waitlist position, students need to click on Schedule Details on the course they are waitlisted for. If on a waitlist, it will be highlighted in GREEN on the right hand side of the screen. Go to the bottom of the page to see the waitlist position near the end of the Message line. The waitlist position is updated as positions become available and students on the waitlist move to register status or drop themselves from the waitlist.

Waitlisting Basics

  • Waitlisting is on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Waitlisting is available through the last day of regular registration and closes at midnight before the first day of class. After waitlisting has ended, it will be "business as usual," including the use of capacity overrides, during the first week of classes for add/drop.
  • Waitlisting is not registration and does not guarantee a seat in the class or ever indicate the student is registered for the class.
  • Waitlisting holds a spot in the queue should a seat become available. You can view what spot you hold on the waitlist in your My Portal account. You will see the waitlisted course on your student schedule as waitlisted but not registered.
  • Waitlisting provides error checking before adding to the waitlist. Only qualified students can waitlist. So if you are missing a co-requisite or pre-requisite or the course has any other restriction you don't qualify for, you can't waitlist for that section.
  • You cannot waitlist for a section of a course when you are already registered or waitlisted for another section of that course. (i.e. a duplicate course).
  • You cannot waitlist for a section that is in time conflict with another section for which you have registered or waitlisted.
  • Waitlist sends an automatic email notification 24/7 when a seat opens.
  • The email notification has an expiration day and time in the notice that the seat opened (typically 48 hours until closer to the semester start when that time may be reduced). The time of the delivery of the email is when the clock begins, not when the email is opened.
  • There is no automatic enrollment in the course. The student needs to take action to register when they get the email notification that a seat is available.
  • Waitlisted courses do not count in the total credits you are registered for. So if you need to be halftime or fulltime you should register for another course. If a seat becomes available in the course you waitlisted and you are notified, then you can re-arrange your schedule if you want.
  • Make sure you have a back-up plan in case a seat does not open up in the section you chose.
  • If you have reached the maximum allowable credits for a semester, you will need to drop a course before attempting to register for the waitlisted section if a seat becomes available.
  • If you are no longer interested in registering for a section for which you have waitlisted, drop yourself from the waitlist right away. This will free up the available spot and the next student on the waitlist will move up. You can drop yourself from a waitlist anytime during registration and are encouraged to do so if you are no longer interested in the class.
  • If you need assistance or are faced with a registration error that you cannot resolve, contact the Office of the Registrar or check with your advisor.

Additional Information for Faculty

  • Faculty can see the names of the students who are waitlisted for their class section in My Portal on the class list for the specific CRN.
  • In order for waitlisting to work correctly, capacity overrides cannot be accepted for courses where there is a waitlist in place.
  • Faculty will still be able to override other restrictions such as pre-requisites, co-requisites and other restrictions, when applicable in their department for the student to get on the waitlist, by using the Override Permission Form that is processed in the college office.
  • Many departments may choose to use waitlisting as a method to track course demand and determine if new sections are needed. (This typically only works if all section(s) of a course are closed.)