Registrar's Office

North College
237 High Street
Middletown, CT 06459
registrar@wesleyan.edu
1-860-685-2810

 

COURSE REGISTRATION

New students will have several opportunities to ultimately enroll in four full-credit courses.

  • Pre-Registration Planning (July-August)
  • Pre-Registration Adjustment (August)
  • Drop/Add (August-September)

In addition to the above registration periods, new students will also need to complete the following tasks to assist in course registration and the assigning of a faculty advisor.

  • Academic Interest Questionnaire (June)
  • Placement Exams (June)
  • Pre-Registration Adjustment Preparation (July/August)

For detailed information about the pre-registration planning and adjustment periods, be sure to review:

  • Academic Interest Questionnaire

    The Academic Interest Questionnaire is available as part of your Academic Road Map. To complete the questionnaire, finish the steps on Phase 1 of the Academic Road Map.

    This information will assist in assigning your faculty advisor, as well as providing valuable information to your class dean and faculty advisor and is a required submission.

    We will do our best to assign a faculty advisor with whom you share an academic interest.

  • Advising Guidelines

    Exploration is a hallmark of liberal learning. Take your first year at Wesleyan to explore the rich and exciting curriculum, a curriculum that will continue to broaden your knowledge and deepen your understanding of the world and the nature of knowledge as you move forward. Discovering new intellectual realms and methodologies while diving deeper into those you love allows you to develop new perspectives and hone your academic skills. The hard part will be to narrow down the courses you want to take, so it is important to think carefully about how to craft a well-balanced and manageable course schedule across the disciplines that both highlights and stretches your intellectual curiosity and creativity.

    Therefore, you should examine the Advising Guidelines while registering for courses. Highlights include:

    • Academic Support and Resources
    • Advising Guidelines for a Balanced Four-Course Schedule
    • Foreign Language Study
    • General Education Expectations
    • Meeting with your Faculty Advisor
    • The Natural Sciences
    • Placement Tests and AP/IB Credit
    • Pre-Registration Planning: Getting Started with WesMaps
    • Structured Majors at a Glance

    If you have questions or concerns as you develop your course plan this summer, you can contact the Academic Peer Advisors at peeradvisors@wesleyan.edu or your Class Dean.

  • Contact

    If you have any questions about the registration system, please contact the Office of the Registrar via email to registrar@wesleyan.edu.

  • Course Registration Timeline

    All pre-registration times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

    9am Monday, July 8 - 4:30pm Thursday, July 25

         Pre-Registration Planning*

    • This phase requires you to build a plan with courses of interest. There is no benefit to building your plan on July 8 vs July 25. After the planning period closes, the Registrar's office will run a process to create schedules based on their planning lists for all participating students. The final schedule will be released by mid-afternoon on Friday, July 26.

    • For most first-year students, you will have two lists to build:
      • First Year Seminar (FYS) options: this is a drop-down list of all FYS options offered next year for fall and spring.
      • Courses appropriate for a first-year student: to select these courses, use the WesMaps screen above your lists and when you find a course of interest, select the "Add to My Courses" button to add it to the list. If you are not eligible for a course, you'll receive a warning message explaining why.

    • For Transfer students, you will have one list:
      • Courses appropriate for first-year or incoming new students: to select these courses, use the WesMaps screen above your lists and when you find a course of interest, select the "Add to My Courses" button to add it to the list. If you are not eligible for a course, you'll receive a warning message explaining why.

    3pm Friday, July 26 - 8:59am Monday, July 29

         Pre-Registration Adjustment Preparation*

    • During this phase, you will see the courses you were scheduled into after the planning period. You'll be allowed to add courses of interest to a list, but will not actually be enrolling in these courses yet. You should be preparing for when the adjustment phase opens. Having courses of interest already marked will make for a smoother adjustment period.

     9:00am Monday, July 29 - 4:30pm Thursday, August 1

         Pre-Registration Adjustment*

    • During this phase, you will be able to make adjustments to your schedule. The system will be live. Be sure to utilize advice from your advisor.

    8:30am Monday, August 26 - 5pm Friday, September 13

         Drop/Add*

    • During this phase, you will be able to continue to make adjustments to your schedule. Acceptance into a course at this time is based on instructor approval.

    *See the categories below for more information about each phase of the pre-registration process.

  • Drop/Add

    Drop/Add begins at 8:30am on Monday, August 26 and ends at 5pm on Friday, September 13.

    To be eligible to participate in Drop/Add, all students are required to click the "Enroll Me" button in WesPortal.

    During this time, students can:

    • submit unranked Drop/Add enrollment requests for instructor approval
    • drop enrolled courses
    • register for tutorial courses and student forums
    • discuss the four full credit course limit with their faculty advisor
    • finalize crosslistings, grading mode, and general education designations

    Per the EPC Statement, unless registered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class (in writing, by email or in person), the instructor can drop a student from his/her class list.

    More information is available here.

  • First-Year Seminars

    All first-year students should rank seven First-Year Seminar (FYS) courses during the pre-registration planning period. During the scheduling process, all first-year students will be assigned to one FYS course from either the upcoming fall or spring semester.

    The other courses for new first-year students will come from the "Courses Ranked for Scheduling" list in your planning page.

  • Foreign-Language Study

    Foreign-Language Study is a Good Idea for Every Student!

    We assume if you have reasons to learn a particular language (to study, work, travel, or live abroad or for resources not fully available in English translation), you already know why it is important.

    Taking foreign-language courses in your first year will also ensure that you are prepared to undertake study abroad if you decide to do so down the road.  Studying abroad is incredibly rewarding, as you will hear from other Wes students who have immersed themselves in languages and cultures around the world.  Be sure to review the Foreign-Language information in your Academic Roadmap.
  • Placement Exams

    All new students interested in taking a math or language course should take the appropriate placement exam before Pre-Reg Planning. Students will only be eligible to rank math and language courses that have required pre-requisites during Pre-Reg Planning in July if they have received the course recommendation based on the placement exam. Therefore, it is important that students complete the appropriate placement exams before the end of Phase 1.

  • Pre-Registration Adjustment

    The Pre-Reg Adjustment system will be open from 9:00am Monday, July 29 - 4:30pm Thursday, August 1.

    The system will open in a staggered-order fashion based on the number of full credit courses received during scheduling. See your scheduling results for your adjustment start date/time.

    During this time, students can:

    • enroll in available courses
    • drop enrolled courses
    • assign ranked Drop/Add requests
    • submit POI/prereq requests
    • search WesMaps for available courses
    During this time, advisors can:
    • take action electronically/remotely
    • approve enrollments/drops
    • deny enrollments/drops
    • request a discussion regarding enrollments/drops ("See Me" option)
  • Pre-Registration Adjustment Preparation

    Scheduled courses will be posted and available to students and advisors in WesPortal by 3pm on Friday, July 26 Pre-Reg Adjustment Preparation will end at 8:59am on Monday, July 29.

    Students should access the adjustment system before their official adjustment time to prepare. Since adjustment is in real time, it is important for students to take the time now to search WesMaps for courses to add to their "not scheduled" list. Students who wait to find courses risk losing available seats to other students.

    During this time, students can:

    • review course enrollments
    • assign ranked Drop/Add requests
    • submit POI/prereq requests
    • add courses to "not scheduled" list
    • search WesMaps for courses to pursue during Adjustment and Drop/Add
  • Pre-Registration Planning

    From 9am Monday, July 8 - 4:30pm Thursday, July 25, eligible students will build a ranked course plan of Fall courses via WesPortal>Student>Orientation Checklist & Resources>Pre-Registration. Students should consult the resources available below, search for available/appropriate courses in WesMaps and create a ranked plan of seven courses.

    First-year students will also submit a 1-7 ranked plan of first-year seminar courses.

    All Fall undergraduate courses are available to new students, as long as:

    • there are seats available in the course
    • the student's class bin is NOT equal to "X"
    • the Permission of Instructor (POI) is NOT required
    • the student meets the course pre-requisites based on the placement exam course recommendations

    After Pre-Reg Planning closes, the ranked plans will be run through a scheduling algorithm that will attempt to enroll each student in their ranked courses.

    Note the following regarding the scheduling algorithm:

    • students can be enrolled in a maximum of four full credit courses, but more if the additional courses are partial credit
    • it is appropriate for ranked plans to include time conflicts, but students will NOT be scheduled into a time conflict
  • Pre-Registration Planning: FAQ

    Adding Courses to "Courses Ranked for Scheduling"
    Courses can only be added to this 1-7 ranked list via the individual course pages in WesMaps. Here is an example on how to add courses to your ranked plan: 1. In the upper frame (WesMaps), click "Astronomy." 2. Click "Courses Offered." 3. Click "ASTR105-01." 4. Click "Add to My Courses."

    AP/Placement Tests
    Students are advised to rank courses based on the department's course recommendations. These recommendations serves as prerequisite overrides when appropriate. If necessary, students will be able to make changes during Orientation and once classes begin. Students should confirm recommendations via WesPortal>Courses>Placement Scores & Recommendations.

    Deadline
    The deadline to complete course rankings is 4:30pm ET on Thursday, July 25.

    First Year Seminars
     Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in a First Year Seminar during the Fall or Spring semester. FYS courses will introduce students to a variety of topics ranging from Greek myth to neuroscience. Some of these classes treat a specific thinker (e.g., Kafka); others provide a sweeping introduction into an interdisciplinary area of study that may be new to first-year students (e.g., animal studies). All of these classes, however, will emphasize the importance of writing at the university level. Students in first year seminars will become familiar with the methods used to collect, interpret, analyze, and present evidence as part of a scholarly argument. Faculty teaching these classes will also highlight the type of writing associated with their respective disciplines, and help students develop, compose, organize, and revise their writing. All first year seminars will have assignments totaling at least 20 pages, and will feature oral or written feedback on student writing; many will also employ peer-mentoring and writing tutors. FYS are limited to 15 students.

    GenEd Status: NOT COMPLIANT
    You can ignore this status at this point because you have not yet completed any Wesleyan courses. The inclusion of courses that fulfill Wesleyan's general education expectations is vital to the student's educational experience at Wesleyan.

    Multiple/Any Section
    If you have interest in multiple sections of a course, it would be best to rank the course once, click the "Section" button, select multiple or ANY section and click "Save Changes."

    Permission of Instructor & Prerequisite Override Requests
    Students will be able to submit electronic requests during Adjustment Preparation, which begins at 9am on Monday, August 1. Instructors are not obligated to approve these requests and may leave them as pending. You'll have an additional opportunity to request these courses during drop/add.

    Pre-Reg Scheduling
    After Planning closes, the scheduling program will attempt to enroll students in 4 full credit courses based on the ranked plans. The algorithm does NOT give preference based on when the plan was built during planning.

    Ranking Courses
    Ranking a course more than once will NOT increase the chance of being scheduled. Therefore, it is NOT advisable.

    Saving Pre-Reg Plan
    The pre-reg system will auto-save your course rankings, and you can also click the "save" button. There is no "submit" button.

    Scheduling Results
    Course enrollments and faculty advisor assignments will be released by 3pm on Friday, July 26.

    WesMaps Search
    The most effective and efficient method to finding available and eligible courses is via the WesMaps Search. Students can further customize the search criteria, but the following will produce a list of courses that all new students should consider making part of their ranked plan.

    • Semester=Fall 2024
    • Class Year=First Year
    • Only show courses without PreReqs=check
    • Only show courses without POI=check
    • Only show courses with Seats Available=check
  • Resources

    Academic/Advising Resources

    Academic Calendar

    Academic Peer Advisors

    Advising Guidelines

    Class Deans

    Faculty/Student Advising Handbook

  • WesMaps

    WesMaps is the online course catalog.

    The most effective and efficient method to finding available and eligible courses is via the WesMaps Search. Students can further customize the search criteria, but the following will produce a list of courses that all new first year students should consider making part of their ranked plan.

    • Semester=Fall 2024
    • Class Year=First Year
    • Only show courses without PreReqs=check
    • Only show courses without POI=check
    • Only show courses with Seats Available=check
  • Scheduling Process

    After pre-registration planning closes, a scheduling process will be run, which attempts to register all incoming students in four full-credit courses. For incoming first-years, this comprises of one FYS course in fall or spring and additional fall courses to total four full-credit courses. Completely filling out all lists in the planning phase will increase your chances of a full, fall schedule.

    Student schedules will be viewable during the pre-registration adjustment preparation phase. Be mindful of the Course Registration timeline (above) and make sure you check your Wesleyan email frequently throughout the summer for important deadlines.