Course Registration Information

If you find that the course you want to take (or a section of it) is full, please place yourself on the wait list. This will give all students a chance to place themselves on the wait lists of their desired courses. We will then consider them in priority order based on their status (CS majors or other majors, senior/junior/sophomore/freshman) and on their need for the course, e.g. is the course needed for a specific degree requirement, or is the student close to graduation. Wait lists are processed periodically all the way until the semester starts.

Some courses, sections, or seats are reserved for certain populations (often majors, but sometimes students from other majors, or for freshmen during New Student Orientation in the summer). These reservations are not always visible in the registration process. Most of our lower-level courses (CISC220 and below) become available to all students after all registration appointments have completed (this semester, that date is Friday, November 18). So check back on or after that date to see if you can register.

Carefully check the prerequisites, either by looking up the course online or checking the catalog. Carefully check your transcript under UDSIS to see if it shows that you have the necessary coursework. Some of our courses require a minimum grade such as C- in the prerequisite. If you took the course at another institution, verify that the transfer-of-credit worked properly. If you need coursework from an institution evaluated, see the Registrar’s page on Transfer of Credit (www.udel.edu/transfercredit). If you think that everything is in the system correctly but you still can’t get in, complete our Web form.

These emails are sent by the Registrar’s Office when an automated job runs every night looking to see if students can be moved from the wait lists into the courses. It can be disconcerting to receive these emails, but please be aware that these emails are not under the control of the CIS Department. They can be safely ignored by you. Your position on the wait list is safe and you have not been removed from it. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING WHEN YOU RECEIVE THESE EMAILS. PLEASE DO NOT SEND US EMAIL AND PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE CIS DEPARTMENT because there is nothing we can do about them.

We are sorry but we cannot tell you your wait list position. Wait lists are constantly shuffled based on the priority of a student. For this reason, your position may change over time. The position you had when you initially got on the wait list is meaningless because that is not the order in which we process the wait lists. We also cannot predict your chances of getting into a course. That depends not only on your wait list position but also on how many seats become available in the course. We have no way of predicting whether or not any students will drop out from it. Our sincere advice to you is to have a Plan B in case you are not able to get into the course.

If you need a course substitution, need waiver or substitution of a degree requirement, or other issues concerned with the requirements of your major or minor, then you should fill the CIS Degree Requirement Substitution Form (https://forms.cis.udel.edu/user/form/5cdc9d576ea09a0490e925ba).

In classes with a lab, you register for the lab and it will automatically register you in the corresponding lecture. (All classes have a lecture component). The easiest way to see what lab sections go with what lecture is to look at the Registrar course guide list. The coupling between components is mandatory for computer science courses.  That is, you cannot “cherry-pick” the lecture and lab—you must pick the ones that go together.

Instructors for certain classes are not always determined until after the open registration period.  Instructor names will be added as permanent assignments are determined.

For additional registration help, please go to the following Registrar Help Page: http://www1.udel.edu/registrar/course-info-registration/register-for-classes/reghelp.html#time