One of the most exciting things about starting college is having the opportunity to explore new, unfamiliar academic subjects and ideas. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by!

First, we’ll talk through the types of courses you might be thinking about taking or that are good to consider in your first term. Then we’ll walk through the process of viewing the schedule and creating a preferred course list ahead of registration.

A&I Courses and Additional Credits

Because you’ll already be registered for an A&I, you’ll want to register for at least 12 additional credits. Remember, you can only take one A&I (courses numbered 100, e.g. PHIL 100, HIST 100, ENGL 100), so while you are free to change your A&I during your registration time if there are seats available in another section, you cannot take two.

  • Please note that the Registrar’s Office will not change your A&I for you either before or after your registration priority time, so if you ask them to do so please be prepared for the answer to be no!
  • Also, the capacities on these courses are strictly enforced, so even if a faculty member tells you they’ll add you to their already-full A&I, the Registrar’s Office will not allow you to register for the course. You may change your A&I during your registration priority time provided that there are seats available in another A&I.

Language Courses and Other Courses

Many students place into a language course that is being offered in fall or have chosen to start a new language, and this fall is a great time to take that language course! This can be a good place to start your schedule search. If you have completed your language requirement, have placed into a course scheduled for later this year, or if your chosen language starts in a different term, your options for choosing your twelve credits are more open.

General Advice

Some students like to continue on with math or science courses in their first term to build on knowledge they gained in high school. Some students want to take courses to try out a possible eventual major. Some want to branch out into new subjects that were never offered in their high school. All of these approaches are fine, but here are a few words of advice:

  1. There is no “right” schedule for your first term at Carleton. Different students have different interests and so what is right for your roommate might not be right for you. The “right” schedule is a minimum of 18 credits, including one Argument & Inquiry seminar, in courses that are appropriate for you and your interests and abilities.
  2. Do not worry about courses you think you might “need” this term. There is no path at Carleton that is so strict or stringent that not getting into a specific course, or set of courses, in your first term will prove catastrophic. You should discuss this with your adviser during your one-on-one advising session during New Student Week, who can provide suggestions for how to plan out your academic choices over your first year and beyond.
  3. Do not worry about making progress in your major this term. We know everyone you know has asked you what you’re majoring in, and we know you’re excited about your major — it’s probably a big part of why you came to Carleton. But you aren’t majoring in anything yet! In fact, Carleton students don’t declare majors until ⅔ of the way through the sophomore year. 
  4. About ⅓ of your time at Carleton will be spent working on a major, about ⅓ of your time will be spent on your Liberal Arts requirements, and about ⅓ of your time will be spent exploring the curriculum and taking courses for the pure joy of learning. There is no better time than now to stretch and dive into an unfamiliar course, topic, or academic discipline. Again, these are good topics to discuss with your adviser.
  5. Don’t forget to check your test scores in Workday to make sure we have received all your AP, IB, or Carleton test scores. These prerequisites may impact your course choices.

With that, let’s talk over how you choose your courses.

Choosing your Courses

The Course Section Search task in Workday allows you to search our course schedule. It also shows you in real-time how many seats are available in courses. You can create a  a saved schedule of courses in Workday. Workday’s saved schedule is handy for making registration move quickly during your registration priority time. See Create a Saved Registration Schedule and Register from a Saved Schedule for more information. For more information see our guide on finding academic course sections or watch the following video.

Some courses may fill up prior to your registration. You can check available class seats prior to and during registration by using the Course Section Search task in Workday. See Find Academic Course Sections for more information. Current enrollment is listed under the Course Section Title.

Accessing Registration

You can find your registration priority time along with any other tasks that you must complete before you are able to register, at your Academics and Registration app in Workday. Remember – registration times are in Central Daylight Time.

On your registration day, you can register from a saved schedule. Remember to keep your eyes on the real-time schedule in Workday to make sure your chosen courses still have spaces available, which we’ll cover next.

Waitlisting

If a course has met its capacity of students and is now full, but you are still interested in taking the course, you can stand in a virtual line for the course by waitlisting it during registration, in the hopes that a seat will open up for you when the fall term begins. Register for the course as you would an open course. See Register or Wailist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.

You can also drop yourself from a waitlisted course via Workday, by accessing your registration and dropping the course. See Drop or ‘Late’ Drop from a Class for more information. You may waitlist for a course which conflicts with a registered course. You are not allowed to waitlist for multiple sections of the same course or for another section of a course in which you are enrolled. 

A waitlisted course does not count toward the minimum of 18 credits you should be registered for when you complete your pre-registration. If you waitlist a course, please be sure to still register for up to 18 credits just in case a seat doesn’t open up in your waitlisted course. You should contact the instructor directly to express your interest in taking their course. If you are approved to take the course, you will receive an email from the Registrar’s Office and they will manually register you for the course. You will have 48 hours to adjust your schedule to remove your unwanted course.

Waitlisting a course works differently after your first term. If you’re curious, you can see How Waitlists Work at Carleton for future terms.

Technical Problems

If you’re having difficulty navigating the registration process, contact the Registrar’s Office (507-222-4094, registrar@carleton.edu). Creating your saved schedule and resolving any technical issues prior to your registration time should help ensure that your registration goes smoothly.

After Pre-Registration

Stay tuned to your Carleton email: if the Registrar’s Office has suggestions to improve your schedule, they will contact you by email. During New Student Week, you will meet with your Liberal Arts Adviser and have an opportunity to review your schedule and make additional changes to it. Changes to registration after classes begin—including registering for waitlisted courses—must be completed online by you via Workday within published deadlines.