About Waitlists

When the capacity of a course fills you must add yourself to the waitlist as a way to ‘get in line’ to register. If a course has not yet filled you may not add yourself to the waitlist until the course fills. After a course fills, and a waitlist has formed, the only way into the course is by way of the waitlist, even if the registration system is showing a space available in the course. You can’t ‘jump the line.’

Adding a course to your waitlist does not count towards the minimum number of credits you need on your schedule to be considered full time (12 credits). There isn’t a limit to the number of courses you can have on your waitlist, however, you may only waitlist for one section of a course. (Example: You may not waitlist CS 111.01 and CS 111.02 at the same time.) Additionally, you may not register in one section of a course, and waitlist another. (Example: You can’t be registered for BIOL 125.52 and waitlisted for BIOL 125.59. This includes sophomore priority sections/waitlists.)

Waitlisting Sophomore Priority Courses

“Sophomore Priority” in the schedule means students will be allowed to register for a course in the following order: sophomores, first-year students, seniors, juniors. A senior or junior wanting to register for such a course should waitlist for the upper class waitlist (WL#) section only. Example: MATH 111.01 has an upper class waitlist section of MATH 111.WL1. Sophomores and first-year students would waitlist the MATH 111.01 section, while the juniors and seniors would waitlist the MATH 111.WL1 section. 

Receiving Permission to Register from a Waitlist

If you have waitlisted for a course, we encourage you to contact the instructor to signal the level of your interest and to attend the first meeting of this class. If the instructor lets you in via the waitlist, the Registrar’s Office will email you with permission to register for the course. Instructors grant permissions by emailing waitlist@carleton.edu. If permission to register is granted you will have the remainder of the day the permission is granted, plus 24 hours to register. You’ll need to check your Carleton email account regularly to receive this notification.

Registering After Receiving Permission to Register

After receiving an email from the Registrar’s Office notifying you that your waitlisting seat is available you will need to log on to your Hub account to claim your seat. In your Hub account you’ll click first on “Register for Courses,” then on “Manage my waitlist.” When in your “Manage My Waitlist” page you will use the drop down box to either register for the course or drop yourself from the waitlist. In this screen, you can also see the courses currently on your schedule. You may need to drop yourself from one of your registered courses to make room for the waitlisted course for which you’re registering. Always be sure to check My Course Schedule on the Hub to ensure you successfully registered for the course.

Registering from a Waitlist – Steps

  1. This is an example of an email you would receive from the Registrar’s Office to notify you that your permission to register from a waitlist course has been granted.
  1. Once on the Hub you will select Register for Courses from the Registration and Courses menu.
  1. A new menu will appear titled Register for Courses. You will click on Manage My Waitlist.

4. You will use the drop down menu on your waitlist to register for the course and click submit. If you need to make additional room on your schedule you can drop yourself from a course you’re currently registered for below the waitlist registration action.

 If you no longer wish to claim the seat, it’s the courteous thing to drop yourself from the waitlist so the instructor can offer a seat to someone else. 

5. You will know you’re successfully registered for the course when it appears on My Course Schedule on the Hub.

Waitlist FAQs

Can I waitlist for a course that’s scheduled at the same time as a course that’s already on my schedule?

Yes, you may waitlist for a course that meets at the same time as a course already on your schedule. You may not be registered for two courses that meet at the same time or have overlapping meeting times.

What if I receive a permission, but am not interested in taking the seat?

If you receive a permission to add a course, but you don’t want to take the seat, it’s best to log on to your Hub account to drop yourself from the waitlist and inform the instructor.

What happens if I don’t register on time?

In some cases, the instructor can re-grant permissions by emailing waitlist@carleton.edu again. However, in cases where there are more students waiting to receive permission to add a course from the waitlist, the instructor may no longer have enough space in the course and may deny re-granting the permission.

Am I allowed to receive permission to add a course late in the week of drop/add?

You may, however, an instructor can withhold permission if they feel you have missed too much of the course. This most frequently happens if you missed the first lab meeting of a course.

I’ve registered for the course; when will I have access to the course Moodle?

Prior to the start of the term, faculty have the option to hide their course Moodle so if it’s before the start of the term and you don’t see a course on your Moodle, but it’s on your schedule in the Hub, don’t panic it’s likely just hidden. If you know the course on Moodle is live, please note it may take an hour or two before your schedule and Moodle sync.