Student Waitlist Policy

The following approach to waitlist was adopted by the campus, with the goal of increasing its utility as a tool that accurately reflects student demand for schedule courses and course sections. This approach has the effect of assuring respect for established limits on class size while not adversely affecting overall enrollment. It remains the responsibility of the Academic Unit to determine if waitlists will be used for a course and to set the maximum limit for a waitlist.

Guidelines

The opportunity for students to waitlist courses is available during the registration period and will remain open through the first eight days of classes for a full term, and the first three days of classes during a half term. During this time, students may add or drop their names to/from waitlists.

• Students may not waitlist for more than one section of a multi-section course
• Students may not waitlist a section of a course if already registered for a section of the same course
• A Student who places their name on a waitlist for a specific section agrees to automatic registration in the section if space becomes available during the registration/drop/add period or if a new section is opened at a meeting time/day identical that of the existing section.
  • Movement from the waitlist to a registered status in a course will occur prior to the beginning of the term and throughout the registration and add/drop period if space becomes available. This process is managed by the Office of the Registrar.
  • There is no guarantee that space will open in the waitlisted course.
• Students will receive, via official UM-Dearborn email, notification that a waitlisted course has been added to their schedule.
• The same standard of pre-requisite and time conflict checking will apply to waitlisted courses.
• Students are responsible for verifying that their schedule and student status will accommodate the waitlisted course. In the event that it does not (due to time conflicts, maximum credit hour limits, etc.), the waitlist request cannot be honored.
• Students who no longer want to be considered for an open space in a waitlisted course should remove the waitlisted course from their schedule. To be removed from a course waitlist, login, select Register for Classes, and select the drop code from the drop down menu on the course.

During the add/drop period:

• Office of the Registrar manages the enrollment in the waitlisted courses during the add/drop period with the except of the following:
  • Opt-In courses that have the Instructor Approved Add registration restriction code.
    • Instructors begin monitoring the waitlists for courses with this registration restriction starting the second week of classes in a full term.
• Students who are on the waitlist for a course will have viewer access to Canvas. This allows you to see the syllabus and assignments, but does not allow you to submit assignments or engage in the course. Viewer access to Canvas does not mean that you are registered for the course, so you should continue to review your registration during the add/drop period. If you are not added to the course from the waitlist, you will no longer have viewer access to Canvas after the add/drop period is over.
• Individual faculty will have the authority, but under no circumstances, any obligation, to authorize the enrollment of a student into a section outside of the waitlist process. If the instructor of a course authorizes permission for a student to get into a class during the first two weeks of the term (first week of a half term), and the course is not included in one of the exceptions listed above, they will do so with the possible effect of exceeding the established enrollment limit for the course.

For questions regarding the Waitlist Policy, please contact the Office of the Registrar, [email protected]