Adding yourself to the waitlist for an individual course section

About waitlists 

  • A waitlist may be set up when a course section is full. If you try to register in a course that is full and has a waitlist, you will be added to the waitlist until a seat becomes available for you to register.
  • Adding yourself to a waitlist does not guarantee that you will be able to register in the course. You will only be able to register in the course if you receive an invitation to register once a seat opens.
  • You can add yourself to as many waitlists as you want.

How to add yourself to the waitlist for an individual course section

First, find a course section

Follow the steps to view the course schedule.

Add yourself to the waitlist of an individual course section 

  1. Once you have found the course section you want to join the waitlist for, click the course title to go to the “View Course Section” page.
  2. Review the course description for the registration requirements. These may include prerequisite and corequisite courses, or additional sections you must also enrol in. Learn more about prerequisite and corequisite courses in the Academic Calendar.
  3. Click the white “Register” button at the bottom of the page if you want to join the waitlist.
  4. You will be taken to a page titled “Register for Course Section”. Select a section for each required activity. Be sure to check the “Section Status” column of each activity. Some required activities may have space while others are full, with a waitlist.
  5. Follow the steps for the scenario that best matches your situation:
    • The course has only one required course activity, which has a waitlist.
    • The course has multiple required course activities, each with a waitlist.
    • The course has one required course activity with a waitlist and another course activity that has seats available.

Example Scenario 1: The course has only one required course activity, which has a waitlist.

If your selected course has only one required course activity, such as a lecture, and it has a waitlist, you will be added to the waitlist of that course section. To register in this course section, you must wait until a seat is available.

  1. On the “Register for Course Section” page, check the box in the “Select” column next to the course section you want to join the waitlist for.
  2. Click the orange “Register” button at the bottom of the page to save your registration.
  3. Review the confirmation page. The course you selected will appear in a “Waitlisted Courses” table.

Example Scenario 2: The course has multiple required course activities, each with a waitlist.

If your selected course has more than one required course activity (e.g., a lecture and a tutorial) and each of them has a waitlist, you will be added to the waitlist for all of them. You must receive an invitation to enrol in all course activities before you can register.

  1. On the “Register for Course Section” page, check the box in the “Select” column next to the course activities you want to join the waitlist for.
  2. Click the orange “Register” button at the bottom of the page to save your registration. You will be added to the waitlist for all the required course activities.
  3. Review the confirmation page. The course activities you selected will appear in a “Waitlisted Courses” table.

Example Scenario 3: The course has one required course activity with a waitlist and another course activity that has seats available.

If your selected course has one required course activity with a waitlist and another course activity that has seats available, you will be added to the waitlist for the unavailable course activity. To register in the course fully, you must receive an invitation to enrol in the unavailable course activity, even if other required courses activities have seats available.

For example, there may be an open seat in the lecture section for a course, but the required lab section is full. You won’t be able to register for the lecture until a seat for the lab section becomes available for you.

  1. On the “Register for Course Section” page, check the box in the “Select” column next to the course activity you want to join the waitlist for and the available course activity you’d like to register in.
  2. An orange alert will appear in the top right corner of the page. Click the alert to view the message about getting on the waitlist.
  3. Click the orange “Register” button at the bottom of the page to save your registration.
  4. Review the confirmation page. The waitlisted course activity you selected will appear in a “Waitlisted Courses” table, while the available course activity will appear in a “Not Registered Courses” table under “Unsuccessful Registrations”.Your registration in the available course activity will be unsuccessful because you were not able to register in all the required activities of the course. Later, if you receive an invitation to enrol in the waitlisted activity, and the other required activities still have seats available, you can register in the course fully.

Next steps

Now that you’re on the waitlist, you must wait until a seat becomes available to you. Learn how to enrol in the course when you receive an invitation to register.

Additional resources

• Viewing your waitlisted courses
• Registering in a course from the waitlist
• Adding a course waitlist to your saved schedule