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Understanding course waitlists

This tutorial applies to both undergraduate and graduate students on the Okanagan campus.

A waitlist may be set up in Workday 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.

Learn more about course waitlists and what to do if a course is full.

Before proceeding:

  • You can add yourself to a waitlist for individual courses or add a course waitlist to your saved schedule.
  • If a course has multiple course activities (e.g., a lecture and a lab), the waitlist generally applies only to the graded course activity (typically the lecture).
  • When a waitlist is active, non-graded activities like labs will show zero available seats. You can only register in a non-graded course activity after you are offered a seat in the graded course activity.
  • 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.
  • To join a waitlist, you must meet any course registration requirements that are viewable in the course section details, including any prerequisites and corequisites. Learn more about prerequisite and corequisite courses in the Academic Calendar.

How to check if a course section has a waitlist

Navigate to the course schedule

Follow the instructions to view the course schedule.

Review the section status

Once you’ve found the course section you want, check the section status in the line below the section title.

  • If the section status is “Waitlist”, then a waitlist has been opened for that course section.
  • If the section status is “Open”, you can register directly into the course if you are eligible.
  • If the section status is “Closed”, then the course is full.

View the waitlist capacity

Courses with a waitlist will also show a “Waitlisted/Waitlist Capacity” below the section title.

“Waitlisted/Waitlist Capacity” refers to the number of students currently on the waitlist and the maximum number of students who can be on the waitlist. For example, a “Waitlisted/Waitlist Capacity” of 2/50 means that there are currently 2 students on the waitlist, and the waitlist can hold a maximum of 50 students.

Additional resources

Other Course registration tutorials

  • Adding yourself to the waitlist for an individual course section
  • Creating, viewing and registering from a saved schedule
  • Dropping a course
  • Registering for individual course sections
  • Registering in a course from the waitlist
  • Resolving a hold on your academic record
  • Swapping a course
  • Troubleshooting registration
  • Troubleshooting saved schedules
  • Understanding course waitlists
  • Viewing the course schedule
  • Viewing your registration appointment
  • Viewing your waitlisted courses
  • Withdrawing from a course