Signing up for the classes you need can be a confusing and frustrating process. Even if you registered for classes on the very first day you were eligible to do so, you may find that some (hopefully not all) of the classes you want are already full. Most colleges and universities use a waitlist as a backup system for students who also want the class. Although you should check with your specific school as to how your waitlist works, here are some basic facts about how waitlists work.
When you try to register online or by phone for a class that is already full, you will be given the option to be put on the waitlist. It's a good idea to do so, even if you are told you are some dismal place way down on the list. Students frequently change their schedules before classes start, and when an already enrolled student drops from a full class, the student who is next in line on the waitlist automatically takes his or her place on the roster. Therefore, a student who is placed moderately far down the waitlist may find himself or herself surprised to be enrolled on the first day of class. Save yourself from that kind of surprise, however, by logging into your college’s registration system and monitoring your waitlist position every day. You may move rapidly up some waitlists and have an excellent chance of making it into the class; other waitlists, however, may not change much at all. As the first day of class gets closer, you may have to make a decision whether to stay on a waitlist or try to get into other classes.
If you’re unsure whether to give up your place on a waitlist, you may want to find out whether your instructor will be accepting additional students over the official class limit. You can do this by asking other students who’ve taken classes with that instructor, asking an academic advisor, or, the best choice of all, contacting the instructor and asking him or her directly. There will be a wide variety of responses to this question and you need to respect the answer you receive. Some instructors never take extra students. They stick with the roster of enrolled students from the first day of class and that is that. Other instructors may take extra students in anticipation that a percentage of enrolled students will either drop the class or not show up at all. Another group of instructors do not mind having a few students over the limit in their classes and will automatically provide add codes to a certain number of students that were on the waitlist the day before classes started. Keep in mind that instructors are not obligated to take any extra students at all. Begging, pleading, getting sarcastic, or otherwise putting pressure on an instructor to add you when he or she has already said no will rarely have good results and may wind up with you making a negative impression on someone who you will have to deal with later in your college career.
Waitlists no longer automatically roll students into the regular roster after the first day of class, and the waitlist will even disappear from some schools’ registration systems. If you are fairly high on the waitlist (my suggestion would be no lower than 15th), show up on the first day of class with an add card in hand if your campus requires one. Even though individual instructors’ policies vary, many of them will immediately drop students who do not show up for the first day of class and that may make room for you. This is especially true in today’s higher education climate where budget constraints have limited colleges from being able to offer as many classes to accommodate the number of students who want to take them.
Make sure that you pay your registration and tuition fees on time to keep your class schedule, including your place on any waitlists. If your schedule is cancelled for non-payment of fees, you lose both your place in classes you successfully enrolled in and your place on any waitlists for classes. If you re-register for a full class after you’ve already been dropped from the waitlist, you will be placed at the bottom of the list. Even worse, if you were already enrolled in a class then dropped, you may find yourself at the bottom of a waitlist when you re-register.
Three of the four classes I am scheduled to begin teaching in 3½ weeks already have waitlists. Right now they are short, and those students stand an excellent chance of getting into my classes because they registered in a timely manner and are choosing to exercise a little patience. Waitlists are a great thing, but always have a backup plan for other classes you can take. This may mean monitoring your college’s registration system quite closely as the first day of classes approaches, but if your diligence results in you getting a good class schedule, it is all worth it.
