Course Registration

• Log in to Polaris
• What is Polaris?
• Student Guide to Polaris
• Registration Guide to Polaris

All students at Bowdoin participate equally in course registration, regardless of class standing. For that reason, course registration happens in rounds so that all students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, have ample opportunity to create their optimal schedule and maintain progress to the degree.

• Registration Instructions
  
  • PDF versions of the course schedule
  • Course Selection Advice
  • Guide to Registration in Polaris
• Independent Studies (request form)
• Department Honors Projects (request form)
• Music Lessons are handled by the music department (fall 2021 request form) 
  
• Auditing Information 
  
  • Note: the College is still assessing the possibility for auditing fall 2021 courses and will announce the decision in summer 2021
• Bates-Bowdoin-Colby Cross-Registration

Students may apply a maximum of 4 credits from Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, other international exams, and college credit earned elsewhere prior to matriculation. Although more credits can be included in your record, only 4 can count towards the 32 credits required for the degree.

Interested students should visit the Credit for Pre-Matriculation Exams page for more details. 

Pre-approval is required in order to transfer credit earned elsewhere to the Bowdoin degree. Interested students should read the policies governing transfer credit below and contact the Office of the Registrar with questions.

• Transfer Credit: Policies & Instructions
• Application for Transfer of Credit 

When students matriculate, they become part of the "Class of" the year of anticipated graduation. This designation does not change during a student's time at Bowdoin. A student's class standing, however, is based on a combination of credits earned after matriculation and number of semesters enrolled at Bowdoin, so it can shift. 

Students may email registrar@bowdoin.edu about applying for advanced class standing after registration has occurred during the semester in which they are a first-semester junior.

The Recording Committee is a standing committee of the College composed of faculty, students, and staff whose purpose is to address matters pertaining to the academic standing of individual students and to consider exceptions to the policies and procedures governing academic life.

• Recording Committee
• Recording Committee Petition Form