Registration Preference Order

During Round 1 and Round 2 of registration, where students enter requests and do not directly register, Polaris will allow more students to request a class than there are seats available. When there are more requests than seats, the registration preference order of the course is activated.

The registration preference order is determined by the faculty at the time the course is officially added to the curriculum and represents the order in which the seats should be distributed by class standing. This information is available in the Classfinder, click the down arrow to expand the course details.

When registration preferences are activated, some students are shut out and do not receive a seat in the class as there were not enough for all students requesting the class. When a student is shut out of a class, they receive a bump up in the registration preference order for that specific course in a future semester's registration cycle. Students should bear in mind that "priority for being shut out" does not guarantee a seat in the class in a future semester. Instead, it moves the student to the top of the group they fall under in the registration preference order.

Students are encouraged to check Polaris for their class standing and major/minor declarations in advance of registration and should pay close attention to a course's preference order as well as the number of pending requests in Classfinder during Rounds 1 and 2.

Students interested in changing their major or minor in time for it to be reflected for Round 1 or Round 2 processing need to have approvals sent to the Registrar no later than two days before the close of the round. See the Registrar's Calendar for the specific dates.