Waitlisting is a function that academic departments may employ that allows students to add to a waitlist for a course that is closed. Once a student has waitlisted for a course section, they will receive notification via email if a seat becomes available in that section. Waitlisted students are notified on a "first-come-first-serve" basis, and once the notification is received, they will have a specified window of time to register for the course. The email notification will specify your window of time. Students will have 12 hours to register for the course section after notification. Waitlisting is not registration or enrollment in the courses.
Departments that are currently using the waitlist function for one or more course sections:
- Biology
- Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Literature, Media and Communication
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Medical Physics
- Modern Languages
- Nuclear and Radiological Engineering
- Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Physics
- Scheller College of Business (ACCT and MGT)
Additional departments may employ the waitlisting option. For the most up-to-date information, please use the Schedule of Classes search described below.
Registering for a Course with a Waitlist
(Note, steps 1 through 6 are the same as Registering for a basic course. Please see Step 7 if you are familiar with how to find courses in OSCAR.)
Step 1. Go to OSCAR or through BuzzPort, the OSCAR Registration tab.
Step 2. Once on the OSCAR Registration landing page, select the top right option labeled, “Register for Classes”.
Step 3. Login through the Georgia Tech login service.
Step 4. Select the term you wish to register.
Step 5. There are several options to find your desired course. On the default tab, you will be able to search via subject (College or School), course number, or a keyword. You may switch tabs to the right of your current tab to search via CRN. You may also see the advanced search options to view by specific professors, campus, time slot, and more. You may also press search with no filled in information to see all courses during your selected semester.
Step 6. Once you have filled out your class information and pressed search, you will be taken to a search results page. This page shows all the available courses of your searched criteria during your chosen semester.
Step 7. Should you find the course you want to register for is “FULL: 0 seats available” as labeled in red highlights in the Status Column (11th column) but has an upside down blue triangle symbol with an exclamation mark inside followed by a number then this means the course has a waitlist. If the waitlist is not full, as detailed in the Status column, then you may apply for the waitlist.
Step 8. Click Add in the last column labeled Add.
Step 9. Two panels should appear in the bottom of your screen, showing your pending schedule in the left panel and the summary of the course(s) in the right panel.
Step 10. If all looks correct, register the course as a waitlist by going to the Action tab in the lower right panel of your screen and selected the Waitlist option. Click submit to register as a waitlist course.
Video: Registering for a course with a waitlist
Common Registration Error Messages
Below is a list of error messages that you may receive on the Add/Drop screen of the Web Student Access System.
| Error | Description | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| CAMPUS RESTRICTION | The course being requested is on a campus other than the campus associated with the student for the registration term. | Registrar |
| CLASS RESTRICTION | Enrollment in this course is restricted by class (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.). You can ask for a class restriction permit. | Department |
| CLOSED SECTION | The class is full. You need to ask for an overload. | Department |
| CLOSED - WAITLIST FULL | No regular or waitlist seats available | Department |
| CLOSED - # WAITLISTED | No regular seats available, Waitlist seats available | Registrar |
| COHORT RESTRICTION | Enrollment in the course is restricted to a particular cohort of students. You will need to contact the department offering the course for additional information. | Department |
| COLLEGE RESTRICTION | The course is being held for students within a specific college | Department |
| CORQ_COURSE_XXXX REQ | Co-requisites courses must be taken at the same time. You need to register for both courses on the same commit. | Department |
| DUPL CRSE WITH SEC-XXXXX | The computer system looks at subject code (ie. MATH, ENGL, etc.) and course number (2501, 1502, etc.), but not section number. If you are trying to take 2 courses with the same subject code and course number, such as MGT 4803 A and MGT 4803 B, you need a duplicate course permit. | Department |
| LEVEL RESTRICTION (Undergrad Students) | Undergraduate Students Who Wish to take a Graduate Level Course An undergraduate student may take a graduate level course with the permission of the department teaching the course, a minimum GPA of 2.7, and be classified as a senior. The student must have the department of instruction enter a permit on their account, and then the student should contact the Registrar's Office to request a LEVEL permit. The Registrar's Office can be contacted at comments@registrar.gatech.edu, or in room 104 of the Tech Tower. The email should include the student's full name, gtID#, and the course and CRN for which they are trying to register. Once the Registrar's Office has issued the LEVEL permit, they will instruct the student to register for the course. For information about using the credit toward a degree please, see the Graduate Course Option section of the catalog. | Department & Registrar |
| LEVEL RESTRICTION (Grad Students) | Graduate Students Who Wish to take a 1000/2000 Level Course Graduate students who wish to take a 1000 or 2000 level course must obtain a permit from the department teaching the course. The student must have the department of instruction enter a permit on their account, and then come to the Registrar's Office in room 104 of the Tech Tower to have the course added to their schedule. Institute policy allows graduate students to take a 1000 or 2000 level course on a pass/fail or audit basis only. | Department & Registrar |
| LINK ERROR XX REQUIRED | Lectures and labs are "linked" together. You must register for both the lecture and lab in the same commit. Most departments list the lecture section as a single letter and the lab as the same letter followed by a number (Example: the lecture is section "A" and the corresponding lab sections are "A1", "A2", etc). | Department |
| MAJOR RESTRICTION | Only students in certain majors are allowed to register for this course. | Department |
| MAXIMUM HOURS EXCEEDED | Reduce the number of hours on your schedule. See Maximum Hours. | Registrar |
| OPEN - RESERVED FOR WAIT LIST | Seats are available, but held for Waitlist | Registrar |
| OPEN - WAITLIST FILLED | Regular seats available, but no seats on Waitlist | Registrar |
| OPEN - # CROSSLIST WAITLISTED | Crosslist seats available, but Waitlist exists | Registrar |
| OPEN - # WAITLISTED | Regular seats available, but Waitlist exists | Registrar |
| PERMIT REQUIRED | Enrollment in the course is restricted. You need to ask for a permit. | Department |
| PHYSICAL LOCATION | To comply with federal regulations, we need to know where our students are physically located while enrolled. When it is necessary, the registration system will prompt the student to click on a menu item in OSCAR and choose from a drop-down menu the state in which they will be located when taking classes for that term. The registration system will automatically remove the hold when the state information is selected and saved. | Registrar |
| PREQ & TEST SCORE-ERROR | Pre-requisites are required for the course. You can talk to the department about a pre-requisite override permit. | Department |
| PROGRAM RESTRICTION | Only students in certain programs are allowed to register for this course. | Department |
| RESERVE CLOSED | No Reserved seats available, no Waitlist exists | Department |
| RESERVE CLOSED - WAITLIST FULL | No Reserved or Waitlist seats available | Department |
| RESERVE CLOSED - # ON WAITLIST | No Reserved seats available, Waitlist exists | Registrar |
| RESERVE OPEN - WAITLIST FILLED | Reserved seats available, but no seats on Waitlist | Department |
| RESERVE OPEN - # ON WAITLIST | Reserved seats available, but Waitlist exists | Registrar |
| TIME CONFLICT WITH XXXXX | Courses meet at the same time or have overlapping times. | Department |
| WAITLIST NOTIFICATION EXPIRED ON MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM | Regular seats available, but Waitlist notification expired | Registrar |