Registration

Course registration takes place in Yale Course Search (YCS) twice a year. Students register for courses during the term prior to the term for which they are enrolling.

• Returning students register for the fall term in the spring term of the previous academic year.
• First-year students register for the fall term on dates to be determined. See the calendar on the Registration website.
• All students register for the spring term during the fall term of the same academic year.
• First-year and returning students often take part in Preference Selection. Preference Selection is a random registration tool for multi-section courses, including several language courses and first-year seminars.
• See registration and Preference Selection open and close dates on the Registration website.

Before Registration opens

• Work with your department faculty well in advance of the opening of registration to make sure all the courses are offered in WEN. See Setting up Course Offerings in WEN.
• If a course will have discussion or laboratory sections, create at least one section. See Setting Up Discussion and Lab Sections.
• Once registration opens, instructors may no longer add distributional designations or cross-listings.
• Canvas sites will open once the instructor's name has been added to the course offering.
• Remind your faculty:
  • To review their course offerings to make sure they are correct before registration opens.
  • Upload their syllabi as soon as their Canvas sites open. They should also consider adding a longer course description as needed.
  • To log into the registration system frequently during registration to respond to instructor permission requests.

Add/Drop Period

The registration system reopens for a period of about seven days for students to add and drop courses for which they enrolled during registration. The changes to schedules at this time should be minimal. Refer to the Registration website for the opening and closing dates of add/drop period. See Add/Drop Period.