Course Registration Waitlist
Quick Navigation
- What is Course Waitlisting?
- Registration onto the Waitlist
- Notification Process and Spring 2025 Notification Calendar
- Register from the Waitlist (with video tutorial)
- Registration Waitlist FAQs
- PATH Waitlist Guide for Students (pdf)
What is Course Waitlisting?
A waitlist allows for students to be notified when a seat becomes available. When a seat opens in a course with a waitlist, a notification email is sent to the W&M email account of the first student on the waitlist identifying how long the student has to log in to PATH and add the course. The open seat is reserved solely for that student for the period outlined in the notification email.
If the student takes no action or fails to register for the open seat during their notification window, they are dropped from the waitlist and the next student will be notified of the open seat. This process continues until there are no more waitlisted students or until the waitlist process has ended for the term.
Important notes about the waitlist:
- A waitlist is not available for all courses
- The waitlist operates on a first-come, first-served basis
- Being on a waitlist for a course does not guarantee that you will be offered a seat in that course
- You are never automatically registered in the course from the waitlist. You must take action in PATH to register for the course when you are notified of an open seat
- Some registration restrictions are not enforced at the waitlist level (time conflicts and corequisites); however, those restrictions will be enforced if offered a space in the course
- Undergraduate students are limited to waitlisting five (5) courses (unique CRNs). Students exceeding five waitlist registrations will be removed from waitlists until they are returned to the maximum. Law students may contact the Law School Registrar's Office for guidelines.
Registration onto the Waitlist
Notification Process
Population | Notification Send Dates* |
---|---|
Undergraduate | November 18, 2024 - January 7, 2025 |
January 13-16, 2025 |
|
End of spring waitlist: TBA |
|
W&M Law School | November 4, 2024 - January 7, 2025 |
January 13-16, 2025 (last notification expires January 17 by noon) |
*The notification send schedule is subject to change.
Register from the Waitlist
If you have received a waitlist notification email and you wish to register for the course:
- In PATH, open your primary cart
- Select the Submit Schedule and Submit Registration buttons
- If registration is successful, a confirmation message will display indicating: "This class has been modified" and the course will display in your Primary Cart with a black check mark indicating you are fully registered for the course
- If registration is unsuccessful, PATH will display a message indicating why you could not be registered for the course. Check your Primary Cart for issues like time conflicts, duplicate courses, etc.
- Please note: conditional add/drop is not available with waitlisting. Students needing to drop a course to add a course they have received a waitlist notification for will need to do so in two separate registration transactions (add first, then drop OR drop first, then add).
The register from the waitlist video tutorial below outlines the waitlist notification email (0:12), successfully registering for the course after receiving a waitlist notification (0:22), an example of an unsuccessful message (0:50), and waitlist reminders (1:10).
Course Registration Waitlist FAQs
An extensive list of Course Waitlisting FAQs is available on the Registration FAQs page.
Questions?
Undergraduate students with questions should contact the University Registrar's Office. W&M Law School students with questions should contact the Law School Registrar's Office.