Advice for common registration & waitlist issues

Registration is a stressful time, and it is even worse if a class you want to enroll in is filling up quickly, or the software to manage registration isn't behaving the way you expect.

Some of the problems we've seen during registration, and our advice for the best way to manage those situations, are listed below. If one of these situations applies to you, we're sorry, and we hope this advice is useful.

If the problem you are grappling with isn't listed below, or if there are other questions we can help with, please do reach out to physics@wwu.edu - we want to help if we can!

Common registration / waitlist issues

I was registered for a class, but accidentally dropped it while making another change in Browse Classes. I've tried to re-register, but it says the section is full - how do I get back in?

We're sorry - this situation can be so frustrating!

If the section is reporting as being full when you try to re-register, that means the spot in the class has now been offered to someone on the waitlist. Once this happens, it is unfortunately not possible to unwind things and put you back in that section, at least not right away.

Given that, our advice is:

If there are different sections that work for your schedule and still have seats open, register for the best option available to ensure you have a seat in the class! You can also add yourself to the waitlist for sections that you'd prefer to be in, but getting back into the class as a back-up option can really help set everyone's mind at ease while the waitlist process plays out...
If there are no sections available with seats that work for your schedule, add yourself to the waitlist for any section that would work. It can be stressful to wait out the waitlist process, but often works out in the end.
Email the front office & your initial instructor to let them know what happened. They will not be able to fix it, but if they know, they can monitor the situation through the remainder of the waitlist process, and add you to the lab canvas site manually so that you can continue participating in the class as the waitlist process concludes.
If you are on the waitlist for a section, check your WWU email twice a day! You will be notified if/when a seat opens up, but you will only have 12 hours to accept the seat before it moves on to the next person on the waitlist (and you are dropped from the waitlist). Make sure you check your email each morning and night to make sure you don't miss your chance!
Once the quarter begins, if you can, attend the lectures for the section where you have the best (numerically lowest) waitlist position. This way you will not miss anything if the seat does open up.

Unfortunately, you can't. :-/

The lecture and lab combinations that are included in the schedule are intentionally chosen to make sure we have space for all the students in both the lecture classroom and the lab room.

Unfortunately, this means we cannot be sure that we will have space available in both the classroom and the lab room for combinations of lecture & lab times that are not offered in the schedule.

We understand it is frustrating, but students cannot attend lecture+lab combinations that are not included in the schedule. 🙁

The only lecture+lab section on the schedule that works with the rest of my classes & work shifts is full. Can I register for a different section and attend the lab that works for my schedule?

Unfortunately, no: sections are designed to ensure that we have sufficient space and capacity in the classroom and lab for all students. If a lab section is full, that means we don't have capacity for another student at that time.

In this case, our advice is:

Sign up for the waitlist for any section that will work for your schedule. This can be stressful, but often works out in the end.
Once you are on the waitlist, check your email twice a day! You will be notified if/when a seat opens up, but you will only have 12 hours to accept the seat before it moves on to the next person on the waitlist (and you are dropped from the waitlist). Make sure you check your email each morning and night to make sure you don't miss your chance!
Once the quarter begins, if you can, attend the lectures for the section where you have the best (numerically lowest) waitlist position. This way you will not miss anything if the seat does open up.