Registration for Courses

When to register for courses?

Specific time periods for course registration may be found in the Schedule of Dates in the Undergraduate Calendar. In general, course selection for the Winter semester begins in early November. Course selection for the Summer semester begins in March, and for the Fall semester in June or July. Information about exact dates for course selection will be sent to your University of Guelph e-mail account by the Registrar's Office. New Students, once admitted, will select their Fall semester courses during the June/July period.

How to register for courses?

Students have two options for course registration - WebAdvisor (Student Planning) - or by registering using an Undergraduate Course Request form (PDF) or Course Waiver Request form (PDF). WebAdvisor is used in the vast majority of cases. All students must ensure that their classes fit together without conflict. Completed forms are emailed to Enrolment Services es@uoguelph.ca in the Registrar's Office for processing. Refer to the Student Planning Videos Tutorials and Help Documentation on the Registrar's Office website for detailed instructions on how to use WebAdvisor.

Which courses do I take?

Most B.Sc. students will normally take a maximum of 2.5 credits a semester (usually, but not always, this equates to 5 courses per semester - 0.5 credits each). The Schedule of Studies for majors in the Honours B.Sc. or for the General B.Sc. degree program are detailed in the Undergraduate Calendar. Most majors list the required courses, semester by semester, sequenced in a specific order, which will fulfill prerequisite requirements. The Schedule of Studies will provide a three or four year plan to follow during course selection periods. You can also check your Program/Academic Evaluation in WebAdvisor to see what required courses you still need to complete for your degree.

For students in the Biological Science major, please see our Course Planning Support page for some further advice.

Most majors within the Honours B.Sc. degree programs require a minimum of 20.0 credits (approx. 40 courses) in order to graduate with an area of specialization (e.g. Human Kinetics, Plant Science, Biological Science, etc.). Of these 20.0 credits, a certain number of credits or courses are core requirements or restricted electives that must be completed for each specialization. The remainder of the courses are usually either Liberal Education Electives or Free Electives, which also need to fall within the overall program/degree requirements. There is a maximum of 7.0 credits at the first year (1000 level) allowed for the B.Sc. degree.

The Schedule of Studies or 'My Progess' in Student Planning can help explain the major requirements. Students may also want to consult with their Program Counsellors or Faculty Advisors regarding course requirements.

The list of approved Science Electives and Liberal Education Electives for B.Sc. students is available on the Approved Electives page.

Course Descriptions

Information is provided in the Course Description section of the Undergraduate Calendar related to general course content and course offering information. For example, lecture and lab hours required, semester offerings [Fall, Winter, Summer] and credit weight eg. [0.5], and most importantly any required prerequisites or course restrictions.

For more in-depth information about a course (for example, lecture content, specific projects, assignment information, etc.) you can try searching on-line for a Course Outline (syllabus) on departmental websites. The Department responsible for offering the course is usually indicated in the Course Description found in the Undergraduate Calendar (please see previous paragraph). Many - but not all - Departments will post Course Outlines for the courses that they offer. If you are unable to locate a Course Outline, please contact the Department directly, or the Professor who is teaching the course for more information.

Adding or Dropping Courses

Adding courses:

Students can add courses for the current semester up to and including the first week of classes.

When adding a course on WebAdvisor, please double-check your class schedule in WebAdvisor to ensure that the correct course and section has been added. Students must ensure that their class schedule is conflict-free.

When should you drop a course?

You really need to weigh the pros and the cons of dropping a course.

Can you successfully complete the course based on your interim marks? If you drop the course on or before the last class day, there is no academic penalty (please note that the last day to drop courses has been changed from the 40th class day to the last class day effective the Fall 2019 semester).

Please note: no portion of tuition is refunded past 30 days.

You should ask yourself these questions when thinking about dropping a course: How much of the course work have you completed, is this a core course or an elective, if this is a core course when can you take it again, is this course affecting your other courses?

Finally, go talk to your Program Counsellor, they are an impartial person who can help discuss the possible outcomes of your decision.

How do I drop a course?

Students are able to drop a course up to the last class day of the semester. Please see the Schedule of Dates in the Undergraduate Calendar for the exact date each semester. When dropping courses on WebAdvisor, always check your class schedule immediately after to make sure that the correct course was dropped. If by chance you dropped a course that was not suppose to be dropped and it is outside of a course add period, contact your Program Counsellor immediately for assistance.

For students who receive OSAP (student loans) there could be financial consequences to dropping a course, so it is best to check with Student Financial Services before doing so.

If you are on Academic Probation it is recommended that you see your Program Counsellor for advice before you drop a course.

Students who are under investigation for academic misconduct may not drop the course that is under investigation.

Important Dates

For an official list of important dates, please see the Schedule of Dates section in the Undergraduate Calendar.