Registering for Courses

At Virginia Tech, course registration for fall and spring semesters is a two phase process:

Course Registration for summer and winter terms has only one phase: Add/Drop

Course Request

During the course request period, you will provide the university with a list of preferred courses you would like to take in the upcoming semester. 

• Course Request is not first come, first served! You can build your cart of course priorities at any time during the course request period and will still get the same results.
• During Course Request, you aren't actually registering for your courses. You're building a cart of requests. 
• After the Course Request period closes, the system will process your cart and try to match you with courses. You may not get all of the courses you requested during this phase. 

You aren't guaranteed to get all of the courses you request. But submitting a request is your best chance to get the courses you want.

Add/Drop

Unlike Course Request, add/drop is a live registration period. During add/drop, you can add or remove courses from your schedule in real time.

If you participated in Course Request, you will want to review your Course Request results and determine if you need to make any changes during the add/drop period.

The goal of the add/drop phase is to adjust and finalize your schedule for the next term.

Force-Add

If a course is full, or if you don't meet the course restrictions, you might have the opportunity to get into a course via the force-add process. Force-Add is the procedure that allows students to request to enroll in a course that they are unable to add on their own.

• Force-adding is only available during the add/drop phase of course registration.
• Your Pamplin advisor cannot force-add you into courses.
• Each department and college handles the force-add process differently. 
• For courses taught by Pamplin departments (ACIS, BIT, BUS, FIN, HTM, MGT, MKTG, and REAL), there is a centralized force-add request form.
• Submitting a force add request does not guarantee placement in a course.

Registration Holds

Different Virginia Tech offices can place "holds" on your account for unresolved issues like unpaid balances, parking tickets, missing immunization records, etc.

• Some holds can prevent you from registering for courses.
• It's always a good idea to check your account for holds before a course registration period opens.
• Your Pamplin academic advisor will not be able to remove holds that were placed by other offices on campus.
• If you have a hold, you can contact the office that placed the hold to determine what you need to do to remove it.

Course Registration Resources

• Pathways Guide
• Academic Catalog
• Hokie Registration Tutorials

In general, you'll follow these steps for each term you plan to take classes.

Steps to Course Registration Success