In Computer Science, CS advisors have made modifications to the University’s procedures during the Add/Drop period for CS courses only. If you are not able to enroll into a CS course, then the information below may answer your questions.
If you want a non-CS course (e.g., Math, electives, etc.), then please contact the department's advisor/staff of that course for an override. CS advisors are not able to override students into non-CS courses.
IMPORTANT DATES:
| Monday, September 8, 2025 | Enrollment caps are restored |
| Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | Reserves removed (except for SE and GBDA sections) |
| Thursday, September 11, 2025 | Non math students can enroll into CS 245/246 (space permitting) Eligible Engineering students can enroll into select CS courses |
What do I do if...
Specific cases
Understanding course enrollment
We can divide the time leading up to taking a course into the following time periods:
- Course Selection: One term before you start your courses, you choose the courses you want to take.
- Sectioning: The Registrar’s Office places you into specific course sections based on Course selection results
- Add/Drop period (or the Course enrollment period): Your opportunity to swap courses or sections to optimize your schedule.
- This begins several weeks before classes begin and ends after classes begin.
- Classes begin.
Overrides and special cases
In general, we do not override prerequisites for our courses.
Even if you meet the prerequisites but run into another error, we will not override you into any CS courses unless you meet our special case guidelines listed below:
- Students who participated in course selection, but something went wrong because of:
- enrolment capacity in a course (please review more information regarding waitlists)
- a time conflict
- an academic enrolment block was applied after course selection
- dropping or failing a course after course selection
- Students who could not select courses because of:
- a recent transfer to CS
- their status as international exchange students
- hospitalization
- an S&P or ELPE decision or related academic matters
Please note that courses that have a waitlist will not be available on a first-come-first-serve basis unless department consent has been removed. Department consent will only be removed once we have exhausted the waitlist.
If you did participate in course selection you are likely already on the waitlist for the course.
The course is full, what do I do?
During the Add/Drop period, we drop the enrolment caps by approximately 15% of the total enrollment number for the course to give advisors room to handle special cases. We will return the enrollment caps to their actual size during the second week of classes after we have had time to help students that fall under our special cases.
See above for the date when enrollment caps will be restored (exact time unknown but usually during business hours). After the enrolment caps are returned to their actual size, the remaining space may continue to have reserves on the course, which will be removed usually the following day.
Department consent error
If you get a “department consent” error when adding a course on Quest, it’s likely that the course has a waitlist. You will not be able to add that course unless given consent by a CS advisor if this occurs after the waitlist has been exhausted or you are a special case).
Reserve error
If you get a "reserve error" when adding a course on Quest, this means that a portion of the class’s enrollment is reserved for a particular group of students and you don't meet the reserve capacity requirements for that course.
Tip: You can tell that a course has set aside a number of seats for a particular group of students on the Schedule of Classes, directly beneath each section that has a reserve capacity assigned.
See above for the date when reserves will be removed by the Registrar's Office. The exact time is unknown, but the reserve restriction is usually removed during normal business hours. Once reserves are removed, then you can enroll into the course using Quest. Note that spaces in the course will be available on a first-come-first-served basis if the class section isn't already at its enrollment capacity.
Instructor consent error
During the second week of the term (see above for exact date), Instructor Consent will be applied to our project based courses (e.g., CS 346, 445, 446, 449, 493, and 494). A student wishing to enroll into one of these courses would need to contact the instructor first and meet their conditions for enrollment (e.g., the student may need to find a group before they can enroll). If the student is able to meet these conditions and if the instructor consents, then the instructor will contact the CS advisors directly so that we may override the student into the course.
I'm in the Artificial Intelligence specialization and want to take an ECE/MTE/SYDE course. What do I do?
Please complete the following steps…
- Go to the schedule of classes and access the course you would like into.
- Fill out a course override form.
- Send the completed course override form directly to the professor as a PDF attachment. Include your full name and student number in the subject line and body of your email.
- Once the professor has responded, forward that email to the respective department's advisors.
To find a professor’s email address, please check out the Campus People Directory. If the professor’s name or contact information isn’t listed, please contact the respective ECE/MTE/SYDE advisor.
I'm in Math and I want to take CS245 or CS246. What do I do?
Math students are able to take CS 245 and CS 246, but most seats (~85%) are reserved for CS students. The remaining seats (~15%) for Math students fills up quickly, so not all Math students will get into these classes even though they chose CS 245 and CS 246 during course selection.
Math students won't be able to add the courses during the Add/Drop period because they don't meet the reserve requirements of being a CS student. CS advisors will not be able to override Math students even if they course selected for CS245 and/or CS246, or need the course to raise their average to transfer into CS.
That said, the reserve for CS courses will be removed shortly after classes start. When reserves are removed, Math students can add CS 245 and/or CS 246 via Quest on a first come, first served basis.
I'm in Engineering and I want to take a CS course, what do I do?
An Engineering student (excluding SE students*) may take CS major or non-major courses as defined below.
- A CS major course is a course that is intended for CS major students. These courses typically have a course code with the second digit [4-9], and are often restricted to Computer Science or Math students in the course prerequisites.
- A CS non-major course is a course that is not restricted to a specific category of students, and is intended to be generally available to everyone (except for CS major students). These courses typically have a course code with the second digit [0-3], and have no program restrictions listed in the prerequisites.
*Like CS students, SE students are able to take CS course so long as they meet the course prerequisites and course enrolment requirements.
Course Equivalents
We recognize the following specific pairs of engineering courses as equivalents that can be used towards our prerequisites (having one course doesn’t grant credit for anything).1
| List A: CS 115 and CS 116 | List B: CS135 and CS136 |
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1This list is up-to-date on the day published. We reserve the right to update these details at any time.
Taking courses with the pre-requisites
If you have the prerequisites for a course, either directly or indirectly using this table, then you are allowed to take that course. If you have the prerequisites, then you are allowed to take CS Minor courses without further restriction.
Taking courses without the pre-requisites
If you are missing prerequisites for a course, we will allow you to enroll if you meet all of the following criteria:
- You have taken the equivalent of first year CS courses. You have taken CS 115/116 or CS 135/136, or meet either List A or List B from the table above.
- If you meet List A only, then you must also take a Data Structures course. Data structures courses include ECE 250, SYDE 223, MTE 140, and BME 122.
- You have previously taken an engineering course with significant CS technical content. Typically this would be one of the following courses: ECE 350, 351, 406, 409, 417, 429, 451, 452, 453, 457A, 457B, 458, 459, SYDE 322, SYDE 522, SYDE 572, SYDE 575, or MTE 241.
The following restrictions apply:
- You must be in your 3B term or higher.
- CS advisors will only override you into one CS course per term using this rule.
- This rule can be used to override CS prerequisites only. If there are other course prerequisites, then you must satisfy them.
- For example, CS 335 requires “(One of CS 116, 136, 138, 146); MATH 136 or 146, MATH 237 or 247, STAT 231 or 241”); we can override the CS course prerequisite only in this situation.
- We will not override Engineering students into CS courses during course selection.
- Advisors will only do this during the second week of classes (see above for specific date for the term), and only if there are still available spots in the course. You must be overridden into the course by a CS advisor.
If you are using this rule to take a CS Major course, then the following additional restrictions apply:
- You must have a CAV of 75% or higher.
- Engineering students should take Engineering courses where possible.
- This immediately eliminates CS 341, 348, 350, 450, 454, 456, 457, 458, 485, 486, 490, and 492 because Engineering offers similar content.