Course registration information for new students

student and advisor meeting

Although the fall term has just begun and we hope your classes are meeting your expectations, it's already time to think about your class schedule for the winter. For some of you, the process will be different than what you experienced in June-July for your fall term. We have provided information about the process you will experience in September-October 2022.

Last updated: September 15, 2022

What do I need to know to get started?

A school year for students is usually two academic terms and most full-time students take five courses in a term.

Depending on your program (i.e., degree and major), you might be automatically registered into all or some of your winter term courses. If you have to choose at least one (1) course, you'll participate in the Course Selection Period. Continue reading to learn more.

Review all the basics of the multi-phase course registration process (including Course Selection Period and Drop/Add Period).
Learn our key terms as you try to choose your courses.
Know the various key dates and deadlines.
Review your next steps - i.e., what courses you'll be taking and how your class schedule will be built.

If you are a student transferring from a college or another university, see important details for you below.

Key terms

You may be familiar with the term "program" during your application stage. For some, you may still see program in references, for others, you'll need to get used to new terms, like major:

Entry program: An admission point of entry. Students may apply directly into an academic program from which they will graduate, or they may apply to an academic program where they will be required to select a major.
Academic program: A defined set of requirements (honours or general, regular or co-operative) common to a particular degree.
Major: An academic plan that is the primary area of study in a student's baccalaureate degree (e.g., Arts and Business, Biology, Chemical Engineering).

Required (or Core) course: A specified course that you must take in order to fulfil your program or major requirements.

Elective course: A course not specified as one that you must take for your program and/or major. For some programs or majors, you must choose your electives from a specific list; in others, you may choose from any courses offered that you’re qualified to take.

Blended class: Designated by a campus code of BLND, is a class normally scheduled with both an online and in-person activity (students must be available to come to campus).

For more helpful terms, see 1) Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar for a complete Glossary of Terms and 2) Understanding course description listings for terms like "prereq" and "LEC".

What are the key dates I need to know as a first-year student?

Course Selection PeriodSeptember 23 - October 3, 2022

View class schedule and enrolment appointmentNovember 17, 2022

Drop/Add Period appointmentsNovember 21 - 22, 2022

Add Period continuesNovember 23, 2022 - January 20, 2023

Information for first-year students

Your course registration steps and course information

Select the name of the faculty that offers your program/major to see your specific next steps.

Faculty of Arts

Majors: Accounting and Financial Management, Sustainability and Financial Management

All your courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule:

Entry programs: Honours Arts

Request all of your course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
View information on the Faculty of Arts' course selection web page.

Entry programs: Honours Arts and Business, Global Business and Digital Arts, Social Development Studies

All your required courses will automatically be added to your winter schedule.
Request your elective course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
View information on the Faculty of Arts' course selection web page.

Faculty of Engineering

Majors: Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering

All your required courses will automatically be added to your winter schedule.
Request your elective course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
View information on the Faculty of Engineering's course selection web page.

Architecture and all other Engineering majors including Software Engineering

All your courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule. You can see your first-year schedule in the academic calendar:

Faculty of Environment

Major: Environment and Business

All your courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule. Learn more about what your class schedule will look like on your major's departmental website:

Environment and Business course selection website.

Major: Climate and Environmental Change, Geography and Aviation, Geography and Environmental Management, and Geomatics

Request all of your course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
For assistance in selecting your courses, visit your department website or contact your academic advisor:
- Faculty of Environment Advising
- Department of Geography and Environmental Management plan requirements

All other Environment majors:

All your required courses will automatically be added to your winter schedule.
Request your elective course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
View information for your major under the "new student" section on the Faculty of Environment's course enrolment web page.

Faculty of Health

Majors: Health Sciences and Kinesiology

All your courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule. Learn more about what your class schedule will look like on your major's departmental website:

Major: Public Health

All your required courses will be automatically added to your winter class schedule.
Request your two (2) elective courses on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
Learn more on the Public Health course selection website.

Majors: Recreation and Leisure Studies, Recreation and Sport Business, and Therapeutic Recreation

Some of your courses will be automatically selected for you.
You are responsible for enrolling some of your courses in Quest during the Course Selection Period.
Learn more on the Recreation and Leisure Studies course selection website.

Faculty of Mathematics

Major: Computing and Financial Management

All your courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule.

All other Mathematics majors, including Computer Science:

Some of your courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule.
Request your elective course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.
Visit the Faculty of Mathematics' course selection web page for details.

Faculty of Science

Entry programs: All

View your required courses on the Science website; these will automatically be added to your winter class schedule.
If you have elective courses, your academic advisor will email you in September about your next steps, as you will need to request your elective course(s) on Quest during the Course Selection Period.

List of courses that you might be able to choose

Winter 2023

For programs and majors that have room for students to choose courses (i.e., electives) in their first year, below is a list of courses that might be appropriate for new students. This list provides a sample and is thus subject to change up until November 2022.

Clicking the course links will take you to the full course description in the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar. Get familiar with the lists of terms in a course description to understand what is needed to register in the course.

Last updated: September 14, 2022

Subject	Winter Courses	Notes
Accounting and Financial Management	AFM 101, AFM 102, AFM 123, AFM 131
American Sign Language	ASL 101R, ASL 102R
Anthropology	ANTH 100, ANTH 201, ANTH 202, ANTH 204
Arabic	ARABIC 101R, ARABIC 102R	Students seeking entry into Arabic courses who have not previously taken a course in Arabic at Renison must complete a Placement Application Form. Renison reserves the right to allocate students to the appropriate class based on this assessment. If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact your academic advisor for assistance.
Arts and Business	ARBUS 102, ARBUS 202	ARBUS courses are only available for Arts and Business students
Biology	BIOL 120, BIOL 130, BIOL 165, BIOL 211, BIOL 239	Online WHMIS required for any lab or lab embedded course (BIOL 120 and 211).
Black Studies	BLKST 101, BLKST 210
Chemistry	CHEM 120, CHEM 123, CHEM 123L, CHEM 125, CHEM 125L, CHEM 140	CHEM 121, 121L, 125, and 125L are only available to students in Chemistry programs; online WHMIS required for labs. CHEM 140 is not open to Math students.
Chinese	CHINA 101R, CHINA 102R, CHINA 120R	Students seeking entry into Chinese courses who have not previously taken a course in Chinese at Renison University College must complete a Placement Application Form. Renison reserves the right to allocate students to the appropriate class based on this assessment.
Classical Studies	CLAS 104, CLAS 123
Commerce	COMM 231
Computer Science	CS 100, CS 105, CS 106, CS 115, CS 116, CS 135, CS 136, CS 200
Croatian	CROAT 102	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact the Germanic and Slavic Studies undergraduate office for assistance.
Cultural Identities	CI 200
Dutch	DUTCH 271	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact the Germanic and Slavic Studies undergraduate office for assistance.
East Asian	EASIA 100R
Earth Sciences	EARTH 122, EARTH 122L	EARTH 122, 122L can be taken before EARTH 121, 121L; online WHIMIS required for labs.
Economics	ECON 101, ECON 102
English	ENGL 100A, ENGL 101A, ENGL 101B, ENGL 104, ENGL 108A, ENGL 108B, ENGL 108D, ENGL 108P, ENGL 108X, ENGL 109, ENGL 119, ENGL 140R
English for Multilingual Speakers	EMLS 101R, EMLS 102R, EMLS 103R, EMLS 129R
Environment	ENVS 131, ENVS 178, ENVS 195, ENVS 200, ENVS 220
Environment and Business	ENBUS 112
Fine Arts	FINE 100, FINE 101, FINE 130, FINE 150
French	FR 101, FR 151, FR 152, FR 192A, FR 192B, FR 250, FR 251, FR 252, FR 276, FR 296, FR 297	Students should consult the French Studies placement rules before requesting a French course for the first time.
Gender and Social Justice	GSJ 102
Geography and Environmental Management	GEOG 101, GEOG 102, GEOG 181
German	GER 101, GER 102, GER 120, GER 201, GER 202	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact the Germanic and Slavic Studies undergraduate office for assistance.
Greek	GRK 102
Health	HEALTH 100, HEALTH 150
History	HIST 101, HIST 111, HIST 113
Human Rights	HRTS 101
Indigenous Studies	INDG 101, INDG 102
International Development	INDEV 101
Italian	ITAL 101, ITAL 102	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact your academic advisor for assistance.
Italian Studies	ITALST 100, ITALST 112
Japanese	JAPAN 101R, JAPAN 102R	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact cls@uwaterloo.ca for an assessment.
Jewish Studies	JS 203, JS 228
Kinesiology	KIN 100, KIN 100L, KIN 146
Knowledge Integration	INTEG 121
Korean	KOREA 101R, KOREA 102R	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact your academic advisor for assistance.
Latin	LAT 102
Legal Studies	LS 101, LS 202, LS 224, LS 227, LS 229, LS 271	Note that SOC 101 is a prerequisite for many 200-level LS courses.
Material and Nanosciences	MNS 102
Mathematics	MATH 103, MATH 104, MATH 106, MATH 114, MATH 127, MATH 128, MATH 137, MATH 138
Mathematics Electives	MTHEL 131
Mohawk	MOHAWK 101R, MOHAWK 102R
Music	MUSIC 100, MUSIC 110, MUSIC 111, MUSIC 116, MUSIC 117, MUSIC 140, MUSIC 226, MUSIC 227, MUSIC 240, MUSIC 246, MUSIC 270, MUSIC 271
Peace and Conflict Studies	PACS 202, PACS 203
Philosophy	PHIL 100J, PHIL 101, PHIL 110B, PHIL 121, PHIL 145
Physics	PHYS 111, PHYS 112, PHYS 112L, PHYS 122 (with calculus corequisite), PHYS 122L, PHYS 124 (with PHYS 112 or 122 corequisite), PHYS 175	PHYS 121 and 122 are only recommended for astrophysics or physics minors; PHYS 175 has a calculus prerequisite; online WHIMIS required for labs.
Political Science	PSCI 150
Psychology	PSYCH 101, PSYCH 207, PSYCH 211, PSYCH 238, PSYCH 253/PSYCH 253R, PSYCH 257, PSYCH 261
Public Health Sciences	HLTH 102
Recreation and Leisure Studies	REC 100 (online), REC 151, REC 215, REC 251, REC 280
Religious Studies	RS 102, RS 110, RS 121
Russian and Russian and Eastern European Studies	RUSS 102, REES 120	If you have prior knowledge in the language and want to take a course at an advanced level, contact the Germanic and Slavic Studies undergraduate office for assistance.
Science	SCI 201, SCI 238, SCI 250, SCI 252
Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies	SMF 101, SMF 204
Social Development Studies	SDS 131R, SDS 150R
Social Work (for Social Development Studies)	SOCWK 120R
Society, Technology and Values	STV 100
Sociology	SOC 101, SOC 201, SOC 227, SOC 229
Spanish	SPAN 101, SPAN 102, SPAN 201B
Speech Communication	SPCOM 100, SPCOM 101, SPCOM 149	SPCOM courses are the courses that students majoring in Communication Studies take.
Studies in Islam	SI 131R
Theatre and Performance	THPERF 100, THPERF 102, THPERF 149
Visual Culture	VCULT 101

Information for other students

Bridge to Academic Success in English (BASE)

For Arts, Engineering, Environment, Health, and Science: All your required courses will automatically be added to your winter class schedule.

View an example of a BASE class schedule.

International exchange students (incoming)

Visit the course registration section of the International Student Guide.

Transfer students

If you’re transferring from a college or another university, you’ll receive your transfer credit assessment from the Office of the Registrar.

Once you’ve received information about your transfer credits, use the links below or contact your academic advisor for help with planning and requesting your courses.

Faculty of Arts

Visit the Faculty of Arts' web page for new transfer students.

Faculty of Environment

Environment academic advisors are available to help you choose the proper courses to fit your unique academic record, taking both transfer credits and major requirements into consideration and ensuring the perfect start to your academic career in the Faculty of Environment.

Faculty of Health

Visit the Faculty of Health course selection page and select your major for instructions.

Faculty of Mathematics

Visit the Faculty of Mathematics' web page for new transfer students.

Faculty of Science

Visit the Faculty of Science's web page for new transfer students.