View the waitlist PDF with the updated information and instructions.

During registration and add/drop periods, students often wish to enroll in sections that have reached their enrollment capacity and are closed. The Automated Waitlist Process provides an opportunity for students to enroll in closed sections as space becomes available. This process will also provide the schools/colleges with information for making decisions concerning their course offerings for current as well as future semesters.

The Automated Waitlist Process will allow students to place their names on a waitlist for closed sections in which they are eligible to enroll. When a space becomes available, an email is sent to the first student on the waitlist and they will have twenty-two hours to register for the course.

Beginning with the registration for summer and fall 2012, students will be restricted to one active waitlist per course per term (fall, spring, summer - all summer terms will be considered one term for this purpose). Some courses like special topics courses, are excluded from this restriction.

Beginning with registration for summer and fall 2012, students will be restricted to 3 active waitlists at any given point per term (fall, spring, summer - all terms will be considered one term for this purpose).

Beginning with registration for summer and fall 2012, students may drop themselves from a waitlist via "My Waitlisted Sections." For more information, view the waitlist PDF.

The waitlist is convenient and easy to use. Students follow the normal registration process on the web via their myau.american.edu account. There is now an additional field on the Course Registration screen called “Waitlist”. The default for this field is NO. Students who wish to have their names added to the waitlist for closed sections should update this field to YES. Students will then receive confirmation that the course is closed and that they have been added to the waitlist. Your class schedule will confirm the status of these sections as “Waitlist”. 

If you attempt to register for a course that is closed and you do not change the waitlist field from No to YES and decide later that you wish to waitlist this section, you need only to go back to the Course Registration screen, add the course and set the waitlist flag from NO to YES and continue as if you were registering for the course. 

How Does the Waitlist Work?

• On a space available basis, active students on a waitlist are granted permission to register on a first on, first off basis.
  
• At 8:00 am daily, eligible students will receive an email from the University Registrar, sent to their AU email address alerting them that a space has become available in their waitlisted section.
  
• To claim this space, students have until 5:59 am the next day from receipt of notification email.
  
• Should student fail to register for the waitlisted course within that period, their waitlist status expires and the space becomes available for the next eligible student.
  
• Student eligibility and course registration eligibility rules, such as prerequisites, are always enforced.
  

For more information call 202-885-2200 or email us at registrar@american.edu.