PATH Quick Info and Events

Undergraduate student registration structure

Registration begins with building a cart, setting registration priorities, and choosing alternative course options for those course selections. After the cart-building period closes, students are enrolled into courses, taking into account registration priority groups, social class, and registration priorities students assigned to their courses. Student schedules will not be immediately available to view; the date schedules will be released to students is listed on the When to Register and Academic Calendar webpages. Following the release of schedules, an add/drop period will open for students. 

More information is available on the Registration Structure page.

First Add/Drop Period

On the first day of the first add/drop period, registration will open to students by social class. Social seniors gain access first, then social juniors join, then social sophomores join, etc. Once a social class window has opened it remains open until the end of the add/drop period. 

Members of social class 2025 and 2026 may register for up to 18 credit hours when the add/drop period begins. All other social classes will be limited to registration in up to 16 credit hours. The credit limit for other social classes will be increased to 18 credit hours at the start of the semester.

Registration during add/drop periods happens in real-time; if a seat is available a student may add the course. PATH will not automatically register students during the add/drop period; students must log in and take action themselves. More information is available on the Registration Structure page.

Field of Study (Major) Restriction Enforcement

Field of Study (major) restrictions will remain in place for the first day of the first add/drop period. Enforcement of field of study restrictions will cease at 8:00 a.m. ET on the second day.

If a department has chosen to restrict a course to certain fields of study, only those students will be eligible to register for the course (and any associated waitlist) through the first day of the first add/drop period. This allows for initial access to courses and/or course waitlists for those majors.

Please note that departments may not have field of study (major) restrictions on all courses. Students may want to inquire with the primary instructor about the possibility of an instructor override if they do not meet the field of study restriction but the course is required for their program. Instructor overrides DO NOT override course capacity.

More information is available on the Registration Structure page.

Course Registration Waitlisting

Course waitlists will open to students at the start of the first add/drop period, while field of study (major) restrictions are still in place and registration windows are opening based on social class. This allows for initial access to course waitlists for upperclassmen majors. Students planning to waitlist courses should log in to PATH and add themselves to a waitlist near the start of their registration window on the first day of add/drop to ensure they are ahead of later social classes.

Please note: there is no reordering of course waitlists based on major or social class. For example: if a social senior adds themselves to a waitlist after the registration window for social juniors, sophomores and/or first-year students has opened, or after major restrictions are not being enforced, they may be behind other social classes or non-majors.

Students may only waitlist up to five (5) courses. Students exceeding five waitlist registrations will be dropped from the additional waitlist registrations until they are back to the maximum of five. Students are strongly encouraged to stay aware of how many waitlists they are registered for and to make judicious choices. Waitlist courses display with an hourglass symbol in your Primary Cart.

Waitlist notifications will continue to be sent on weekdays (Monday-Friday) when the University Registrar's Office is open. However, waitlist notifications will be sent periodically throughout the day to increase the overall frequency of waitlist notifications. Students should continue to check their W&M email at least once per day to ensure they do not miss a notification. Students will still have the full notification window to register once they are offered a space in a course (currently set to 24 hours).

More information is available on the Course Registration Waitlisting page.

How does the above impact course access during the first add/drop period for the Fall 2025 registration cycle?

Upperclassmen majors will have initial access to add/drop and to course waitlists. Students in any social class seeking to make registration changes or to join waitlists should plan to participate on the first day of add/drop before the next social class registration window opens to ensure they are ahead of later social classes.

Please note that if an upperclassmen joins a waitlist after other registration windows have opened, they may be behind other social classes on a course waitlist. Majors joining course waitlists after major restrictions are not being enforced may be behind non-majors.

Sending notifications multiple times per day and setting limits on the number of courses a student can waitlist will improve waitlist movement and increase opportunities for waitlisted students to register should spaces become available.

Reducing Cross-Listed Courses to Streamline Registration (NEW!)

Beginning with the Fall 2025 registration cycle, undergraduate students will notice fewer cross-listed courses.

Previously a single course may have been offered in several areas (for example, offered as HIST 212, RELG 211, and AMST 290) and the available seats were spread across the CRNs making it difficult to determine the total amount of seats available in the course. Additionally, students seeking to register for a full course may have needed to waitlist multiple CRNs.

To streamline registration, courses will be offered in one subject area but will meet the requirements in multiple programs, majors, and minors with an attribute. The listed maximum enrollment is the total for the course. Students will only need to join one waitlist if the course is full. Students will use subject attributes to search for courses that meet degree/program requirements. The Subject Attribute drop-down menu is below the keyword search box on PATH.