Skip to content Skip to main navigation Report an accessibility issue

Registration Strategies and Waitlist Tips

Strategically thinking about your class schedule is vital to helping you graduate from UT.

Most courses have a first-in/first-out waitlist. When a seat becomes available, you receive a UT email saying you are eligible to enroll. You have twenty-four hours to login to MyUTK and register. If you do not register in this timeframe, your seat will be given to the next person on the waitlist. Check your email every day to see if you are offered an opportunity to add the course.

It may appear that there is one seat available in a section that has a waitlist. This seat is being held for the student who received the notification, so no other students can register although one seat shows as available.

Always remember that you are the person responsible for strategically planning your academic schedule, but you are not in this process alone. Consult your advisor before and during registration. If you are unable to get into a course you must have to graduate, let your advisor know. The faculty and staff of each college are responsible for scheduling classes. The more they know about student needs, the better your chances for additional seats.

Have you checked whether other sections have seats available for the course you have waitlisted? Did you know many courses offer more than one section, and more sections and seats are added regularly? Check your schedule and the timetable to see if other sections are available.

Look at all the course offerings to see how many students are enrolled in each. The deeper you are on the waitlist, the lower your chances of getting in the course. Some sections are more popular than others. Consider all offerings and look at the size of the waitlist for all sections. Being number one on a waitlist has dramatically better odds of getting in a course than being number five.

Look at the other sections to see if you can improve your position on a waitlist by registering for another. Remember, you can only register for one section at a time. You will have to drop your current section before you can add a different one. After dropping a course, you will lose your spot in the waitlist and not be able to return to it. Think carefully and check your schedule before changing sections.

Waitlisting for a course should be your last option. If you are deep in the waitlist and the course has few seats available, understand your chances. A student on the waitlist is given twenty-four hours to enroll, regardless of how close the enrollment deadline is. If you are number five on the waitlist and one seat becomes available, it could take five days before your chance becomes available. However, being number one on a waitlist does not guarantee you the possibility of getting in the course.

As the semester gets closer, work with your advisor to plan alternatives.