Spring 2025 course registration will open Tuesday, November 26 at 9 a.m., and continue until classes begin Monday, January 13. This guide will provide step by step instructions so you can register online by using the Student Information System (SIS). If needed, appointments are available through the first two weeks of classes. Adjustments to your schedule can be made until the end of the drop/add period and no later than Friday, January 24, 2025.
STEP 1: Review general education requirements for all Bachelor's degrees
Every candidate for a baccalaureate degree from the university must complete a set of Unified General Education Requirements.
NOTE: Students in the 3-2 Dual Degree Program should refer to the section in this guide describing requirements.
STEP 2: Select a major
All students must complete the requirements of a major field of study. A major ordinarily includes a program of 10 or more courses. More than 60 majors leading to Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees are offered. Follow the requirements listed under each major in the General Bulletin. Transfer students must take at least half of the major requirements at CWRU.
- Case School of Engineering – all engineering majors, data science and analytics, and computer science (BS)
- College of Arts and Sciences – majors in arts, humanities, social/behavioral sciences, mathematics and natural sciences, nutrition, and computer science (BA and BS)
- Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing – major in nursing (BSN)
- Weatherhead School of Management – majors in accounting, finance, and management (BS)
STEP 3: Select a minor (optional)
A minor concentration requires no fewer than 15 credit hours and normally requires no more than 18 credit hours. With the exception of minors offered by the Case School of Engineering, students must earn a minimum cumulative average of 2.0 for all courses taken to satisfy minor requirements and for which grades are averaged. Transfer students who wish to complete a minor must take at least half the requirements for the minor at CWRU.
Minors are not required. Students have the option of completing a minor in a discipline other than the major. The successful completion of a minor will be indicated on a student's transcript.
STEP 4: Review your transfer credit evaluation
When registering, remember that you may receive additional transfer credit for courses that require departmental approval or for courses not yet submitted for evaluation. This is often the case when an entire semester has not been included in your initial transfer credit evaluation. Updates to transfer credit will be ongoing throughout the semester. If you have transfer credit pending, you may need to request a permit in SIS, since the system checks for prerequisites. If a permit is issued, you must still register for the course in SIS.
Transfer credit can be viewed under your Course History in SIS. Case Western Reserve University will also consider the following for possible credit:
- Advanced Placement
- International Baccalaureate
- A-level exams
- Coursework from universities abroad. Please submit an official copy of your official exam results or translated transcripts to the Advising Support Office.
- If you completed college courses while in high school, additional verification is required before credit will be considered. Please contact the Advising Support Office if you did not include this information when you applied for admission.
A transferred course will fulfill a category as a breadth requirement as long as your course is in a listed academic department. It may have a direct equivalent to a CWRU course (i.e. “General Psychology” is transferred as Case Western Reserve University’s PSCL 101), or it may not have a corresponding equivalent course at Case Western Reserve (i.e. PSCL 100-TR, 200-TR or 300-TR).
Engineering majors only: Transfer credit for CHEM 105 and 106 will only replace CHEM 111 (required for engineering majors and the BS in computer science following the engineering general education requirements). It will not replace credit for ENGR 145.
STEP 5: Select courses you wish to take and check prerequisites
You are not permitted to register for more than 19 semester hours your first semester. Full-time status is considered to be 12-19 semester hours. A course load of 14-17 hours is recommended.
Most professors make an assumption about how much time you should spend studying outside of class. This assumption is used to determine how much work they assign and what type of expectation they have of their students. This assumption is referred to as the formula for academic success. For every hour in class, plan on studying two to three hours outside of class. If you are enrolled in 15 credit hours, your professors expect that you are spending 30-45 hours per week outside of class studying. When you add in the original 15 hours that you are spending in class, you should be dedicating 45-60 hours per week to your studies. This is a full-time job! Keep this in mind as you schedule your time, develop your course schedule, and plan your extracurricular activities.
Remember, SIS requires that course prerequisites be met. If you have transfer credit pending, you may request a permit in SIS from the instructor. Permits are issued at the discretion of the instructor. If a course is closed, you can submit a closed course permission request via the same process. If space is available, the instructor will approve the permit so that you can add the course to your schedule.
NOTE: All NEW students are assigned a graduation date four years from the term of enrollment. If your graduation date is incorrect, you may be registering for classes in future semesters later than necessary. You must complete an Academic Advisement Report Substitution Form if your graduation date should be changed.