Waitlisting FAQ

By joining a waitlist, you acknowledge you might be enrolled in that class without further notification, as well as your obligation to pay any fees resulting in your registration in the class. Being on a waitlist means that you are on a list of students who will be enrolled automatically in a class if seats become available and you meet all other requirements. Other requirements that could keep you out of a class are:

• you are in another section of the same course and the course does not allow multiple enrollments in the same semester;
• you have another class on your schedule and the time of that class conflicts with the waitlisted class;
• instructor permission is required to get into the class.

This means that if you are on a waitlist, a seat becomes available, and you meet all of the requirements to get into the class, you will be enrolled in the class without additional notice to you. You will not be charged for being on a waitlist, but you will be charged if you are subsequently enrolled in that class and the additional enrollment results in an increase in what your fees should be. 

Being on a waitlist does not mean you will necessarily be enrolled in a class. Not all students who are on waitlists get into those classes. This could be because they don't meet some additional requirements (as described above) or simply because seats do not become available for the classes. You should not assume you will be enrolled in a class for which you waitlist.

Classes that have waitlists available will be identified in Course Offerings with a class note indicating a waitlist is available. Additionally, a class that has a waitlist available will be identified in the MyOHIO Student Center by a "Wait list if class is full" checkbox. If a class has a class note in Course Offerings indicating it has a waitlist, but the "waitlist if class is full" checkbox does not appear, it means the waitlist for that class is full (i.e., there are no more spaces available on the waitlist).

A class that has a waitlist available will be identified in the MyOHIO Student Center by a "Waitlist if class is full" checkbox. To be added to the waitlist, check that box beforeadding the class to your shopping cart. After that, when you attempt to register for the class, you will be placed on the waitlist automatically if the class is full and you meet the requisites for the class. 

To be added to the waitlist, click on the class in your shopping cart. Once the class information shows, you will be able to check the box "Waitlist if class is full." After the box has been checked, select next. You will then be directed back to your shopping cart. You will need to finish enrolling in the course.

Yes. If seats become available and you meet all other requirements, you will be automatically enrolled in the class. You will also receive an email confirmation of the class being added to your semester schedule.

No. You will not be charged for being on the waitlist for a class. However, you will be charged if you are enrolled in a class from a waitlist.  By joining a waitlist, you acknowledge you might be enrolled in that class without further notification, as well as your obligation to pay any fees resulting in your registration in the class.

Undergraduate students can be on the waitlist for a maximum of 12 credit hours. 

Graduate students can be on the waitlist for a maximum of nine (9) credit hours.

The last day to add yourself to a waitlist for a full semester class is the Friday of the first week of the semester. This date will vary for flexibly scheduled classes.

You can check your waitlist position on your class schedule in the MyOHIO Student Center. Keep in mind even if you are in waitlist position 1, you might not get into the class.

The last day students will be enrolled in classes from waitlists for full semester classes is the Friday of the first week of the semester. This date will vary for flexibly scheduled classes. After that date, waitlists for classes will be purged. You will never be enrolled in a class from a waitlist after the last day to add the class, as displayed in Course Offerings.

However, after the Friday of the first week of the semester (or equivalent for flexibly scheduled classes), when the waitlists are purged, a class permission request will be created automatically for students who are still on the waitlist. Instructors will have the opportunity to review and approve or deny these requests before the last day to add the class.

If you are enrolled in one section of a course and are on the waitlist for another section of the same course, you will not be enrolled automatically unless the course allows multiple enrollments in the same semester (i.e., the course is repeatable) or you used the Swap function to get on the waitlist. Using the Swap feature allows you to be on the waitlist for a class, and have another class (already on your schedule) be dropped only if the waitlisted class becomes available (i.e., you will be dropped from the first class and added to the new one if a spot becomes available and all other criteria are met). However, you should not use the Swap feature for multiple component courses (i.e., lecture/lab, lecture/discussion, etc.), since swapping for a multiple component course will drop you from the original section and put you on the waitlist for the new one (i.e., you will lose your seat in the original class).

There are several reasons you might not be enrolled in a class even if there are seats open. When a student drops a class, you are not enrolled from the waitlist immediately - the process can take up to 30 minutes to enroll students from waitlists. Other requirements that could keep you out of a class are:

• you are in another section of the same course and the course does not allow multiple enrollments in the same semester;
• you have another class on your schedule and the time of that class conflicts with the waitlisted class;
• instructor permission is required to get into the class;
• the hours for the class you are waitlisted will take you over the maximum allowed hours without permission (20 hours for undergraduate students/18 hours for graduate students). If you intend to drop a class if you get enrolled in the waitlisted class then use the Swap feature when you add yourself to the waitlist.

If a class has a class note in Course Offerings indicating it has a waitlist, but the "waitlist if class is full" checkbox does not appear, it means the waitlist for the class is full.