Waitlists will be reviewed and permission numbers issued, if seats are available, to students on the wait list beginning April 5th.
KEEP IN MIND: Almost every department at UConn handles permission numbers and waitlists differently (alas!), so outside of COMM, please contact the individual instructor or Department for their particular policies and procedures.
While trying to enroll, some of you may receive the message on Student Admin, “Available seats are reserved and you do not meet the reserve capacity requirements."
But, I’m a COMM major? Even if you are a COMM major, you still may find that you can’t enroll in a class that appears to have a reserved cap for COMM majors. There were seats reserved for you, but unfortunately, those seats were taken by other COMM majors who enrolled before you. Once the class is full, a waitlist is generated. If someone drops the class, after the waitlist was generated, the waitlist will continue to remain active. (It’s just a software thing, see below.)
But the class appears OPEN (green) on Student Admin? Once the section becomes full, the waitlist is automatically activated—even if enrolled students later change their mind, drop the course, and their seat is vacated. Once the wait list has been activated, direct enrollment by students will no longer be possible. (It’s just the way Student Admin works!) Thus, while the class may now APPEAR OPEN, students can no longer enroll themselves in that section except through a permission number. The waitlist administrator will begin issuing permission numbers after the last enrollment date, April 5th.
Please DO NOT EMAIL the course instructors or the advising office for a permission number. It is departmental policy that permission numbers be issued only through a centralized waitlist administrator. Thus, only students on the waitlist will receive a permission number, if there are available seats remaining. Wait for an email in the days after April 5th, issuing you a permission number if a seat becomes available.
But, I’m a COMM Minor? Due to the high demand for our courses, we are unable to reserve seats for our minors. Please follow the instructions below, if you wish to be placed on the wait list for your desired course(s).
Does Waitlisting guarantee that I will get a seat? No. The waitlist is prioritized; so, if there are seats still available after April 5th, permission numbers are issued first to COMM majors and to IMJR students, then to Minors, to CLAS students, and then to students from other schools and colleges--in that order of priority. You should come up with a back-up plan, with alternate courses in which to enroll instead, in case a seat in the waitlisted course does not become available.
So how DO I get a seat? In short, if there is a waitlist for the class, place yourself on the waitlist. Select the “Wait list if class is full” option, which appears just above the permission number field when you’re enrolling for the class on Student Admin. You must complete the enrollment steps on Student Admin, in order to be added to the wait list.
What if there isn’t a waitlist? If no waitlist is available for a class, and the class appears CLOSED in Student Admin, you will not be able to enroll in the class at this time. You can continue to monitor the class enrollment, between now and the 10th day of the semester, and directly enroll yourself through Student Admin, when/if someone drops the course between now and the 10th day of the semester.
What if I don’t have the prerequisites for a course—can I still get a permission number? No. You must have met the pre-requisites for the course before you can add yourself to the wait list through Student Admin. Remember that many of the upper division COMM classes have pre-requisites, in addition to COMM 1000 and COMM 1300. Check the course catalog description for COMM pre-requisites.
More questions? A detailed explanation of how permission numbers work, with FAQs, is listed on the COMM department website: http://comm.uconn.edu/advising/ug-faq/
Katie and Joel
For more information, contact: Katie at kathryn.dantonio@uconn.edu