The number you are assigned when you are on the waitlist does not accurately reflect your position. There is no easy way to identify where you stand on the wait list because we prioritize the list when we issue permission numbers. We must first accommodate COMM majors before proceeding to other students on the list. We will also consider class standing (if someone needs the course to graduate that semester) and other factors.  This is the order of priority we use to issue permission numbers to students on the wait list:

1. COMM Majors/Individualized Majors (who have confirmed their courses with IMJR)
2. COMM Minors
3. CLAS Students
4. Students in other Schools/Colleges

We also give priority based on class standing within these groups: seniors first, juniors, sophomores, then freshmen.

After majors have had the opportunity to register, we will begin to assess open seats and email a student once they have been selected.  This process continues until a waitlist is exhausted (no one is left, and we delete it) or until the semester begins and through to the ADD-DROP period of the first 2 weeks of the semester - whichever happens first. Therefore, you may be emailed anytime after registration begins, through the first two weeks of classes.  If you no longer want a permission number, please remove yourself from the waitlist (use the DROP function in Student Admin) so that we can issue the number to the next person in line.

This process is exclusively done in StudentAdmin, there is no internal department list. If you are not familiar with the process, here is a helpful link: How to add yourself to a waitlist in StudentAdmin

If you are not offered the waitlist option for a COMM class, you most likely have not met the pre-requisites. Check the pre-reqs for the class in the course descriptions, in Student Admin, or the University Catalog.  Some other reasons may be:

1. Enrollment appointment date/time has not yet been reached
2. Requisites for the class are not met (you will see a message in red)
3. Maximum units to waitlist reached
4. The academic department has chosen not to offer waitlist seats for the class (we DO NOT have waitlists for COMM 1000 or COMM 1100 - or any cross-listed course). These courses include:
   • LLAS 3320 (COMM 3320) – Media and Diverse Audiences
   • LLAS 3321 (COMM 3321) – Latinas and Media
   • LLAS 3322 (COMM 3322) – Soap Opera/Telenovela
   • PSYC 3241 (COMM 3241) – Motivation and Emotion
   • WGSS 3210 (COMM 3210) – Gender and Communication
5. The waitlist is at its capacity

Once your Enrollment Appointment begins. If you need help finding your enrollment appointment, click here.

Courses that require students to have a particular academic level, a particular major or minor plan, a particular sub-plan, including or excluding specific classes, or a certain number of units (credits) are examples of requisites. These can be checked by accessing the University Catalog.

Under certain circumstances, a student can be waitlisted for more than one section of the same class:

1. Not already enrolled in another section of the same class.
2. The class has a single component only, such as a lecture.
3. The maximum number of waitlist units (10) has not been reached.
4. You are on the waitlist for another section in a multiple-component class (such as lecture and discussion or lecture and lab) that does not auto-enroll into the same lecture.

Yes, students are allowed to waitlist for classes that may conflict with enrolled classes. The student would have to resolve the time issue when allowed to enroll in the class. Permission numbers do not override time conflicts.

Yes, wait-listed classes will appear on both.