Incoming First-Year Registration

Making Schedule Changes:

• First-Year students are expected to discuss any schedule changes with their FSEM adviser before making schedule changes. This is particularly important for students who have been registered in courses they were not expecting. We encourage you to contact your adviser as soon as possible to discuss your planned changes.
• If you are registered for courses you are not expecting, it's possible you were placed into specific courses for specific reasons. This is particularly true for students planning to major in the sciences or who indicated an interest in pre-medicine or pre-engineering (e.g., students planning to major in BIOL or following the pre-med track should take CHEM 101/111 in the first semester, students interested in pre-engineering should plan to take PHYS 125 in the first semester, etc.)
• You are encouraged to watch our video tutorials on making changes in Banner Self-Service, particularly the section on Conditional Drop/Add. (This feature allows you to drop a course ONLY if the course you are trying to add is available. It helps you avoid losing a seat in a course if you can't make the switch.)
• Students are expected to make all changes online. Some courses require instructor permission or have a restriction that you meet in another way (e.g., high school course work that doesn't transfer for credit but prepares you to start at an advanced level, etc.). In these cases, you may request instructor permission using the Course Restriction Override Request form.
• See more detailed tips and tricks on making schedule changes on the Drop/Add Instructions and Tips for First-Year Students guide.

During drop/add, you should use the regular course offerings to find courses you may be interested in adding. This regular version of the course offerings includes all courses offered for the term and includes additional information, such as enrollment information and day/time information. New courses may have been added or enrollment caps adjusted since we built your schedules so we encourage you to browse the offerings.

Because you can only add open courses, we suggest you use the "Open Courses Only" filter, in conjunction with other filters. To find this filter, click on the "More Course Filters" box to expand more options. Click the box labeled "Open Course Only." If desired, select any other filter options (e.g., certain departments, course levels, requirements) to narrow your search before clicking "Browse Courses." 

You should discuss any interesting courses with your adviser before making schedule changes. 

Classes for the first week will meet according to the schedule below:

• Thursday, August 27 - All classes will meet in abbreviated sessions according to the Half-Day Schedule, irrespective of their regularly scheduled days.
• Friday, August 28 - All Tuesday classes meet at their regularly scheduled time and location.
• Monday, August 31 - All courses begin meeting at their regularly scheduled days and times.

Please take a moment to verify your personal information (preferred name, preferred pronouns, home address, contact numbers, etc.) on the portal. Much of this info was gathered from your initial application to Colgate. If any changes need to be made, please log into the portal to submit updates (type "My contact information" into the portal search to get there quickly). Contact registrar@colgate.edu if you have any questions about your contact information.

Please review your unofficial transcript on the portal (type "Student Self Service" into the search to navigate to your transcript). If you have received Colgate credit for Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) scores or for coursework completed at another institution, it will appear under the heading “TRANSFER CREDIT ACCEPTED BY THE INSTITUTION.”

You will be permitted a total of six (6.00) transfer course credits based on coursework completed both prior to and during your enrollment at Colgate. This means that if you are granted a total of six (6.00) course credits for work taken before your matriculation at Colgate (such as Advanced Placement), you will be allowed no additional transfer credit during your enrollment here. Pre-matriculation AP and transfer credit counts toward the 32.00 course credits required for graduation. It may not be used to fulfill Colgate’s Liberal Arts Curriculum, however.

Please note that Colgate University policy does not permit a student to receive duplicate credit for a course. Therefore, if you enroll in a Colgate course for which you already have received AP/transfer credit, the AP/transfer credit will be removed from your academic record. For example, if you received AP credit for MATH 161, then subsequently enrolled in MATH 161 at Colgate, the credit weight for that AP/transfer course would be changed from 1.00 to 0.00 and the course would be marked as a repeat.

If your AP/transfer credit does not appear on the transcript, or if you believe we have made an error in recording the credit, please contact to the Registrar’s Office as quickly as possible. Our office is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Please visit our Transfer of Pre-matriculation Credit page for full details on transferring pre-matriculation credit.

Your FSEM instructor/adviser should be your first resource if you have any questions about courses or are looking for guidance on possible schedule changes. The registrar's office staff is also available to help you navigate policies, procedures, or the mechanics of making schedule changes. You can email registrar@colgate.edu, call 315-228-7408, or stop into the registrar's office in 103 Lathrop Hall.