»Waitlist FAQs

The waitlist option is only available once all seats in a class have been filled and the section closes. When a Class Search is performed that includes the closed classes users will see a yellow triangle beside classes that have available waitlists.  When the waitlist capacity of a class has been reached, the waitlist feature is unavailable and a blue closed class icon will display beside those sections.

Students cannot get on a waitlist until their enrollment appointment or open enrollment has begun.

The last day to get on a waitlist for a class will be the Thursday before the start of the term.  Waitlist processing ends on the Friday before the start of the term.

Yes, students can waitlist for up to 21 credits at a time within a term.  This limit cannot be overridden.

Yes, students can waitlist for multiple sections of the same class, with the following stipulations:

• Students cannot select a preference for which section they will be auto-enrolled into. The waitlist process will enroll the student in the section that has the first available seat.
• Once enrolled in one of those class sections, students will be automatically dropped from the other waitlisted sections of that course.
• If students are already enrolled in another section of a class they want to waitlist they SWAP feature should be used to enroll and waitlist for the closed section.
• If already enrolled in a lecture and lab combination students cannot be waitlisted for alternate lab sections, unless they are also attempting to get onto a waitlist for a different lecture section.

NOTE: each section a student waitlists counts towards the 21 credit waitlist maximum

If classes have a reserve capacity and the only open seats are restricted for the reserve capacity, students who do not meet the reserve capacity can get on the waitlist for the class.  Students will be auto-enrolled into the class if an unrestricted seat becomes available.

• Requisites for the class are not met
• Instructor or Department approval is required
• A negative service indicator (registration hold) is assigned to the student
• The student’s enrollment appointment has not arrived
• The student is already enrolled in another section of the class
• The waitlist capacity of the class has been reached
• The student has reached the maximum number of waitlisted credits (21)

A process is run each week night.  If there are available seats in a class the process will add try to enroll students from the waitlist into the class using the priority of the waitlist position. If a student is enrolled from the waitlist and email notification will be sent to the Chapman University email account.

If a student does not meet the criteria to be enrolled in the class (see FAQ # 8) the process will select the next student on the waitlist.

• Seats were not available in both the lecture and lab combination that the student selected
• The waitlisted class presents a schedule conflict with another class in which the student is already enrolled.
• The student is still enrolled in another section of that class
  • If students ADD themselves to the waitlist for a different section of the same class (instead of using the SWAP feature) they must DROP the section in which they are enrolled before they will be enrolled into the section in which they are waitlisted.
  • Students should initially SWAP the section they are currently enrolled in with the section they would like to waitlist if their preference is to be enrolled in the waitlisted section.

Note: if students are not enrolled from the waitlist due to any of these issues, they will be passed over and the next eligible student on the waitlist will be enrolled.

If students are already enrolled in another section of the class for which they want to waitlist, SWAP should be used.

Students may also want to use SWAP if there is a known time conflict between an already enrolled class section and the section for which they want to waitlist.

Students may also want to use SWAP if they are already enrolled in the maximum number of units for a term and want to still get on a waitlist. 

Student should NOT use SWAP to get on a waitlist for a closed lab if they are already enrolled in the lecture associated with that closed lab.  Students will be dropped immediately from their enrolled class and placed on the waitlist for the lecture until a seat opens in the closed lab, since students cannot be enrolled in a lecture section and waitlisted for that same lecture simultaneously.

Yes, students can remove themselves from a waitlist by dropping themselves from the waitlisted section in Student self-service.

Students are not able to see who is on a waitlist for a class.  Students are only able to view those classes they have waitlisted for on their class schedule.

Faculty can view the students on the waitlist for their class via the Class Roster page in Faculty self-service.

Faculty and Advisors can also see whether an individual students is on a waitlist via the following pages in Faculty or Advisor self-service:  Enrollment Summary, Study List, Student Services Center, and Advisee Class Schedule.