Waitlist Information
Waitlists are available for filled courses. A waitlist for a course will begin during registration once a class closes. The Course Listing notes which courses have waitlists, as well as current enrollment figures.
You may add yourself to waitlists any time from when a waitlist forms until the day before the end of the add/drop period in a given semester.
The last waitlist email will be sent the morning of the last day of the add/drop period, which will end at 11:59 p.m. that night. Specific dates are available on the WCL Academic Calendar.
Students may not add additional courses after the conclusion of the add/drop period.
The waitlists are designed to provide a school-wide system for all students interested in a specific course. In order to administer the waitlists in a fair and equitable way, the waitlists take priority. Therefore, you should not contact students asking for exceptions to the waitlist process.
Likewise, in order to allow as many students as possible to take their preferred classes, if at any point you decide that you no longer want to take a course or no longer want to be on the waitlist, please drop it immediately to give someone else the chance to have that spot.
You will be restricted to three active waitlists at any given point per term (fall, spring and summer). If a class you would like to take is already closed when you register, you can add yourself to the waitlist for the class by answering "yes" to the question in AU Student Planning.
If you are already on three active waitlists and attempt to waitlist for a fourth course for the term, you will receive a registration failure message.
You will also be restricted to one active waitlist per course, but may contact the Office of the Registrar at registrationservices@wcl.american.edu or 202-274-4080 to be added to an additional waitlisted section of the course. This will be considered one of your three active waitlists.
You may view your waitlisted sections, including information about your waitlist status and the overall length of the waitlist, on your Student Planning and Registration Portal.
Waitlisted courses show on your plan, but not on your schedule. You will be able to drop yourself from any of your waitlisted courses via this portal.
If you are currently on three active waitlists and wish to waitlist for another course, you may drop yourself from one of your current waitlisted courses to do so.
The waitlist process is scheduled to run notifications of admission to classes in the early morning every Monday through Friday until the end of the add/drop period.
If a space becomes available for you, your status will change from 'Active' to 'Permission to Register' on your 'My Waitlisted Sections' page in the myau.american.edu portal. We encourage you to check this page frequently. You should also receive an e-mail from WCL Waitlist informing you that a space has become available.
Please be aware that if you forward your AU email account to another e-mail account, the waitlist e-mails may get caught in your spam folder. You will have until 6:00 a.m. the day after you receive permission to register to add the class to your schedule (except on the last day of add/drop, when you will have until 11:59 p.m.).
Available spots for students WILL NOT he held longer than the normal one-day permission period. If you miss your opportunity to register for a course, you may add yourself back to the waitlist. You will move to the end of the waitlist queue.
Please be in touch with the Office of the Registrar with any questions or concerns.