Registration
Student Guide to Waitlists
During registration, after a course section has reached its maximum enrollment limit, the waitlist option will become available. This option allows you to add your name to a queue to register for the course section if a seat becomes available. Note: You are not permitted to waitlist for a section of a course if you're already registered for another section of the same course. USF uses waitlists as one tool to track actual course demand.
To see courses that have a waitlist, you must uncheck "limit to open sections ONLY" in the search parameters. This will provide a list of all sections offered in a term including open, full, and full with a waitlist available.
You can take classes at any USF campus. You may want to consider searching all campuses to see if your course is available elsewhere, especially if you are interested in taking the course online.
Courses with a waitlist can appear to have an open seat, and while there is technically an open seat, that seat is reserved for the next person on the list. For this reason, do not drop a course for which you are registered until you know for sure there is a seat available in the course.
Some important notes:
- You must meet all prerequisite, co-requisite, and registration requirements to be eligible to waitlist.
- The system will not override time conflicts. Therefore, if you are registered for a class that already exists for that time slot, you will not be allowed to waitlist the class.
- Being on a waitlist does not guarantee registration for the class. It is recommended that you register for an alternate class in case the course never becomes available to you.
- Students on a waitlist for existing sections of a course are not notified when a new section is added to the schedule, therefore you are encouraged to regularly search for new sections.
- Waitlists are closed and cleared at 11:59 p.m. on the Monday before the start of classes. After
that, you may register for previously waitlisted course sections that have seats available.
Waitlists will be closed and cleared for the following terms:
- Summer A & C - May 8, 2023
- Summer B - June 19, 2023
- Fall - August 14, 2023
- Spring - January 1, 2024
How to manage the waitlist option:
- In order to add yourself to a waitlist, you must select “Waitlist” from the pull-down menu on OASIS. Don’t forget to click “Submit Changes”.
- Once you become the first person on the waitlist, you will receive an automatic e-mail notification letting you know you can register for the course in OASIS when a seat becomes available.
- You must register for the course within 24 hours of the e-mail notification; otherwise, you will be dropped from the waitlist and the next person will move to the top of the list.
- If you no longer wish to be on the waitlist, you must drop the course through OASIS using the Drop/Add menu.
- Watch the video tutorial for additional help.
Waitlist faq
Not all classes offer waitlists. Each college is responsible for determining if their class offerings should have a waitlist or not. Once a course is full, you may select “Waitlist” from the registration options in OASIS. For courses with no waitlist available, you will need to check regularly for possible openings.
There are a limited number of seats available for a waitlist, so if all positions are filled, you will be unable to add yourself to the waitlist until a seat opens up.
Waitlisted classes do NOT count towards your enrolled hours. If your financial aid requires full-time enrollment, be sure you have enough credits without counting waitlisted classes.
Yes, any type of hold that prevents registration will prohibit you from using the waitlist function. Here's the current list of holds and how to resolve each one.
It depends on how currently enrolled students adjust their schedules and if they drop your requested class. When a student does enroll from the waitlist, the waitlist position numbers are re-sequenced. If you're not off the waitlist the week before the start of term, it is time to register in a section that has seats available.
Waitlists are only available once the class is full. For high-demand classes, this may be the first day of registration or, for other classes, as late as the week before the term begins.
Yes, the class will remain closed and each student on the waitlist will be given an opportunity to register in priority order. Waitlists are closed and cleared the Monday before classes begin. Once waitlists are cleared, you may only register for sections that have seats available on a first come, first served basis.