Each semester has an enrollment period in which students use the Student Information System (SIS) to choose classes to take the following semester. Enrollment for spring courses typically happens in November, and enrollment for fall courses in April. Students are assigned a specific enrollment window during the enrollment period; this window is the only time (besides add/drop week) that students can enroll in courses. Check SIS for your personal enrollment window.

Using Your Shopping Cart

The shopping cart is designed to help students manage their course selections for the following term. It allows you to plan your schedule in advance, and makes registering for courses quicker and easier. Please note that placing a class in your shopping cart does not mean you are enrolled in that class, nor does it guarantee you a seat in that class. It is simply a tool for planning purposes.

Shopping carts become available a few weeks before the enrollment period, allowing you plenty of time to talk to your advisor and plan your courses. They open at the same time for all students, regardless of credit hours completed or if a student has an advising hold on their account.

We highly recommend students utilize their shopping cart. It can alert you ahead of time to things like time conflicts, advising holds, and other issues.

Add/Drop Week

The first week of each RIT semester is 'Add/Drop Week,' which allows students to tweak their schedules, adding and dropping courses without penalty. During Add/Drop week, iSchool academic advisors hold special walk-in hours for students to help them finalize their schedules. Specific walk-in hours are posted in the iSchool weekly newsletter (Rich Text), on iSchool social media, and are displayed in the iSchool main office in GOL-2100.

The easiest way to drop a class during Add/Drop week is to use the 'drop' function in SIS. Full instructions on how to drop a class in SIS can be found online.

Students may also drop classes in-person via an advising walk-in, or at the RIT Office of the Registrar. Remember, dropping a course during Add/Drop week leaves no record on your academic transcript.

Withdrawing From a Course

After the Add/Drop week ends, dropping a course results in a "drop with penalty," AKA "withdrawing" from a course. You can withdraw from a course on SIS the same way you drop a course, but withdrawing will result in a 'W' penalty grade appearing on your academic transcript. If you are considering withdrawing from a class, we strongly encourage you to talk to your professor or academic advisor first. A withdrawal may also affect any financial aid you are receiving, so take that into account as well.

Course Waitlists and Swapping

Sometimes courses you want to take may be full before your enrollment window opens. This can happen with both required courses and electives. If this happens, you can join the waitlist for that course, which is also done via SIS. During the enrollment period, The iSchool is constantly monitoring course enrollment and waitlist numbers, and we'll do everything we can to make sure students get into the courses they need.

That being said, waitlists do not guarantee enrollment, so we advise students to plan for backup courses if some of their first picks don't work out. This is especially true if the course you're waitlisted on is not offered by the iSchool. We cannot override SIS and "push" our students into full classes that are offered by another department.

Another option is setting up a course swap, which means that if you enroll in your second choice course and then a seat opens up in your first choice, you can "swap" into that first choice course, effectively dropping your second choice without penalty. Course swaps are also done via SIS; for specific instructions, refer to the official RIT documentation.

Auditing Courses

Auditing a course means that a student may enroll in a course, but will not receive a grade or credit upon completion of the material. Students may choose to audit courses for various reasons, usually for academic exploration purposes or self-enrichment. At RIT, wellness classes make up the majority of audited courses. However, departments may allow students to audit an academic course on a case by case basis. Audits for non-wellness classes will need to be approved by the instructor using the Add/Drop Audit form, available on the Office of the Registrar's Website. Please note that audits cannot be officially processed until the first week of the academic term. If you wish to audit a course you've already taken, you must see your advisor before you enroll in the course.