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Academic Advising

Registration Help

Registration weeks are a high-volume time for advisors and responses to questions may be delayed. If you are experiencing registration issues, please look at the frequently asked questions below as many student registration questions will be answered here. 

Students: This page was designed for you by advisors to help you with registration.

You must be advised before you can register for classes. Please contact your assigned academic advisor directly for information on setting up an advisement appointment if you haven't been advised this semester.


For general questions about registration holds and course restrictions please reference the Registrar's registration troubleshooting page. 

How to...

Registration Ticket Time: To view the date and time you are able to first register for classes as well as any registration holds you may have on your account, watch the “Viewing Registration Status & Holds” video. Your Registration Ticket Time and holds are located on your Student Profile in Self Service Carolina (my.sc.edu)

Non-Academic Holds: Non-academic holds cannot be lifted by advisors. You will need to directly contact the office for which the hold is from (ie: Bursar’s office, Registrar’s office, etc.). Only the office can lift the hold or let you know what you need to do so the hold can be lifted. For more information regarding holds, please see this resource on common holds and restrictions

Advisement Hold: If you have been advised but have an advisement hold on your account, please notify your advisor as soon as possible.     

Use the following steps or view the "Self Service Carolina: Register for Courses" video to learn how to register for classes.

  1. Log in to my.sc.edu.
  2. Click on the “Student” tab at the top of the screen.
  3. Click on the “Registration” box (3rd box from left on top row).
  4. Click on “Register for Classes” (on the left-hand side, middle).
  5. A new page will load. Select the semester for which you are registering for courses.
  6. Under the “Find Classes” tab (the first page you see once semester has been selected)
    • Select 'Campus' (Columbia)
    • Select 'Subject' (choose from drop down, or type in subject i.e. MUSC, MUED)
    • Enter the 'Course Number'
  7. If you would like, click on advanced search to select specific days, types of classes, to look for open sections only, etc. 
  8. Click “Search”.
  9. Review list of class options - it will tell you if there are conflicts with your current schedule and seat availability. Click on the underlined course tite to view more details by clicking on the description/attributes/restrictions tabs.
  10. Click the “Add” button for the class you want to add to your schedule.
  11. In the lower half window on the right, the added course listed will appear as “pending”. 
  12. Verify this is the correct class and then Once you have verified this, click the "Submit" button (bottom right corner).
  13. Double check to make sure the course has been added to your schedule. The status will go from “Pending” to “Registered” and highlighted green)
  1. Log into my.sc.edu
  2. Click on the “Student” tab at the top of the screen.
  3. Click on the “Registration” box (3rd box from left on top row).
  4. Click on “Register for Classes” (on the left-hand side, middle).
  5. A new page will load. Select the semester for which you are registering for courses.
  6. Select the “Enter CRN’s” tab (under Register for Classes, next to “Find Classes”)
  7. Enter the CRN (5-digit number) in the box.
  8. Choose “Add to Summary
  9. In the lower half window on the right, the added course listed will appear as “pending”. 
  10. Verify this is the correct class and then Once you have verified this, click the "Submit" button (bottom right corner).
  11. Double check to make sure the course has been added to your schedule. The status will go from “Pending” to “Registered” and highlighted green)

Other Frequently Asked Questions

This error indicates you were attempting to register for a course that is restricted to a special population of students (i.e. Business majors, International students, majors or minors of a program). You may need to select an alternate section of the course. 

Click the course title to view information about the specific class/section (for example: “Restricted to X college”). Restricted sections often will have a letter before the section number number (A, C, R, T, P, H, and S). J sections are online and Z sections are located at Fort Jackson and require special enrollment permissions.

View the registration holds and course restrictions document for more information.

If possible, screenshot the error message (for example: "field of study" or "classification") and send it to your advisor for assistance. 

Also, view the video, "How to Identify Class Registration Restrictions" to see why you may not be able to enroll in a class.

Some sections are restricted to certain majors or student populations. For details about a course/section, click on the course title to view more information about the specific class/section.

Note: Some colleges may restrict registration to majors only for a specific period of time (i.e. the first three weeks of registration) after which other students may register for remaining seats. There may also be a delay in registration for courses needed for a minor. 

Try to find an open section and know that course enrollment will fluctuate until the add/drop deadline.

Some departments provide online forms you can complete to be notified when additional seats are added.  Completing an online form does not guarantee a seat in the class or a seat into a specific section.

Seat availability requests, notifications and waitlists for some departments can be found online.

You may also use the Coursicle app to track the enrollment in the course sections that you are hoping to enroll in, and the app will notify you when a seat as opened up.

Please contact the specific department to see if overrides can be granted.

Need to take the Foreign Language Placement Test or wanting to start a new language? Complete the exemption form or sign up for an upcoming placement test .

 Need to take the Math Placement Test?  Complete the test online

Log on to Self Service Carolina (my.sc.edu) and click the “Student Profile” tile. On this page, click the “Registration Notices” tab in the upper right corner. You register on the date and time under “Time Ticket”

Many advisors will record your advised classes in either the 'Notes' or 'Plans' tab of your DegreeWorks audit. Watch the "DegreeWorks: Viewing Notes & Advised Courses" video to see where to find this information. 

If this information is not entered into DegreeWorks, you should contact your advisor directly. Know there may be a delayed response during registration weeks. 

There are a variety of reasons why you may not be able to register for a class. Usually there is a course restriction that is keeping you from registering.

If you are searching for classes using the enhanced class search website (classes.sc.edu), view the video "How to Identify Class Registration Restrictions" to see why you may not be able to enroll in a class.

If you are searching for classes using the 'Browse Classes' tool, click on the underlined course title and then click on the 'Course Information', 'Attributes', and 'Restrictions' tabs to learn more. 

Course sections with a letter in front of the section are generally restricted to specific student populations. The exception is 'J' sections - this means this class is online. 

It is likely the department is restricting access to those courses for majors only until a certain date. Most departments will list a specific date when minors may start registering for these courses. Advisors do not have the ability to override department permissions on courses.

If you are searching for classes using the enhanced class search website (classes.sc.edu), view the video "How to Identify Class Registration Restrictions" to see if the class is open to minors and other students on a specific date.

If you are searching for classes using the 'Browse Classes' tool, click on the underlined course title and then click on the 'Course Information' tab. 

Summer class at USC: Sign up for the course as normal. If your advising hold has not been lifted, contact your advsor. 

Summer class NOT at USC: Please contact your advisor to learn more about taking classes at a different institution and start the process of completing the necessary Special Enrollment Request Form. 

For specific information regarding your major, it is vital that you connect with your academic advisor.


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