Registration Information

Registration Information

The pages in this section will be updated regularly: please check back for more information. Updated March 15, 2023.

To determine which courses you should register in, follow the program plan in the University of Alberta Calendar for the year you entered your discipline. The Academic Requirements Report in Bear Tracks and our Program Planners can be used to track your progress in your program.

Build Your Schedule

Use the Shopping Cart (formerly Schedule Builder) in Bear Tracks to create timetables for both Fall and Winter terms. This will make it easier for you to build a schedule without timetable conflicts, and will be faster when you register in courses on your enrolment date. The Registrar's Office offers several short guides and videos to help you navigate schedule construction.

When adding courses to your timetable, read the notes in Bear Tracks for enrolment or class restrictions that might affect you (Class Notes, Subject Notes, etc). For example, Math 201 in Fall 2023 is restricted to certain programs and plans until August 27. If you are not in one of the programs or plans listed, you will not be able to register in this course until August 28.

Viewing Class Notes

Class notes contain important information about the class as well as restrictions and registration dates for different student groups. To view the class notes for a course, click on the green clipboard icon beside the class section. Note: not all class sections will have course notes.

How to view Class Notes:

Location of clipboard icon in Bear Tracks, desktop view.

Location of clipboard icon in Bear Tracks, mobile view.

Checking the Reserve Capacity in Bear Tracks

If you are registering on sequence (i.e. following the Calendar for your year) with the proper course requisites you may receive a “you do not meet reserve capacity” error message because all of the seating for your program has been used by other students. When this error occurs, register in another available section of the course. Keep in mind that students will be updating their timetables until Fall term, so keep the section you want on your Watch List and you may get a chance to enroll in it later.

To find the reserve capacity for your program and plan in Bear Tracks, click on the class number and navigate to the ‘Class Availability’ tab.

Desktop, click on the section. Reserve Capacity is located on the Class Availability tab.

Mobile device, click on the Reserve Capacity link to get the details

Validate Your Courses

Use the Validation tool in Bear Tracks to make sure your registration will go smoothly. If you encounter errors, check that you meet all course prerequisites and/or corequisites. Note: If courses are in your Shopping Cart, but you have not enrolled in them, they will not be recognized as prerequisites and/or corequisites.

Pay All Fines

All financial holds must be cleared before you will be able to register in classes. If you have questions or need assistance with clearing your hold, please contact the Student Service Centre. It can take 3-5 days for your hold to clear in Bear Tracks. Engineering Student Services cannot override your hold to enroll you in classes.

Registration Troubleshooting

I'm missing a 100-level engineering requirement, but I can't register for the course in Bear Tracks. How do I register in this course?

On sequence first-year classes have reserved seating for students in their first qualifying year. There are a limited number of seats available in each section for continuing students. To find out if a section of a first-year class has any available seating, see our section above on ‘Checking the Reserve Capacity in Bear Tracks.'

I am trying to register in classes but one or more are full. What do I do?

As classes may fill up quickly, we strongly recommend that students register in classes as soon as their enrolment date is open for the term.

In the event that a class you wish to enroll in is full, be sure to put the class on your Watch List in Bear Tracks. Seat availability in classes may change over the months leading up to classes starting: teaching departments may open additional seats or sections to meet demand and they normally use the Watch List to monitor student demand.

Students who have added classes to their Watch List will be notified when seat(s) become available. For information on how to set up Watch List Notification Preferences and how to enroll when a spot becomes available, visit the Registrar's Office Bear Tracks Help page.

IMPORTANT: If the class you are trying to register in is a core class for your program and you are registering in the correct term according to your program planner, please email enggadvising@ualberta.ca for assistance. Be sure to include your student ID number in your email.

I'm registering in classes for the Spring and Summer terms. Why am I getting dropped from my classes?

Engineering 13-week courses for Spring and Summer terms are split into an A portion in Spring and a B portion in Summer to fit into the University of Alberta scheduling structure. Students taking courses in the Spring/Summer terms must enroll in both the A portion in Spring and the B portion in Summer to successfully complete their registration.

If you enroll in only one of the sections, either A or B, Bear Tracks will cancel your registration overnight because your enrolment is incomplete. You must enroll in both the A and B sections of the class on the same day to avoid getting dropped from the class overnight.

Example: A student wishes to take MEC E 250 in the Spring/Summer Terms. To successfully register in this course, they must enroll in both MEC E 250A in the Spring term and MEC E 250B in the Summer term.

I'm trying to register for a course that requires students to be in a specific year of their program. I am in the correct year, but cannot register for the course. What do I do?

If there are no restrictions and you meet any required pre/corequisites you should be able to register in the course. Your year is determined by the course work completed towards your current program, not years of study.

How to check your registration eligibility for the course:

Review your Program Planner or Academic Requirements Report to verify that you are in the correct year to register for the course.
Check your transcripts to confirm you have completed any course prerequisites, if there are any.
Review your course schedule to ensure that you are registered in required corequisites for the course, if there are any.
Read the Class Notes to verify that there are no restrictions preventing you from registering in the course.

I am getting an error about not meeting restrictions when I try to register in my non-Engineering elective. What do I do?

For assistance registering in a non-Engineering class, please contact the teaching department for the course. Contact information can be found on the website for each department.

I’m trying to register in an Engineering course that is on my list of electives and getting an error message. What do I do?

Please consult the Class Notes in Bear Tracks to see if your program/plan has a future enrolment date. If registration will not be available for your program/plan, email enggadvising@ualberta.ca for assistance and make sure to include your student ID.

When I try to register in my courses, Bear Tracks displays an error that reads "Restrictions not met". What does that mean?

Registration restrictions are in place to ensure:

priority registration for specific groups of students; and/or
that course prerequisites and/or corequisites have been met.

Please consult the Class Notes in Bear Tracks for information on registration specific to your classes.

When I try and register in an on sequence MEC E course with available seating, I get an error message that says "available seats are reserved". What does that mean? What should I do?

The Mechanical Engineering department reserves seats in each section for students in the program plans who are scheduled to take it that term. You will receive this error when all the seats reserved for your plan are taken. Please see information on ‘Checking the Reserve Capacity in Bear Tracks’ on our Mechanical Engineering Registration page. Try registering in another available section of the course as seats for your program may still be available in other sections.

_{Last Updated: August 1, 2023}