Course Search & Enroll - Permission and Approval for Course Enrollment

This document explains how to determine and contact the correct campus official to attain permission and approval to enroll/drop courses.

Overview

When navigating through the enrollment process -- enrolling in a class, making changes to your class schedule, or swapping sections -- you may first need to get permission from a campus official.

Some common reasons a student may seek enrollment-related permissions:

Class section is set up to require consent of instructor or consent of department
Class section is closed or you don't meet the stated class requisite
Adding a class after the add deadline has passed

Troubleshooting tips for class permissions:

Tips for students
Tips for departmental enrollment representatives

Who to contact for permission assistance:

Departmental Enrollment Representative.
- Most common to contact enrollment representative through the drop deadline each semester (end of week 12)
Academic Dean.
- Most common to contact academic dean late in the semester, after the drop deadline

Instructor or Department Consent

Some courses will include "consent of instructor" or "consent of department" as a requisite, or requirement that needs to be met before you can enroll in the class.

Consent of Instructor required: Contact the instructor listed for this class section in Course Search & Enroll to request permission to enroll.

Consent of Department required: Contact the enrollment representative for the class subject to request permission to enroll. Many departments display their contact information for permission requests in the Subject Notes area of the main course panel. You may also find a list of enrollment representatives by subject in this table.

Image of departmental contact information in Subject Notes in Course Search & Enroll

Example with "consent of instructor" set as a requisite for the entire course:

Instructor consent for entire course

Example with "consent of instructor" set as a requisite for a specific section:

Instructor consent for specific section

Tip: When you contact an instructor or a departmental enrollment representative by email, send the email from your wisc.edu account and include your campus ID number. You may be asked for more information about your qualifications and interest in the class.

If the instructor or enrollment representative approves you for the class, they will create a special permission for you in the enrollment system.

You still need to enroll in the class! Go to Course Search & Enroll to enroll and make sure to select the correct class section.

Get in touch with the instructor or department who gave the permission if you still have problems enrolling in the class.

In some cases, you will be given a permission number. Enter this number in the section details and then complete enrollment as usual.

Enter permission number

If you still have problems enrolling in the class, see Course Search & Enroll - "Instructor consent or department permission is required" Error.

Permission to Override Closed Section or Missing Requisite

Class limits and enrollment requisites are set by the department/subject offering the course. Questions about enrolling when a class is closed or without the stated requisite should be directed to the department's enrollment representative.

If the department approves you for the class, they will create a special permission for you in the enrollment system.

You still need to enroll in the class! Go to Course Search & Enroll to enroll and make sure to select the correct class section.

Get in touch with the department who gave the permission if you still have problems enrolling in the class.

In some cases, you will be given a permission number. Enter this number in the section details and then complete enrollment as usual.

Enter permission number

Permission after add deadline has passed

Students need permission to enroll after the initial add deadline for a term has passed. The permission will need to be granted by a departmental enrollment representative or an academic dean. How far along the term has progressed will determine who should grant the permission.

Deadlines by term are listed on the Office of the Registrar's Dates and Deadlines page.

"Deadline for students to add, swap, or change sections in a [Fall or Spring] term course (after: need department permission)." Students can enroll on their own through 11:59pm on this date.

"Deadline for students to add a Spring term course with department permission (after: need academic dean approval)." Students can enroll with permission from a departmental enrollment representative through 11:59pm on this date. After this date, students need permission from an academic dean via a Course Change Request form to enroll in a class.

Approval from academic deans isn't typically required when initially enrolling in a class. However, students who want to add or drop a class late in the semester, or withdraw from UW–Madison for a term, will consult with their academic dean's office who will ensure that the student gets the advice, planning, and support they need.

You can find lists of important academic deadlines where academic dean approval is required on the Dates & Deadlines web page.

Find your academic dean's contact information

Find your academic dean's contact information on this list.

In case you are not sure which school or college to contact, you can look up your school/college:

Log in to MyUW.
Click on the Academic Navigator tile.
The school/college will be listed under your name.

Class Permission Troubleshooting Tips for Students

If you’ve been granted a class permission, revalidated the course in your cart, and still receive a message that permission is required, something is incorrect about your class permission. Basic troubleshooting strategies to try on your own are listed below, but in most cases, you’ll need to contact the departmental enrollment representative for assistance.

If the enrollment representative believes the permission is correct and it’s still not working for you, contact the DoIT Help Desk for assistance. The DoIT Help Desk will escalate to the Office of the Registrar if necessary.

Do you have formal permission? A formal permission must be entered in the Student Information System, typically by the subject’s enrollment representative. Be sure to include you Campus ID# when contacting an enrollment representative. Sometimes students speak with an instructor who grants verbal permission to enroll. This is not sufficient, and you’ll need to connect with the subject’s enrollment rep.
Are you attempting to enroll in the correct class section? Most permissions are granted at the section level (example, SOCIOLOGY 120 LEC 001 DISC 301). Check the communication you received from the granter of your permission to see if they mention a specific section number or five-digit class number. If your permission is for DISC 301, you won’t be able to enroll in DISC 302.
Are you attempting to enroll in the correct term? Sometimes, students can enroll for more than one term at a time. Check to ensure that you’re attempting to enroll for the correct term.
If the class is cross-listed, are you enrolling in the correct subject? For example, THEATRE 120 is cross-listed with ENGLISH 120. You must enroll via the subject for which you’ve been granted permission.
Has your class permission expired? If your permission is to enroll off a wait list, you received an email with the expiration date. To enroll after the expiration date, you must seek permission from the enrollment representative to see if they’re willing to extend the permission. If the permission is not related to the wait list, you won’t be able to see the expiration date, but the enrollment representative can.
Have you been given a permission number and if so, are you using it? A small number of classes use generated permission numbers that allow students to enroll with a permission number. In these cases, the enrollment representative or instructor will give you a number. You’ll expand the section details of the course, scroll down to just above the “Add section to cart” button and look for the “Class permission number” field. Enter the permission number you were given before adding the section to cart.

CS&E section-level area for entering a class permission number

Class Permission Troubleshooting Tips for Departmental Enrollment Representatives

If you've granted a SIS Class Permission for a student and they report that it's not working, please ask the student if they have revalidated the course in their CS&E cart. If they have, and the permission is not working as expected, please verify the following:

Have you entered the correct ID#? The student should provide their Campus ID# to aid with accuracy.
Have you entered the permission on an active enrollment section? Permissions will not work if entered on a non-enrollment or cancelled section.
Is the permission expired? Enrollment Reps can extend a permission (up to date of the drop deadline) if they choose.
Have you entered the permission on the class section that matches the student’s expectations? If they wanted to enroll in DISC 302 but their permission is for DISC 301, you’ll need to resolve that with them.
Have you checked the correct overrides? For example, if you're granting permission to enroll even if the class is closed, have you checked the “Closed Class” box? If you’re granting permission even if the class requisite isn't met, have you checked the “Requisites Not Met” box?
Are you using a student group to serve as the class permission? If so, the effective date of the student group must be on or before the 1^st day of the SIS term for the enrollment term. The term begin date can be found in SIS Student Records WorkCenter > Dean/Dept Processing tab > Session Dates and Deadlines.

Departmental enrollment representatives are encouraged to connect with the Office of the Registrar at registrar@em.wisc.edu for advanced troubleshooting assistance.

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