Registration Tools and FAQs

If you are having difficulty registering for a course, please consult the Registration Error Guide below and Academic Department Registration Roadmaps. The Roadmaps provide guidance on how some departments will manage their courses (e.g., restrictions, rolling caps, etc). It also provides contact information for all academic departments.  

What does this mean?

There are no open seats remaining in this section.

Options and Next Steps:

• Consider registering for an alternate section or course that has open seats.
• If available, join an open electronic waitlist. If there is no electronic waitlist, contact the department to ask if they are maintaining a paper waitlist.
• Consult with your advisor and/or Advising Center to determine if there are other course options.
• If you have an extraordinary circumstance (e.g., graduating in the fall and you confirmed that there are no other course options) please contact the Chair of the department to ask if an override is possible.

What does it mean?

The remaining seats in this section are reserved for certain populations of students. For example, some departments will reserve some seats for their majors and/or minors.

Options/Next Steps:

• Consider registering for an alternate section or course that has open seats.
• Contact the Academic Department:
  • Ask when the reserved seating will be removed and remaining seats opened to the general population.
  • Because of the reserved seating, they may not be using the electronic waitlists. Ask if they are maintaining a paper waitlist.
• Consult with your advisor and/or Advising Center to determine if there are other course options.
• If you have an extraordinary circumstance (e.g., graduating in the fall and you confirmed that there are no other course options) please contact the Chair of the department.

What does this mean?

Registration for this section is restricted to students in a particular major, minor, or concentration.

Options/Next Steps:

• If you recently declared a major or minor in this area of student, please contact the Department Chair. They will be able to provide a major/minor restriction override so that you can register.
• If you are not part of the major/minor, contact the department to ask if/when remaining seats will be opened to the general population. They may also be open to considering a major/minor restriction override if you are exploring this field of study.

What does this mean?

You must complete another course before registering for this course. For example, BIO 101/101L is a pre-requisite to BIO 102/102L.

Options/Next Steps:

• Register for the pre-requisite course.
• Talk with your advisor about alternative options.
• If you think that you should have transfer credit for the pre-requisite course, please contact your Advising Center.
• If the issue is a math or language pre-req/test score problem, please review your DegreeWorks to confirm your language and/or math placement.
  • For language courses, you may only register at the level you were placed. If you want to register for a course that is higher or lower than your placement, please contact Dr. Tom Buckley, Chair of the Modern and Classical Language Department (buckley@sju.edu).
  • For math courses, your placement score indicates the highest level course for which you may register, based on requirements for your major. If you major permits, you may register for a lower-level course. If you want to register for a higher level math course, please contact Dr. Kris Tapp, Chair of the Mathematics Department (ktapp@sju.edu).

What does it mean?

Registration for this section requires you to simultaneously register for a section of a corequisite course. For example, BIO 102L Cells lab is a co-requisite to BIO 102 Cells lecture. You must register for BIO 102 and 102L at the same time . As with this BIO example, most science courses have a co-requisite lecture and lab (e.g., CHM 120L is a co-requisite to CHM 120).

Next Steps:

Enter both CRNs at the same time before submitting your registration changes. If there are no open sections of the required co-req class, please contact the department chair to ask about alternatives.

What does it mean?

Students are permitted to register for up to five 3-credit or more courses as part of full-time tuition. Most students have a maximum credit limit of 17 credits. Some majors allow for a higher credit limit to accommodate labs.

Next Steps:

• If your credit limit is preventing you from registering for a 5th course, please contact your Advising Center. They can increase your credit limit to permit you to register for your 5th course. In this situation, students will not be charged an overload fee for the extra credit(s).
• If you are planning to register for an additional course, you will need to get approval from your advisor and associate dean for a course overload. Please meet with you advisor and submit the course overload request form.

What does it mean?

Registration for this section is restricted to students with a particular attribute, such as Honors Program Student.

Options/Next Steps:

• Contact the appropriate program director or department chair to request an attribute override. For example, if you want to register for an honors course (but you are not an honors program student), you will need to get an attribute override form both the department chair and the Honors Program Director.
• If you are unsure who to contact, please ask your Advising Center for guidance.

What does it mean?

Registration for this section is restricted to students in a particular class, such as seniors. Please remember that class year is based on number of credits earned:

Sophomore = minimum of 24 credits earned
Junior = minimum of 54 credits earned
Senior = minimum of 84 credits earned

Options/Next Steps:

• If you are behind in credits, but consider yourself to be a member of the class for which the course is restricted (e.g., in your second year at SJU, but a few credits short of being a sophomore), please contact the department chair to request a class restriction override.
• If you are not a member of the class, most likely you will not be able to register for this section. Please register for a section that does not have this restriction or is restricted for your class year.

What does this mean?

Registration for this section is restricted to students in a particular cohort, such as for incoming Undergraduate Day students.

Options/Next Steps:

• If you are a member of the cohort, but you are not coded properly, please contact your Advising Center for assistance.
• If you are not a member of the cohort, most likely you will not be able to register for this section. Please register for a section that does not have this restriction.

What does it mean?

Registration for this section is restricted to students in a particular level, such as an Undergraduate Day student attempting to register for a graduate level course or an adult-learner section.

Options/Next Steps:

Contact the department chair to ask if a level-restriction override is possible.

• In a typical semester, Day students are not permitted to register for adult-learner accelerated online courses. This restriction has been relaxed in recent semesters due to COVID, but in upcoming semesters, registration for these sections may not be permitted. Contact the Department Chair to ask if a level-restriction override is possible.
• In many departments graduate courses are cross-listed with day sections of the same course. If the Day section is filled, and open seats remain in the cross listed section, please contact the Department Chair to ask if you can get an override.

What does this mean?

This course is mutually exclusive with another course. You have either registered or taken a course with similar content and must make an alternate selection. For example MAT 155 Fundamentals of Calculus is mutually exclusive with MAT 161 Calculus. Because of the significant overlap in content, you cannot use enroll in one if you have credit for the other.

Options/Next Steps:

Talk with your advisor or your advising center about your curriculum requirements and alternative options for your schedule.

Complete the Registration Checklist found on the Advising Center website.

Your registration time will be posted on your Student Profile at least a week in advance of the start of registration.

• Log onto the Nest
• Click on the Students tab in the top navigation
• Click on Access Student Profile
• Click on the Registration Notices drop down menu in the upper right.

Register at your registration time or as close to it as possible - the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to get the classes you want.

There are holds that prevent you from seeing your transcript and holds that will prevent you from registering. To view all holds, log onto your Student Profile through the Nest:

• Log onto the Nest
• Click on the Students tab in the top navigation
• Click on Access Student Profile
• Click on the Holds drop-down menus in the upper right.

Resolve holds that will prevent registration.  Common holds include:

• Financial hold - Office of Student Accounts
• Immunization Hold - Student Health Center
• Library Fine - Post Learning Commons & Drexel Library
• Disciplinary Hold - Office of Community Standards

• Prior to your registration day, log into The Nest
• Click on the Students tab in the top navigation> Self-Service Course Registration > Register for Classes
• Select the term, enter your registration PIN & click continue
• If your PIN is correct > message will say it is not yet time to register.
• If you suspect there is a problem, contact your faculty advisor ASAP. Only your advisor can release your PIN.

Students who need a PIN for registration:

• All undergraduate day students with a primary major in the College of Arts & Sciences
• All undergraduate day students with a primary major in the School of Education & Human Development
• Undergraduate day students with a primary major in the Haub School of Business who have freshman and sophomore class standing, as well all day students with a primary major within the Management Department.
• All undergraduate day students with a primary major in the School of Health Professions, except juniors and seniors in the Direct Entry Programs (DPT, DrOT, and PharmD)

Students are required to meet with their advisor to discuss their plan for registration and obtain their PIN. Only your faculty advisor can give you your PIN.

We recommend that you enter your PIN in your phone so that you have it for future reference. The same PIN will be used through the end of add/drop in the coming semester.

• Link to your DegreeWorks Audit through the Homepage of the Nest. View your degree audit to identify courses remaining for your degree. Perform "what-if" analyses to see how your courses apply when changing your major or adding a second major or minor.
• Use the typical course sequence for your major to map out possible course options for next semester as well as future semesters.

Please see the Exploring Majors Guide for help with evaluating options. The Career Center site also offers insight into the connection between majors, minors, and careers.

Please see the online forms page on the Advising Center website.

Get connected to the Health Professions Advising Program by signing up for the weekly Newsletter, which will inform you about current programs and events to support your interest. You are also welcome to schedule an individual appointment to discuss your plans and healthcare goals.

This is a list of typical prerequisite courses for various health professional fields. Please note that requirements vary between programs and you are urged to check into the specific requirements for the individual schools that you may be considering. You are also encouraged to meet with the health professions advisor to plan your curriculum.

If you are considering law school, visit Pre-Law Advising and register with the Pre-Law Program. The Pre-Law Program site includes a Pre-law timeline to help with your exploration and preparation for law school application.

Remember that law schools welcome applicants from all majors and backgrounds. During your time at Saint Joseph's, the Pre-Law Program works to ensure you are taking rigorous courses and engaging with challenging and informational experiential learning opportunities.

• Prior to submitting an online course overload request, you are required to consult with your advisor and obtain their approval.
• Submit the online Course Overload Form. Attach your advisor's email approval to the form.
• Your request will be routed to the appropriate Associate Dean for review. You will be notified of the Associate Dean's decision via email. Please retain this email for your records.
• If approved, your Advising Center will increase your credit limit so that you may register for an additional course.
• It is the student's responsibility to register for the additional overload course through the Nest.
• Please note that permission to do a course overload requires a superior academic record; exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Dean’s Office.

You may search for more than one attribute at a time, but the results will not combine attributes.  For example, a student is searching for a Faith Reason course that is also a writing-intensive overlay, so they enter both "Faith Reason" and "Writing Intensive" in the Attribute search field.  The system does an "or" search rather than an "and" search.  The results will display all faith reason and all writing intensive courses.

The Schedule Builder is a fillable PDF form that will help you to plan multiple versions of your schedule. The day/time blocks reflect the SJU course schedule.

The Registering for Classes Guide will walk you through the steps for registering for classes on the Nest.

Contact your faculty advisor as soon as possible - only your advisor can release your PIN. You also may try contacting your academic department for assistance if you cannot reach your advisor. As a last resort, you also may contact your Advising Center. If there is evidence that you met with your advisor in advance of registration, they may be able to assist you.

Review the Registration Error Guide for a definition of common registration errors and steps you can take to resolve the problem.

Each department manages their courses in different ways. The course schedule will indicate if there is an electronic waitlist on a course. On the course search results page, click on the course title and then the Enrollment/Waitlist tab to determine if there are open seats on a waitlist. For more information and directions for joining an electronic waitlist, please see the Waitlist Guide.

If an electronic waitlist is not available for the course you want, please contact the Academic Department to ask if they maintain a paper waitlist or other method for managing override requests.

If you do not have the option to register for the course for which you received notification:

• Confirm that your window of time has not expired
  • If you missed the window of opportunity you will need to add yourself back onto the wait-list if available
• Confirm that your course load does not exceed your maximum number of credits
  • If you are already registered for 5 courses, drop one to add this waitlisted course.
• Confirm there is not a time conflict between the course you are already registered for and the waitlisted course