Fall 2025 Registration

During Advance Registration for the Fall semester, students are submitting course requests only. Students finalize their course registration during Add/Drop.

Advance Registration Checklist

• CLEAR any holds that will prevent registration [i.e. Advising Hold – meet with Major (faculty) or Academic (staff) Advisor].
• ENTER your course requests in Path@Penn and submit a permit request if you have not completed the listed prerequisites of a course or are restricted by level.
• REMEMBER to have all linked sections of course requests (lecture, lab, recitation) in your Path@Penn cart.
• COMPLETE the corresponding ESE Advance Registration Google form for courses where you have not completed the listed prerequisites or are restricted by level. Please note the Google form will be accessible @ 8am on March 24th.

• WAIT for your permission requests to be reviewed and potential overrides to be processed. 
• CONTACT relevant Departments (CIS, MEAM, etc), if you require permission for non-ESE courses.   

Is day 1 of Advance Registration the best day to request courses?

No, requests are not time-stamped, so there is no advantage in submitting your request on Day 1 vs Day 14 during the Advance Registration period. 

If there are more requests than seats available, students who meet selection criteria will be randomly selected for registration. Students not enrolled in the course can join waitlist via Waitlisty (when it opens during Add/Drop).

How are course requests granted?

Once Advance Registration closes, the optimizer processes course requests. The course assignment system takes into account the parameters set on the course. The optimizer officially enrolls students provided they meet all applicable parameters (e.g., students in certain majors/programs or certain academic years). 

Course requests do not guarantee registration.

Some course requests may be granted, some may not. Reasons vary case by case, such as:

• Permit required; 
• Exceeds CU limit;
• Time conflicts between requested courses (lower priority requests will be dropped from the schedule, while higher priority courses will remain);
• Seats outnumber course requests (students who fulfill the course selection parameters will be randomly chosen by the scheduling system).

It is crucial for students to have backup course plans.

How do I rank courses in Path@Penn?

1. Click on the desired course section to open the Course Details Panel to learn more.
2. Click the Add to Cart button to add that section to the Primary Cart or Alternatives Cart and then click OK.

• • Tip: The Primary Cart includes first choice sections you plan to request. The Alternatives cart holds alternative courses that you request if you don’t get your first choices.

3. Use the Edit Registration Options panel to update the grade mode, credits, or to select a registration priority. Select a first or second alternative or swap the selected section for another section you are already registered for.

• • Use Registration Priority to rank your requests.
    NOTE: Auto priority will rank your advance registrations based on popularity (seats available and number of students requesting the class).
  • The First & Second Alternative drop-downs contain an option for Other… if you would accept any section of the class, as well as any sections you have in your Alternatives Cart.

Classes in the Primary Cart at the close of Advance Registration are considered final. There are no additional steps beyond placing requests in the Primary Cart.

When can I officially register for courses?

After the optimizer review period (about two weeks), Path@Penn will reopen to allow students to register for courses. This is the official start of the Add/Drop when students can change their schedule until the early part of the Fall 2025 semester.

How do I submit a Path@Penn requests?

The first step is submitting a PR via Path for a waitlist course (see instructions below or official ones from SRFS). You can submit PRs just before and during Advance Registration, and we encourage you to do so.

A PR is always created for a specific course and section. If you created a PR for a recitation but actually need to get into the lecture (or the undergrad version of a cross-listed course but you want the grad version instead), you will have to create a new PR. PRs cannot be edited after the fact.

Find the course in Path and click Add to Primary Cart. Then, click Request permission for this course:

Type why you want to take the course in the Permission Request field; we’ll follow-up with course-specific questions later. For now, just hit Ok…

…and finally, Save Changes. 

At the start of Add/Drop, we’ll follow up via email to direct you to the Waitlisty where you may need to complete course-specific information like explaining how you satisfy the pre-reqs, why you want to take the course, etc. You must submit a PR via Path to gain access to this site.

Has my Path request been submitted successfully?

A successfully submitted permit request will say Pending with an hourglass icon:

What happens if I do not submit course requests during Advance Registration?

Please do not panic; students will be able to register when the system officially reopens for Add/Drop.  

If a course has greater demand than seats, requesting the course improves a student’s chance of getting into the course versus waiting until after the Advance Registration period.

Timeline for Decisions

PRs are processed periodically from when Advance Registration results are announced until the end of the Add/Drop/Swap period. You could receive permission during the first few weeks of the semester.

We are unfortunately not able to notify you that you will not be receiving permission, since course enrollment fluctuates right up until the Add/Drop/Swap deadline.

Please do not email the instructor of your requested course unless instructed by ESE staff.

Approved Permission Requests

If your PR is approved, you’ll receive a notice from Path. You then have a chance to register for the course in Path.

If your PR is approved but the class is full, you cannot register.

Due to an inability to revoke approved PRs and, as a result, students sitting on approved-but-unused PRs, waitlist courses are often mildly oversubscribed. Thus, an approved PR is no guarantee that you’ll be able to register for a course. So always use an approved PR right away!

Once you’ve registered for a waitlist class, please be careful not to accidentally drop it. If you do this, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to register again!

Leaving the Waitlist

If you are no longer interested in registering for a waitlist course, you should withdraw your request. You can do so via Waitlisty during Add/Drop.