Prepare your course list for your advising meeting(s); collect instructor permissions

Before you can pre-register for courses you need your advisor(s) to approve the courses you are going to take. Before meeting with your advisor, you should create a list of courses you are considering on your Preferred Courses page in ACDATA. We recommend that you create the list in the online Course Scheduler and then copy it into ACDATA. 

Your advisor expects you to have a list of Preferred Courses prepared BEFORE your Advising Meeting

If you plan to take a Five-College course, you need to register for a placeholder course. Remember that you still have to submit an online request via the Registrar's Five College web page as well as complete a permission form to be signed by your advisor.  This form should be turned in to the Registrar's Office at 101 Converse Hall.

If any course in your Preferred Courses list requires instructor permission (the Comments column will read "Permission Required") you need to contact the instructor and receive permission online. To do this, go to your Instructor Permissions page in ACDATA and send the instructor an electronic request to confirm your permission to take the course. See Requesting Instructor Permission for details.

Ideally, you'll have any instructor permissions completed before your advising meeting.

Meet with advisor(s); get registration approval

Meet with your advisor to discuss and, if necessary, modify your Preferred Courses list and to obtain advisor approval. If you have more than one advisor, each must approve you for registration separately.

First Year Students: Your assigned First Year Seminar automatically appears in the schedule grid on your Preferred Courses page. You should not add any courses to your Preferred Courses list that conflicts with your First Year Seminar.

Note that both you and your advisor(s) have access to your Preferred Courses page, but only advisors can access the Registration Approval page.

Language Assistants and Post-Bac Students:  The ACData system doesn't work properly for you to enroll that way.  You'll need to speak with your advisor or department chair and have them forward your class requests to the registrar's office at registrar@amherst.edu.

Final Preparations: check ALL permissions 

After your advising meeting(s) check your Registration Requirements page to see that your advisor approvals are in order. 

Note that instructor-permission requests are the only type integrated into the online system. Other types of permissions (e.g., take more than 4.5 courses; 3.5 courses; more than one half course; more than one special topic or honors course, etc.) require that the appropriate paper form be returned to the Registrar before you can register. 

Pre-Register for your courses

During the pre-registration week, go to the Pre-Registration and Add/Drop page in ACDATA and, one-at-a-time, submit your courses for registration. Note that if a course has co-requisites such as labs or discussion sections, you must submit all sections of the course at the same time.

When you submit a course you'll either receive a confirmation that you've successfully registered or an error telling you what went wrong and what to do to fix it.

The online registration system is designed to be both flexible and minimally intrusive. One by-product of this design is that you can actually change your Preferred Courses list after receiving advisor approval and register for courses other than those your advisor approved. Be aware that doing so may be construed as a violation of the College's honor code.

Further, your advisor has easy access to an anomaly report that compares the approved courses with the courses you registered for, and will, after Pre-Registration, receive a report directly from the Registrar detailing any deviation on your part from the list of courses the advisor approved.

You may run your anomaly report via ACDATA under Student Menu to see if there are any discrepancies between what you have registered for and what your advisor(s) approve.

If your advisor gives you the freedom to make changes after the advising meeting, ask that he or she note such permission in your Advising Comments. This is for your protection.