Important Notes:
- Eligible students can swap a course section without losing their spot until the new seat is confirmed. See the Swapping a Course tutorial for detailed instructions.
- You will be unable to swap sections if the swap button does not appear on the course
- Students who are unable to swap themselves for upper year courses that have available seats should contact the department managing the course
- The Section Swap Request form is for first year courses listed below only. Do not use this form for upper year courses
About Section Swaps
Students are not permitted to swap sections of a first year engineering course unless they have extenuating circumstances. Please note that not all section swap requests will be accommodated.
Due to limited seats in core Engineering courses, swapping your course section for preferred times, or teachers will not be possible during the registration period. Do not drop a course to swap sections, as you may lose your spot. Students in this situation will need to register on a waitlist and are no longer guaranteed a seat in the course.
If you are eligible for a section swap, EAS may be able to accommodate section swaps for the following courses:
- APSC 100, 101, 160
- BMEG 102
- First Year Physics courses (PHYS 157, 158, 159, or 170)
- CHEM 154
- MATH 152
Section Swap Eligibility
Valid Reasons for a Section Swap Request:
- You are on a UBC Varsity athletic team and your timetable conflicts with practice times
- Extenuating circumstance: religious commitments, medical issues, family emergencies, and other circumstances outside a students’ control.
- In rare cases, highly unbalanced timetables may justify a section swap. Please consider the term you are registering into WRDS and H/SS courses to help balance your schedule.
- Unbalanced timetable is defined as an uneven credit load between Term 1 and Term 2 (i.e., 12 credits taken in Term 1 and 19 credits taken in Term 2).
Invalid Reasons for a Section Swap Request:
- Instructor or time of day preferences
- Wanting to be in the same section as a friend
- Long break between classes
- Early start and/or late end to the day
- Making space on your timetable for a humanities course
- Accommodating changes made to other course sections in your engineering timetable
Top Tip!
Registration in June and July is busy for all UBC students. Typically courses fill up quickly and you may not be able to register for the course(s) you want during this time. Where possible you can register on the waitlist for the course. We typically see that there is more seat availability in courses, and opportunities to swap sections, later in August.
You have until the add/drop deadline in September (for Term 1 courses) and January (for Term 2 courses) to make changes in your course schedule. For a Year 1 Engineering course, check the live waitlist table to understand how a course waitlist is being managed.
Section Swaps for Other Courses
For other section swaps, please contact the following:
- First Year Math courses (MATH 100, 101): Math contact form
- First Year Chemistry (CHEM 121 or 123): Chemistry contact form
- All CIVL, IGEN, MANU, MTRL courses: Please contact EAS if you are unable to swap sections yourself in Workday
- All other Engineering or non-Engineering courses: Please contact the administrating office of the course (e.g., Journalism for WRDS 150, Engineering Course Contacts, etc.)
Our response times are typically 1-2 business days; in busy periods, it can take up to 5 business days