Registration

Registration Timeline 2022W

Early June: Academic Standing and year level for the 2022 Winter session will be available on the Student Service Centre (SSC)
Late June – July: 2022 Winter Session registration.  Registration dates are published on the Student Services website.  You will receive an email approximately one week before your registration opens to let you know that your registration date and time is available on the SSC
Early July: Second Year Placement results will be emailed (before second year registration time)


Registration Instructions


Registration FAQ

General Registration Questions

What is a Standard Timetable (STT)?

An STT is a pre-planned timetable that incorporates most of the courses required for a program. You will be required to register for an STT before adding individual courses. All engineering students use a Standard Timetable (STT) to register for their core courses. You are registering for both term 1 and term 2 of the Winter Session. UBC will email you about two weeks before the start of registration notifying you that your registration date and time are available to view on the Student Service Centre (SSC).

How are registration times decided?

Registration times are staggered throughout the registration period based on year level and sessional average (or admissions average for new-to-program students).

When I test my registration I get an error message. What should I do?

First, please confirm the STT you are testing is the right STT for you. If you still receive an error message Contact Us for assistance.

The course I want to register in is marked as blocked/restricted. How do I register?

When registering, you may encounter course sections with different statuses.

  • Blocked: a course that is blocked from registration means students are not able to register themselves for the course. This may happen once a course becomes full and the waitlist opens, or if the course is reserved for students registered directly by the program. Students should check the section comments to see if there is a registration procedure (such as emailing the program) or register on the waitlist if one is available. If a waitlist section is blocked, this usually means there are still seats available in a section.
  • Restricted: a course marked restricted means that the remaining seats in the section are only available to students who meet certain eligibility criteria. You can find the restrictions on the section page under the Seat Summary. Please note that you are able to register for restricted sections if you match the restrictions.

The course I want is full. How do I register?

A course marked full means there are no seats remaining in the section. If your desired course section is full, you will need to find an alternative section, register on the waitlist, or continue to self-monitor the section to register when a seat becomes available.

There are courses in my STT section marked as restricted, blocked or full. Does this mean the STT is full?

You should disregard the individual course statuses in your STT. The STT is available until the STT section is marked as full.

I want to register for a course, but it overlaps with another course. What should I do?

Registering in two overlapping courses is called a Course Conflict. Many faculties and departments do not allow course conflicts (all departments in the Faculty of Science such as biology, chemistry, math, and stat courses, and Commerce & Business Administration). First year students are not permitted to have any course conflicts.

For other year levels, please refer to the Registration Requests page for more details and the request form for Course Conflict.

I want to switch sections in a course. How do I do this?

If there are available seats in a course and you are eligible for registration, you can use the section switch function on SSC. To do this, go to the Registration tab on SSC Course Schedule, and select Add/Drop Courses. On this page, select the course you wish to switch sections and select the Switch Selected Section button. You will be prompted to select the section you wish to switch into. Do not drop your course and attempt to register in another section. If you drop a course, you will be unable to register into it again. Students will need to register on a waitlist in this situation, and are not guaranteed a seat in the course.

If the section you wish to switch into is blocked or you are unable to register in it, you should check the section comments for the course. These comments will often give information about how a department handles section registration. For non-engineering courses, you should also check the department’s website for information about registration. Many departments will have information about how they handle section switches (this may be a form, a person to email, or details about the department not allowing switches).

If you are an incoming First Year student, you will need to request a section switch by filling out the First Year Section Switch form. Please be aware the section switches are only granted for extenuating circumstances, and not all section switch requests will be accommodated.

Valid reasons for a first year section switch request:

  • Varsity athletic commitments – You are on a UBC Varsity athletic team and your timetable conflicts with practice times (please include your Varsity sport when contacting EAS)
  • Medical commitments – regularly scheduled medical commitments (appointments, etc.)
  • Extenuating circumstances
  • In rare circumstances, highly unbalanced timetables may be a valid reason for a section switch

Invalid reasons for a first year section switch request:

  • Instructor preferences
  • Employment commitments
  • Wanting to be in the same section as a friend
  • Time of day preferences

If you are an upper year student who meets grounds for a section switch and are unable to do it yourself through SSC, please Contact Us.

What is a waitlist? When are students moved off the waitlist?

Generally, a waitlist is opened when all the seats are full in a course. Students who register on the waitlist will then be moved into the course section as seats become available. Each department has its own priority guidelines for who will be moved off the waitlist first – usually having to do with specialization, year level, and registration date onto the waitlist. For this reason, it is difficult (if not impossible) to tell a student what “place” they are on a waitlist.

A waitlist does not guarantee a seat in a course. Seats in the course will only be given to students if the seat limit is increased, or a seat becomes available due to a student dropping the course.

Not all courses will offer waitlists. If the course you are wishing to register for is full and does not offer a waitlist, you will need to self-monitor the course and register when a seat becomes available.

EAS controls only the APSC course waitlists. Waitlist clearing for APSC courses usually begins 2 weeks before the start of term.

For questions about waitlists for non-APSC courses, please consult the course’s department website (i.e. the Math Department for MATH courses, the Journalism Department for WRDS 150B, etc.).

I have transfer credits – what can I do with them?

Visit Transfer Credits to learn more.

Who do I contact if I’m having registration issues?

For all First Year STT registration issues, please contact EAS.

For upper year registration issues, please contact your program advisor.

For non-engineering course registration issues, please contact the overseeing department of that course (Math Department for MATH courses, Psychology department for PSYC, etc.).

First Year Registration

Comprehensive information about First Year Registration:

Please refer to our First Year Registration Guide for a comprehensive look at first year registration, STT, additional courses, and more!

What is a worklist? How do I make one?

Worklists are draft class timetables that you can create before you register to help you plan out your courses.

After logging into the course schedule tool, you can create multiple worklists, in case one or more of the courses or STTs on your first worklist is full. To create a worklist, select “New worklist” from the right top sidebar. You will be able to see all of the worklists you have created. You can add lectures, standard timetables, and other course components to existing worklists. EAS recommends students make at least 4 worklists with different STTs, as many STTs will fill up quickly.

Please refer to Enrolment Service’s “How To Navigate a Worklist” video for more information.

How do I register for my courses?

For a demonstration of how to register using SSC, please refer to Enrolment Service’s “Course Registration Overview” video.

EAS is also holding virtual Registration Workshops in which we will go through the registration process.

I’m an incoming first year, what type of STT should I register in?

  • The majority of first year students will register in an HS Standard Time Tables. This is the timetable for students who have completed Pre-CALC 12 or equivalent.  
  • If you are deficient in required courses such as Physics or Chemistry 12, are interested in taking Honours Math, are a Varsity athlete, or have been accepted into the Pre-Biomedical Timetable, please refer to our High School Students: Year 1 page for detailed information about Standard Time Tables.  

How do I choose an HS STT section? How are they different? 

All the HS STTs contain the same courses, just delivered at different times of the day. You can choose whichever STT suits your schedule best. You may also want to consider which STT will fit your desired Humanities/Social Science elective and WRDS 150B section.  

What courses do I need in addition to my STT?

In addition to your STT, you will need to add a 3 credit Humanities and Social Science elective, and a 3 credit English/Communication course (WRDS 150B or equivalent, ENGL 100, 110, or 111).  You can find more information on the Course Planning page

How do I register for a non-STT course, such as a humanities course?

Option 1: Navigate to the course section page of the course you want. Click on the “Register Section” button on the top right corner of the page.


Option 2: If you made a worklist, select the individual courses on the worklist and press “Register Selected” at the bottom of the worklist screen.

What courses count towards the Humanities/Social Science Electives? What kind of courses are considered Humanities/Social Science? Can I use transfer credit towards H/SS? 

  • Broadly speaking, a Humanities course is about the study of human culture – the history, art, literature, music, etc. that define groups of people.  A Social Science is the study of society, with the main disciplines in social science being culture/social anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, and economics. 
  • You can find the guidelines for H/SS and examples of approved courses chart on the Humanities and Social Science Elective page. Advanced credit eligibility is also listed in this chart.  
  • A maximum of 3 credits in a language course can be used towards the humanities and social sciences requirement.

What are some common Humanities/Social Science courses first year engineering students take? 

Most engineering students will choose to take an introductory 100-level Arts course for their Humanities/Social Science requirement. Common course examples would be PSYC 101 or 102, ECON 101 or 102, LING 100 or 101, etc. Students should be aware that upper level (300+) Arts courses often require heavy reading requirements and academic writing, which are rarely suitable for first year students.

Students may also choose to do a 3-credit language course to fulfill the requirement.

If a student is hoping to pursue a minor, they may also consider taking a course that can be used towards this.

Full STTs: What is a transitory STT? When should I register in one? 

When all the normal Standard Timetables (STT) are full, there will be
corresponding Transitory STTs for students to register in. These Transitory STTs include the courses without the meeting days and times. By registering in a Transitory STT, it shows your intention to attend UBC Engineering. You will receive your final timetable around mid-August.

I have advanced credits/transfer credits, what can I apply them towards? 

  • Please visit our Transfer Credit page for detailed information about how to apply advanced credits/transfer credits towards your Engineering degree requirements.
  • The following table outlines the first year engineering requirements. If you have been awarded transfer credits, you may be exempt from some courses.
    First-Year EngineeringEquivalent Transfer Credit
    APSC 100APSC 100
    APSC 101APSC 101
    APSC 160APSC 160
    CHEM 154CHEM 121 (CHEM 120 and CHEM 115) + CHEM 123 (CHEM 130 and CHEM 135) or CHEM 111 + 113
    MATH 100MATH 100, 102*, 104*, 120, 180 or 184*
    MATH 101MATH 101, 103*, 105* or 121
    MATH 152MATH 221 or 223
    PHYS 157, 158, & 159PHYS 117 + 118 +119
    PHYS 106/107 + 108 + 109
    PHYS 131 + 118 + 119
    PHYS 101 + 102
    PHYS 170PHYS 170
    WRDS 150ENGL 1st, 100, 110, 111, 112 or WRCM 1st (3 credits)
    Humanities and Social Science ElectiveSee Complementary Studies for details, and Humanities and Social Sciences Electives for course eligibility.
     
  • If you have transfer credits that will cover courses from your STT, please see “Dropping Courses” for instructions on how to drop the courses you no longer need. 
  • Before dropping any courses covered by advanced credits, please review the following information on How to apply AP, IB or A-Level Credits to the BASc Program 
  • Particularly for Math, Chemistry and Physics, you may want to consider taking these courses in first year, even if you have credit for them.  The content of these courses are foundational to the remainder of the degree and so it is important to ensure you have the foundational content  

How do I drop courses I have transfer credits for?

  1. On your SSC Course Schedule, navigate to “Registration > Add/Drop Courses”
  2. Select the course you wish to drop, and press “Drop Selected Section”
  3. **Do not press “Drop STT”, as this will deregister you from all your STT courses. Make sure you are selecting and dropping individual courses, not selecting and dropping your STT.

I want to switch course sections, who do I contact?

If there are available seats in a course and you are eligible for registration, you can use the section switch function on SSC. To do this, go to the Registration tab on SSC Course Schedule, and select Add/Drop Courses. On this page, select the course you wish to switch sections and select the Switch Selected Section button. You will be prompted to select the section you wish to switch into. Do not drop your course and attempt to register in another section for STT courses. You can drop your non-STT courses (WRDS, Humanities) to register in another section if there are seats open. However, registration in the new section is not guaranteed.

For non-STT courses, if the section you wish to switch into is blocked or you are unable to register in it, you should check the section comments for the course. These comments will often give information about how a department handles section registration. You should also check the department’s website for information about registration. Many departments will have information about their registration policies on their websites.

For STT courses, please submit the First Year Section Switch form. Be aware that students in first year STTs are usually not permitted to switch sections unless they have extenuating circumstances. Please note that not all section switch requests will be accommodated. Do not drop a course section to attempt to register in a different section. If you drop a course, you will be unable to register into it again. Students will need to register on a waitlist in this situation, and are not guaranteed a seat in the course.

Valid reasons for a section switch request:

  • Varsity athletic commitments – You are on a UBC Varsity athletic team and your timetable conflicts with practice times (please include your Varsity sport when contacting EAS)
  • Medical commitments – regularly scheduled medical commitments (appointments, etc.)
  • Extenuating circumstances
  • In rare circumstances, highly unbalanced timetables may be a valid reason for a section switch

Invalid reasons for a section switch request:

  • Instructor preferences
  • Wanting to be in the same section as a friend
  • Time of day preferences

Upper Year Registration

I just received my second-year placement. How do I register for my year 2 courses?

Find your program’s second year STT in BASc STT section of SSC and register in one of the available sections. The STT section page may have instructions for additional courses you must register outside your STT.



You can also consult your program’s website for course lists. If you have questions about your program, please consult your program advisor.

The STT for my program is full. What do I do?

If the STT for your program is full, please contact your program advisor.

I don’t have all the pre-requisites for my upper-year STT. Who should I contact for course planning?

For upper year course planning, please contact your program advisor.


Reminders

  • Pre-plan your registration with Worklists, then use the Register Selected or Register All to complete your registration when your registration is open. Worklists do not secure your registration
  • Don’t forget you can drop courses from your STT if you have received credit or an exemption for the course. You have until the course drop deadline to drop courses without a Withdrawal (‘W’) standing on your academic record
  • Check the prerequisites and corequisites listed in your course descriptions. You are responsible for ensuring that you meet the course requirements
  • Disregard the individual courses status in the STT, the STT is available if it is not full