Important Details About Registration

A registration hold may be placed on a student's record that will prevent the student from registering until action has been taken to resolve the issue. If students are unable to register using Penn InTouch, it is their responsibility to contact the College Office or other relevant office promptly to determine the cause of the problem and resolve it in a timely manner. Students may see what registration holds, if any, have been placed on their account by reading the messages on the front page of Penn InTouch.

Any of the following circumstances may prevent a student from accessing Penn InTouch and registering for courses:

• A freshman or a first-semester sophomore has not seen their pre-major advisor to discuss registration. The student should make an appointment to do so immediately.
• A second semester sophomore, a junior or a senior has not declared a major. The student should meet with the pre-major advisor or with an assistant dean for advising in the College Office.
• A student has a past due balance on their student billing account. Contact Student Financial Services.
• The Student Health Services office does not have up-to-date insurance and immunization records.

Other types of registration holds

• Departmental hold: Certain departments require their majors to meet with a major advisor at points throughout their academic careers. The hold is removed by the department after the student has met with his or her major advisor.
• Judicial hold: A judicial hold is the result of some judicial action or inquiry concerning the student. The student will be barred from registering until the hold is cleared and should contact the Office of Student Conduct for more information.

All Penn courses are identified by a course code that is made up of three elements: a four-letter department code, a three-digit course number, and a three-digit section number. All parts of the course code must be entered in order for the registration to be successful.

Multi-activity courses are divided into lecture, recitation and/or a laboratory. These lectures are typically led by a professor and take place in a large group. Lectures are often, but not always, divided into subgroups called recitations that typically meet once each week in smaller groups for discussions.

Each of these "activities" has its own section code. Only one part of a multi-activity course actually carries the credit. When registering for such a course, the credit-bearing portion must be requested first, and students must be sure to register for all parts.

If a course has several lecture sections, the recitation needs to correspond to the appropriate lecture. Each lecture may be grouped numerically with a specific set of recitations. Students must register for a lecture/recitation within the same group.

Though not required, students may use the alternate option for any course or course activity. For example, students may wish to request an alternate course when requesting small seminars, since this provides a greater chance of being enrolled in one of the listed courses.

Note: Multi-activity courses include two or more activities: a lecture, a recitation and/or a lab. Only one of these sections will be credit-bearing. An alternate request must be the same activity type (lecture, recitation or lab) and carry the same credit-bearing status as the primary request. For example, if a credit-bearing lecture is the primary request, only another credit-bearing lecture may be listed as the alternate. Likewise, if a non-credit-bearing recitation (or lab) is the primary request, only another non-credit-bearing recitation (or lab) may be listed as the alternate. Students with questions about this process should talk with their peer advisor or an assistant dean for advising in the College Office.

Courses that appear on the schedule in hour blocks (e.g., 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.) actually meet for only 50 minutes. Ten minutes of each class period are allocated for travel between classes. Students may schedule classes back-to-back, but are expected to arrive at the second class on time.

The registration system will not allow a student to enroll in two courses that are in time conflict. If there is a time conflict, the system will enroll the student in the first course requested, if it is available, and the second, conflicting course will be automatically dropped. If the first course is unavailable and the second course is available, the student will be enrolled in the second course.

Note: The code for Thursday is R.

It is the student’s responsibility to insure that he or she is correctly registered for all elements of a course. Freshmen are advised to check their rosters on Penn InTouch at the beginning of the Course Selection Period in early August.

Course requests can be changed and new requests entered on Penn InTouch up until the end of the Advance Registration period. The order of priority given to course requests can also be changed.

Under certain circumstances special permission may be required to register for a course. Department/Program coordinators may enter such permits into the system, enabling the student to register for that course through Penn InTouch. As soon as the Course Selection period begins, an unclaimed permit is dropped in the nightly update of the system.

In registering for courses, students may choose between normal grading status (receiving a letter grade) and pass/fail.

• In courses taken on a pass/fail basis, a passing letter grade (any grade above an F, including D) assigned by the instructor is converted to P by the Registrar's Office and entered on the student's transcript. P is not calculated into the cumulative average, but an F is entered as a 0.0 and does affect the grade point average. Instructors are not informed by the Registrar as to who is enrolled on a pass/fail basis.
• Courses taken to fulfill any Foundational Approach requirement, the Sector Requirement, the Major Requirement or minor requirements cannot be taken pass/fail.
• College students may take no more than 8 c.u. of coursework pass/fail, though advisors generally recommend against this many.
• Students may change the grading status of a course from normal to pass/fail (or vice versa) through the end of the fifth full week of classes.

Freshmen are strongly advised not to take courses on a pass/fail basis.

College students may not register for courses as auditors. However, with the approval of the instructor they may sit in unregistered on courses offered in the University. These courses will not appear on students' records. Some departments do not allow this type of informal audit.

Students should understand that failure to enroll in at least 4 c.u., or dropping or withdrawing below that number of credits, may have adverse effects in a variety of circumstances. The most common concerns are for

College of Arts and Sciences students may enroll in courses at Penn during the summer. Such courses appear in the body of the transcript, and the grades earned count toward the student's g.p.a.

There are two 6-week summer sessions as well as a 12-week evening session. Each session has its own deadlines related to adding, dropping, or withdrawing from a course, as well as to possible tuition refunds. 

It is important to note that the tuition charged for a summer course depends on the school at Penn in which the course is housed. Tuition for courses taken in schools other than the School of Arts and Sciences may be charged at a higher rate.