Understanding Registration Restrictions for Faculty of Science Students

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The most common registration question relates to registration restrictions. We’ve gathered some information to help you understand registration “restrictions” that may give rise to error messages.

On this page:

  • Common LORIS registration errors
  • Confirming registration dates
  • Check registration restrictions
  • Override appeals 

Common LORIS Registration Errors

There are errors, other than restrictions, that you may receive during registration. Watch the “Troubleshooting LORIS Registration Errors” video for an examples of common LORIS registration errors

 

Confirm Your Registration Date

Your registration date is the earliest time you may begin to register for courses. Registration for:

  • Incoming First-Year Students begins June 25, 2025 at 3 p.m.
  • Returning and Transfer Students begins July 2 to July 7, 2025 (date / time based on the number of completed credits).

Registration is an Ongoing Process

Do not worry if you cannot complete your full registration immediately.

Due to registration restrictions, you may not be able to register for all your courses on your first attempt. You have until the following dates to register for courses:

  • Fall 2025 term – September 17, 2025
  • Winter 2026 term – January 16, 2025

Check Registration Restrictions for Each Course / Section

There are three types of registration restrictions you may encounter: campus, major/program and year restrictions.

Registration restrictions are listed for each section of a course on Browse Classes. To view restrictions:

  1. Open the course lecture / tutorial / lab information box.
  2. Read the entire “Restrictions” section by using the scroll bar on the right side. 

Major / program restrictions

Watch the video below to learn how to troubleshoot major restrictions:

Courses that are restricted to specific majors may be set for a short period of time for priority registration or may be permanently restricted (e.g., most HE and KP courses).

  • Check the restrictions box to determine if a date is listed for release of the major restriction(s).
  • After this date, non-majors (including students pursuing a minor in the discipline) may register themselves for the course.
  • Departments do not provide routine major over-rides prior to the release date.
  • Check the date for each course of interest because some courses have later dates for the lifting of the major restriction.

In addition, some lecture / tutorial / lab sections are restricted to specific majors. For example, compare UU150 OC1 and UU150 OC2 (Fall 2025).

  • The OC2 section, is only available to students in the listed programs early in the registration period.
  • Students in other programs cannot register in this section.
  • The OC1 section is available to majors other than those listed.
  • Check all lecture / tutorial / lab sections of a course to determine the section that may be available for your specific program.
  • Sections restricted to majors may open to non-majors closer to the start of term, at the discretion of the department offering the course, if it is not at capacity.
  • Keep checking the major restrictions for each course of interest for any changes.

Year restrictions

Some 100-level courses are restricted to senior (year level 2+) students, such as PS102 OC1 (online) in fall 2025.

Most senior Faculty of Science courses do not have year restrictions given that 100-level pre-requisite(s) are required. One example of a senior course that lacks a pre-requisite and is therefore restricted to senior (year level 2+) students is SC200 in Winter 2026.

For year restrictions, a year override may be granted at the discretion of the department offering the course. A year override is rare for an incoming Year 1 student. 

Campus restrictions

A course may be restricted to students registered on a specific campus – Waterloo (sections A, B etc.), Brantford (sections BR, BR1 etc.) or Milton (sections MC1, MC2 etc.).

NOTE: Online (OC section) courses are virtual asynchronous (i.e., no scheduled meeting day/time). Some courses have virtual synchronous sections (e.g., WV: Waterloo and BV: Brantford) with a scheduled meeting time listed.

A campus override may be granted at the discretion of the faculty / department offering the course. Campus override forms are available for these requests.

Override Appeals

Faculty of Science departments do not routinely provide overrides (major / year / pre-requisite).

Override appeals are managed at the departmental level. Override request policies / forms are available for each Faculty of Science department.

Major / program overrides:

Most departments restrict enrolment in senior courses to their majors for a period of time for priority registration.

  • If an end date for priority registration is specified in the restriction section, non-majors may register themselves, as of the release date.
  • Departments do not provide major overrides prior to the release date.

A major override may be granted for a course without a release date at the discretion of the faculty / department offering the course. However, this is a rare exception.

Year overrides

For year restrictions, a year override may be granted at the discretion of the department offering the course. A year over-ride is rare for an incoming Year 1 student.

Pre-requisite overrides:

You must have completed the required prerequisite(s) before you can register in a course. Faculty of Science departments do not routinely provide pre-requisite over-rides. Undertaking a pre-requisite course in the same term as the course of interest is also rarely granted. However, students with transfer credits from another institution often require pre-requisite over-rides.

Repeat override

Based on university regulations, a course may only be completed twice. If you attempt to register for the course a third time, you will receive a “repeat” error. If this is a required course for your program, you must contact Science Academic Advising to discuss a petition for a “third attempt” at the course. 

There are circumstances where you may receive a “repeat” error message when you have not completed the course of interest twice due to course “exclusions.” For example, if you complete MA100 twice and then attempt to register for MA101, you will receive a “repeat” error. 

To address the error, you must request a “repeat override,” using the appropriate override request form, to register yourself in the course.

 Time overrides

Overrides are not provided for scheduling conflicts with another lecture/lab/tutorial section. You must select non-conflicting course sections.

 Capacity overrides

Capacity overrides for Faculty of Science courses are not provided.