Registration policies

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Academic Satisfactory Progress

Students pursuing a baccalaureate degree are expected to make satisfactory progress toward the attainment of that degree and are expected to enter a major and graduate after completion of a reasonable number of credits and quarters. The satisfactory progress policy looks at a student’s total credits, but when counting quarters, only regular academic-year quarters – autumn, winter, and spring – are considered. The courses and credits taken during summer quarters count towards degree requirements and are included in the credit total. Summer quarters are not included toward satisfactory progress quarter total and, thus, do not count against the number of quarters students may complete before the satisfactory progress credit limit is enforced.

The 105-credit rule

Undergraduates must declare a major by the time they have completed five (5) academic-year quarters and earned 105 credits or a hold will be placed on their registration until they either declare a major or meet with an adviser and receive a pre-major extension. The hold is placed on the student record when five (5) or more academic-year quarters and 105 or more credits have been completed. Transfer students who are admitted to the University with 105 or more credits are expected to declare a major before their second quarter at the UW, or obtain an extension from an adviser.

Students will be granted a pre-major extension if their adviser decides the student is pursuing a reasonable goal, and has a good chance of gaining admission to their intended major.

If an adviser feels that a student’s choice of major is unrealistic, they will deny the request for an extension. The student will not be allowed to register for subsequent quarters until a reasonable degree plan is presented. The intent of the rule is not to drop a student from the University but to encourage them to meet with an adviser and plan for an attainable goal.

Students will receive a warning letter from the University as they approach five (5) academic-year quarters and 105 credits, without a declared a major. Students who complete five (5) academic-year quarters and 105 credits and are still a pre-major, will not be able to register for the next quarter. To avoid registration delays, the student should meet with the appropriate adviser at least one quarter before completing five (5) academic-year quarters and 105 credits.

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The 210-credit rule

The University’s satisfactory progress policy requires students to complete their undergraduate degree programs within 30 credits beyond the minimum required for the degree. Because most degrees require 180 credits, students generally must complete their programs by the time they earn 210 credits. The timing for enforcement of this policy is as follows:

  • First-Year: For a student who first matriculates at the University on a first-year application the satisfactory progress policy is enforced after a student has completed 12 academic-year quarters, not including summer quarters, at the University.
  • Transfer: For a student who first matriculates at UW on a transfer application, the satisfactory progress policy is enforced after the student has completed
    • Twelve (12) quarters at the University if the student enters with less than one year of college work (less than 45 credits transferred from another institution).
    • Nine (9) quarters at the University if the student enters the University with more than one year of college work and less than two years (more than 44 and less than 90 credits transferred from another institution).
    • Six (6) quarters at the University if the student enters UWS with two or more years of college work (90 or more credits transferred from another institution).

Undergraduates who have completed over 210 credits will be notified by email the third week of the quarter that a block is being placed on their registration due to lack of satisfactory progress. Students ineligible to graduate will be permitted to register for succeeding quarters only if they receive approval from their department and college after filing a graduation plan.

Students receiving satisfactory progress registration blocks should immediately contact their academic adviser to file a graduation application or to initiate a satisfactory progress appeal.

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Postbaccalaureate Students

Postbaccalaureate students are expected to be either preparing for admission into a degree program, seeking an additional baccalaureate degree, or working toward a certificate. Students admitted as “postbaccalaureate undeclared” must declare a major by the time they have earned 30 credits beyond the last degree. Once a degree objective has been declared, students must make progress toward that degree as evidenced by courses satisfactorily completed. Advisers may grant extensions beyond the 30-credit limit.

Class attendance

If a student doesn’t attend regularly scheduled class meetings during the first week of the quarter, they are subject to being dropped at the discretion of the program to allow enrollment space for other students. Students should not assume that they will be automatically dropped from the course if they do not attend. Students not planning to attend a course should drop the course on MyUW. Students who are registered for a course but do not attend will be assigned a failing grade by the instructor. Students may not attend a University course in which they have not been officially registered after the first two weeks of the quarter.

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Composition directed self-placement

The first-year composition experience can be fulfilled by completing a UW Bothell composition course which is chosen by students in a directed self-placement (DSP) step-by-step process.


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Cross-campus registration

All students enrolled at one UW campus may register for courses at another UW campus on a space-available basis, starting on the first day of Registration Period II for Autumn, Winter and Spring quarters. In Summer quarter, cross-campus enrollment is allowed in Period I as well.

First Year students must earn a minimum of 25 credits at UW campuses before cross campus registration is permitted. All other students must earn a minimum of 15 credits at UW campuses before cross campus registration is permitted. Non-matriculated students are also not allowed to enroll cross-campus. This includes non-matriculated students taking courses under the UW staff or Washington State tuition exemption. Students may not be admitted and enrolled at separate campuses simultaneously. Double degrees or majors will not be permitted to cross campus lines, and majors will be restricted to a single campus. However, students who earn a minor at the alternate campus may have that minor recorded with the degree on the transcript at graduation.

A maximum of 45 credits earned through cross-enrollment may count toward a bachelor’s degree. (Graduate students are limited to 12 credits.) This restriction is not monitored, so there is no restriction to the number of credits a student may complete by cross-enrollment; only to the number that may count toward a degree. If there are excess cross-enrollment credits, the program or school adviser should note this on the application for graduation. DARS is not programmed to know at which campus courses are completed, so a DARS audit will not point out excess cross-enrollment credits.

Note that this 45-credit limit applies only to credits taken at one UW campus while enrolled at another. A student who attends one UW campus and then is admitted to another UW campus may count toward a bachelor’s degree any number of credits transferred from the first UW campus to the second (see below).

Cross-campus enrollment administrative details

The home campus is responsible for administrative and disciplinary issues. Hardship withdrawal petitions for all courses will be reviewed by the student’s home campus. Student activity fees are credited to the student’s home campus. Students are eligible for student activity fee-supported services only at their home campus. Only Seattle-campus students are eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics.

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Full-time requirements

To be considered a full-time undergraduate student, they must register for 12 credits or more. To be considered a full-time graduate student, they must register for 10 or more credits. Consult the Financial Aid Office for its requirements on satisfactory student progress. To be classified as a half-time student by the University, an undergraduate must register for and complete at least 6 credits per quarter. A graduate student must register for and complete 5 credits per quarter.

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Math placement policy

The University of Washington Bothell uses Directed Self-Placement (DSP) to determine which math course students should enroll in. The “self-placement” part of this is that a student decides what math class they will enroll in. They will be asked a series of questions and based on their responses to these questions, they will receive an initial suggestion for which course to take.

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Quarter off policy

Undergraduate students who have completed a quarter at the UW Bothell may take the following quarter off, and remain eligible to register in Registration Period I for the subsequent quarter, without a returning student form. Any quarter from which a student has completely withdrawn, or from which he or she is cancelled, does not constitute a completed quarter. Summer Quarter enrollment is not required to maintain continuous registration eligibility. The quarter-off policy is not available for graduate students.

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System Abuse

Because use of scripts, robots, or other automated queries can adversely impact University network and computing resources and interferes with equal access to registration, such automated querying of registration-related resources is expressly forbidden. Violators may have their access to University network and computing resources terminated and may be subject to action by the University under applicable law, regulation, or policy, including but not limited to, discipline under any applicable University conduct code.


Registration abuse

The registration system is provided for the sole express purpose for students to register themselves into sections. Any use of the registration system other than for this purpose is considered abuse of the system. Such abuse includes, but is not limited to, buying or selling one’s seat in a class, holding seats for another student, or otherwise registering for a section that one has no intention of taking.

To help conserve University resources and ensure the registration system is available to all, students are locked out of Web Registration after a specific number of excessive submission attempts and/or transactions are made per day. This threshold is sufficient for students’ regular use and should not interfere with typical use. The use of robots and other automated tools to submit registration requests is expressly forbidden.

A student whose account is locked out for excessive use must wait until the registration system removes the lockout – within 24 hours. 

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Registration Eligibility

Newly admitted students and students readmitted to the same or a new classification (e.g., undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, graduate), or admitted to a different University campus, are eligible to register in Registration Period II after their enrollment confirmation deposit has been received.

Continuing UW Bothell students who remain in good academic standing are guaranteed the opportunity to register each quarter at the same University campus as long as they maintain continuous enrollment (excluding Summer Quarter), or fall within the guidelines of the quarter-off policy. Continuation must be in the same classification (e.g., undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, graduate) and at the same campus. After a student has earned a baccalaureate degree, he or she must apply for readmission as a post-baccalaureate, non-matriculated, or graduate student. Any student wishing to enroll at a different University of Washington campus must apply for admission to that campus.

Exceptions to the guarantee of registration eligibility include students under disciplinary action, students with a financial hold on their records, and students not meeting their departmental or University satisfactory progress policies. Additionally, continuing students who withdraw during the first week of two consecutive quarters (Summer Quarter not included) will not be eligible to register as continuing students for the third quarter and must reapply as former students returning to the University. If an undergraduate does not enroll for two or more quarters, he or she must file a Returning Student Form with the Bothell Office of the Registrar.

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Registration tampering

A student who tampers or attempts to tamper with the registration records of another student, including but not limited to dropping and adding courses, may be subject to disciplinary sanctions as defined in the Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121).

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Restrictions on attending classes

No person, other than a faculty member attending informally with the approval of the instructor, may attend a University course in which that person has not been registered.

An instructor may allow a student to attend his or her class only if the student’s name is on the official class list from the Office of the Registrar. An unregistered student may attend through the fourteenth calendar day of the quarter, if the student is on an official waitlist for the course.

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