All students must have a student record free of financial and administrative blocks to be eligible to register. For information on a specific topic, please click the link below.
Policies
Audit
Students should not enroll in classes they plan to audit. Enrolling in a course under the audit grading basis requires the PRIOR approval of the instructor. Undergraduate students must complete and return the Course Audit Form. The Registrar’s office will also accept an email from the instructor’s Duke email address indicating approval for an audited course. The email must contain the student’s student ID number, the subject, catalog number, and section number of the course, and the 4/5 digit class number. Once the Registrar’s office receives the audit approval, the student will be enrolled.
Trinity students are not permitted to audit PHYSEDU courses or undergraduate studio art, applied music, and dance/technique courses.
Audited courses count as part of a student's total allowable credits during registration, but they do not count toward course load when determining full-time and part-time status. No course credit is earned for an audited class. Students may not take a class for audit and then later for credit. Students cannot audit the same class twice. Independent study courses can be taken as audit.
The deadline for the declaration of audit is the end of the drop/add period.
Continuation
All PhD students and part-time master's students with no course enrollments are enrolled for CTN 1 by the Office of the University Registrar for the fall and spring semesters. MALS students are required to register themselves for CTN 1 in the respective term. If you have a Bursar block on your account at the time the Registrar's office registers you for CTN 1, you will not be enrolled. You will be notified that registering for CTN 1 will become your responsibility once the block has cleared.
Course Load
It is each student's responsibility to ensure that his/her course load each semester meets the full-time or part-time academic load requirements of their school or college. Students must enroll in the number of courses necessary to meet the approved course load by the end of the drop/add period. Placement on a wait list does not count toward meeting course load requirements.
- Undergraduates: During windows, undergraduates may only register for up to a full course load of 4.0 course credits (not counting ROTC, music performance, physical education activity, dance technique/performance, or House courses in the 4.0 limit). During drop/add, the limit is 5.0 for Pratt and 5.5 for Trinity students.
- Graduate/Professional: Course load requirements vary by school. Contact your advisor for your school's policies regarding course load requirements.
Cross-lists
Cross-listed courses are offered under different subject codes on the Schedule of Classes but share the same content matter. For example, AMI 201, Introduction to Film Studies, is also offered as LIT 110, Introduction to Film Studies. All sections of a cross-listed course meet in the same classroom during the same meeting pattern as the class content is uniform.
Occasionally, a student who is enrolled in (or has taken in the past) a cross-listed course may wish to change the cross-listing. To do so, the student can complete the form in the Office of the University Registrar or send an email to registrar@duke.edu to request the change. The request must include the student ID number, the term in which the course was taken, the subject and number of the enrolled class, and the subject and number of the proposed change. Cross-lists cannot be changed after graduation. Changes for registered courses for the upcoming term will be processed after the drop/add period.
Drop/Add
The drop/add period is defined as the period in time after the last registration window closes and continues through the first two weeks of the upcoming semester. The dates are listed in the Enrollment Appointments section of DukeHub. Law School and Fuqua School of Business have drop/add dates that differ from the university calendar. During drop/add, students have the capability to make changes to their schedule without penalty. After the drop/add period ends, any schedule change must be routed through the student’s academic dean identifying the extenuating circumstance for the change. Late drops may result in a grade of “W” on the student’s transcript.
Duke Credit Hour Policy
For purposes of the application of this policy and accord with federal regulations,
- A semester-course unt is the equivalent of four credit hours.
- A "contact hour" is defined as a required time in which all students are directly engaged, as a class, in interaction with the instructor(s) the course, synchronously or asynchronously, either in the classroom or virtually through telepresence, web-conference, or other online platforms.
- A credit hour is expected to be a reasonable approximation of a minimum amount of student work in a Carnegie unit in accordance with commonly accepted practice in higher education.
University and Divinity Courses
Beginning Fall 1969, credit for Trinity undergraduates, Pratt undergraduates, and the Divinity School has been listed in semester-course units. One semester-course unit is equivalent to four semester hours.
- A single semester-course unit should require a minimum of 12 hours per week of a student's time and effort, both in and outside of class, over a 15-week term, or 20 hours per week over a 7-week term.
- All full-credit courses require a minimum number of "contact hours" totaling 150 minutes per week over 15 weeks, or 300 minutes per week over 7 weeks.
Graduate and Professional School Courses
The Graduate and Professional Schools list credit in semester hours. It is expected that the academic work required of Graduate and Professional school students will be the equivalent of:
- Not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours out of ten to twelve weeks for one semester hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or
- At least an equivalent amount of work as required outlined in item 1 above for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.
All Courses
- When a course is offered at two levels (e.g., undergraduate and graduate), workload expectations will differ for the students enrolled at different levels.
- Instructional units should periodically review course syllabi to determine whether the number of course units/credits is appropriate for the expected student workload.
First-Year Registration
Undergraduate Trinity and Pratt students register for fall classes in July. Please refer to the appropriate Bluebook for detailed information. Students enrolled through the Graduate School, Engineering Professional, Nursing and the Sanford School of Public Policy will have access to registration the day after they have been matriculated. Registration in approved cross-career classes will be available on the following Friday. Divinity and Nicholas School of the Environment students will register for classes in August. Fuqua and Law students should consult with their records office for detailed registration information.
Full-Time and Part-Time Degree Status
Degree candidates generally MUST enroll for a normal course load each semester. Undergraduates who NEED TO CHANGE from full-time to part-time status MUST REQUEST PERMISSION from their academic deans. Part-time status is restricted to the final semester of the Senior year. Whether the last semester is Spring or Fall, the deadline for requesting part-time status is the last business day before the first day of classes of your last semester of undergraduate enrollment. Part-time students may not register for more than two courses (or two courses and a half-credit physical education activity course). Part-time students may not live on campus. Graduate and Professional school students should contact the Dean's Office in their respective school for specific information.
Independent Study Information
A permission number is required to add an Independent Study; however, the student should approach the department to determine the applicable independent study approval procedures.
Major/Minor/Certificate Changes and Declarations
Pratt students must contact Dean Lupita Temiquel-McMillian, lupita.mcmillian@duke.edu. Trinity students must declare their initial major through the Pre-Major Advising Center. Trinity students who wish to change majors, add a second major, or add or change a minor or certificate may do so by completing this form, which is also available in the Office of the University Registrar. Trinity students may also request a change via email to registrar@duke.edu. Please include your Student ID number and the proposed change in your email. If changing a major, please identify whether you will be pursing an AB or BS. Requests to change major will not be processed each term on the first day of bookbagging through the last day of registration. Seniors requesting a change in major, minor, or certificate should send a request to trinity.graduation@aas.duke.edu.
Permissions (numbers and cross-career info)
Students must directly contact the instructor of record, or the department, to obtain a permission number. It is the student's responsibility to use the issued permission number to enroll in the associated class. Permission-only courses are noted in the course descriptions. Permission numbers are unique to each section of a course and may be used only by one student. During the second week of classes, all undergraduate courses below the 500 level will require a permission number.
Prerequisites
If the course you plan to add has a prerequisite, that information will be listed in the course description. You are responsible for ensuring that you meet the prerequisite described in the appropriate bulletin. If you do not meet the course prerequisites, you may be blocked from registering for the course or you may be administratively dropped from the class.
Repeating a Course
Undergraduate students may repeat a course under certain criteria. Trinity students can find information at http://trinity.duke.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies/repeat-course. Pratt undergraduates should review information found at http://www.pratt.duke.edu/undergrad/policies/3526.
Research (Graduate School)
Graduate School students enroll in research credit by adding the RESEARCH 1 course to their schedule. You must register for research credit by the late registration deadline, or you will be subject to a late registration fee.
Reserve Capacity
Schools and departments may reserve a specified number of seats in a class for a specific student population. Reserve capacity details are listed under class details for the course, where applicable, as well as in the student's bookbag.
Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Grading Basis
Undergraduates wishing to enroll in a course under the optional satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading basis requires the permissions of the instructor and the student's academic dean. Students should enroll in the class normally and then bring the completed Declaration of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Grading Basis in a Course form to the Office of the University Registrar. The deadline for the submission of the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory form is one week following the end of the drop/add period.
Time Conflicts
No student may enroll in courses with conflicting meeting patterns. If you attempt to enroll in a course that conflicts with another course, DukeHub will block that registration and display a message about the conflict. Courses with time conflicts can be added to the bookbag, but courses with conflicts will be flagged as errors during the validation process.
Waitlists
If all seats in a class have been claimed and a waitlist has been established, DukeHub will construct a list of other students requesting enrollment in the order in which attempts to enroll in the course are logged. The waitlisted course will count towards the total course registration limit and the student will need to drop a course or request a unit increase to accommodate lthe waitlisted course. Students can waitlist a class that conflicts with another enrolled class, however enrollment in the waitlisted course will not take place until the time conflict is resolved. Students who are enrolled in one section and waitlisted in another secton of the same course, will not be enrolled into the waitlisted section, as this would be a duplicate enrollment. Students should check their schedules periodically via DukeHub to determine waitlist status.
- Caution: All waitlists with the exception of the Fuqua School of Business, Duke Law, Nicholas School of the Environment, Pratt School of Engineering (Professional Masters Programs), and the School of Nursing will be erased at the end of the first week of classes. During the second week of classes, all undergraduate courses below the 500 level will require a permission number. Be advised, being on a waitlist for a class does not guarantee eventual enrollment to the class.