How to Register for Classes

1. Find your Registration Time

New First-Year Students: New students will be sent a full orientation schedule and details in the weeks leading up to orientation and registration.

Returning Students: A couple of weeks prior to Pre-Registration week, registration appointment times will be sent to you through your Pitzer e-mail (check the Academic Calendar for Pre-Registration dates, typically in November and April). Each student will have a 24-hour registration window following their appointment time, and then registration will re-open for everyone after Pre-Registration week.

Registration appointment times cannot be changed. No early registration is allowed.

Going abroad next semester? You will not need to pre-register in this way. Contact the Study Abroad Office regarding the details of your program.

Registering from abroad? Follow the instructions on this page.

2. Meet with your Adviser

New First-Year Students: You will receive your adviser’s name during orientation, and will have opportunities for academic advising prior to your registration appointment time. A normal course load is 4 courses, though 5 is allowed.

Returning Students: Make an appointment with your adviser during advising days each semester (check the Academic Calendar for advising days). If your adviser is on sabbatical, you will be assigned a temporary adviser. To see who your current adviser is, login to the MyCampus2 Portal and look at the ‘Academic Information’ box. Students may only pre-register for 4 courses; as per 5-College agreement,  students may add a 5th course credit beginning the first day of classes. Additional courses may be requested by submitting a petition for course overload. Students with a 3.0 or higher GPA may add a 6th course without petitioning, though an overload fee will still apply; please contact Student Accounts or check the Pitzer Catalog for updated fee information.

All Students:

  • Check the online 5-College Course Schedule via MyCampus2 Portal to browse for courses. Make a list of courses you would like to register for (taking into consideration any pre-requisites or requirements), including several alternates in case your first choices are not available. You may choose to fill out a Registration Form and/or a Course Scheduling Worksheet, if you find it helpful. Choose courses to fulfill your Graduation Requirements, including Educational Objectives and Major/Minor Courses. Refer to the Guidelines for Graduation for more information.
  • Bring your list of potential courses to your adviser meeting. Your adviser will check to make sure you are on track, and let you know if any courses need to be changed. Once your course list is approved, your adviser may electronically grant you registration clearance, allowing you to register online at your appointed time. Alternately, the adviser may sign your Registration Form, which you may bring into the Registrar’s Office in order to add your courses.

3. Clear any Holds

A ‘hold’ on your account means that there is something you need to take care of, and you will not be able to register until this is done. Only the office who placed the hold can remove it. To clear a hold, contact the office listed (Registrar, Student Accounts, etc.) and they will tell you how to remove it.

Important Note for Juniors: You must declare a major by the first semester of your junior year! If you do not declare your major on time, a hold will be placed on your account by the Registrar’s Office, which can be removed by turning in your completed and signed Major Declaration Form.

4. Add your classes

If your adviser cleared you to register online, you can use MyCampus2 Portal:

A. Log in to the portal, then click on the REGISTRATION tab
B. Find the course you want by selecting the COURSE AREA from the drop down menu, then hit ‘Search’ . Make sure you have the correct semester selected!
NOTE: Searching by ‘Title’ or ‘Course Code’ can sometimes be difficult since the search terms have to be exact to work. We recommend simply browsing the list of courses in a particular area. 
C. Click on the course number to see details. The ‘Notes’ section has important information about prerequisites and enrollment restrictions. The top of the screen will also tell you if you are eligible to add the course or not.
D. If you are eligible, select ‘Add this Class’. If you are not eligible, review the notes to find out why. The course may be full, you may not meet the requisites/requirements, or you may need to request permission from the instructor (see next section for details on how to do so).If you prefer to register in person, or if you are unable to use the portal, simply bring your Registration Form or Add/Drop Form to the Registrar’s Office and we can help you register.

5. Instructor Permission and the PERM System

If you don’t meet the requirements for a course, or if enrollment is restricted, you may need to request permission from the instructor in order to enroll. The PERM System allows you to do this electronically via MyCampus2 Portal.

If you are unable to register for a course online, there will be a line on top explaining why you are not eligible, and a link that says “Request a PERMission to enroll authorization”. Clicking this link will allow you to send a request to the instructor, who can authorize or deny your request online. Once the instructor accepts or denies your request, you will receive email notification.Once a PERM is approved, you MUST log in to the portal and add the class- it does NOT happen automatically! If you see that your permission was granted, proceed to add the course (Step 4, above)- otherwise, you will NOT be enrolled in the course. The instructor cannot add you- you must do so!

6. Adding, Dropping, Withdrawals and Deadlines

Be sure you check the Academic Calendar each semester for these important dates!

  • You can ADD courses until the Last Day to Add
  • You can DROP courses until the Last Day to Drop. If you stop attending a course, you will NOT be automatically dropped- you must drop any courses by this deadline if you don’t want them on your transcript, including PE and other activity courses.
  • You can WITHDRAW from a course after the Last Day to Drop, and before the Last Day to Withdraw. A withdrawal is allowed only if you are currently passing the class, and is not a way to get rid of a course you are failing. A withdrawn course remains permanently on your transcript with the grade is listed as ‘W’, which does not affect your GPA. Withdrawing cannot be done online; you must submit a completed Withdrawal Form, which requires your instructor and adviser signatures, to the registrar’s office.
  • You may convert a course to Pass/No Credit until the Pass/No Credit Due Date. Students may take one course each semester on a Pass/No Credit basis, with instructor permission. Pass/No Credit means that your grade will either be ‘P’ or ‘NC’, and will not affect your GPA either way. In order to Pass, you must receive the equivalent of a ‘C’ in the course. A grade of ‘NC’ means you will receive 0 credits , though it will remain on your transcript. Pass/No Credit cannot be done online; to apply for a P/NC, turn in a Pass/No-Credit Form (signed by your instructor) to the Registrar’s Office.

Additional Notes:

Independent Study & Senior Thesis

Please see the Independent Study Guide and Application – Independent Study Form for more information, and check the Academic Calendar for deadlines for Independent Study proposals. Your proposal should be turned in with your application form well in advance of the deadline in order to allow time for the Curriculum Committee to review your materials.

Senior Theses vary depending on your field group. Most Senior Thesis courses are not listed on the portal, and even if they are, it can be difficult to find the correct section. Therefore, to register for thesis, please fill out a Senior Thesis Registration Form with your adviser, and turn it into the Registrar’s office. We will make sure you are registered for the correct course.

Credit Differences for Non-Pitzer Courses

Because we are a consortium with multiple schools sharing a schedule, you may notice that some schools offer different amounts of credit. Please be aware of the following conversions that will happen automatically when you register for these courses:

Harvey Mudd: Courses listed as semester units, so a 3-credit Harvey Mudd course will appear on your schedule as 1 Pitzer credit. Similarly, 2 Harvey Mudd credits = .5 Pitzer Credit, and 1 Harvey Mudd credit = .25 Pitzer credit.

PE courses: Pitzer does not grant academic credit for PE courses, so while you are free to register for them, they will appear on your transcript with ‘0’ as the amount of credit. They are generally graded Pass/No Credit. If you register for a PE course and then don’t attend, you must drop the course or you will receive an ‘NC’ grade. Please note that PE courses will appear on your transcript, even though they do not carry credit. The exceptions are PE 087 PO and PE 091 PO, for which Pitzer students will receive .5 credit each. This same policy applies to ‘MSL’ military courses offered at Claremont McKenna.

Dance Courses: Some dance course are considered PE, and others carry credit. You can usually tell by the course number; dance courses with a number ending in ‘PPO’ and listed as .25 Pomona credit are worth 0 Pitzer credit (just like a PE class), but dance courses ending in just ‘PO’ and listed as .50 Pomona credit are worth .50 Pitzer credit. Many dance courses have two sections, one for each amount of credit, so be sure to register for the correct one.

Cross Registration

Academic interchange among the undergraduate Colleges and Claremont Graduate University provides opportunities for curricular enrichment and active membership in the wider community of The Claremont Colleges. Students may register on their own campus for courses open to them in the other Claremont Colleges, subject to the following conditions:

  1. First-year students normally register for their entire program at their college of residence. Exceptions may be made in fields of study not available at their own college. During the second semester, freshmen may register for one course outside their college of residence.
  2. Sophomores normally may register for no more than one course per semester outside the college of residence.
  3. Juniors or seniors normally may register for no more than one-half of their total program in any one semester outside the college of residence.
  4. Registration for courses in joint programs are not considered outside registrations. Intercollegiate courses designated by the letters “AA”, “CH”, “AF”, “KS”, or “CG” affixed to the course number are counted as Pitzer courses.
  5. Exceptions to the above must be approved by the faculty adviser.

Courses taught in the following joint programs do not count as off-campus courses, even if they are taught on other campuses: American Studies; Anthropology; Art History; Asian Studies; Africana Studies; Chicano Studies; Classics; Media Studies; Gender and Feminist Studies/Women’s Studies; Languages; Linguistics; Mathematics; Music; Philosophy; Religious Studies; Science, Technology and Society; and Theatre.

Have Questions?

Email us at [email protected], or call us at (909) 607-2650. We’re here to help!