Waitlisting for Classes

If a class is full and you are a current CSULB student, you can place yourself on a waitlist for seats that might become available. If a seat becomes available, the student highest on the waitlist will be enrolled (subject to the limitations listed below).

If a class is full and you are a current CSULB student, you can place yourself on a waitlist according to the Registration Dates & Deadlines for Fall or Spring.

Waitlists become null and void after this date.

  • All scheduled class sections have waitlists, based on the size of the class. You can monitor your position on the waitlist via your MyCSULB Student Center.
  • You can waitlist for a maximum of 5 units. (Important note: waitlisted units are included toward your enrollment unit limit and the waitlist does not check for time conflicts with your other courses.)
  • You must meet any requisites for the class before you can be placed on the waitlist, e.g., course pre-requisites, section co-requisites, major and class level restrictions. See Search for Classes/Browse Catalog in your Student Center.
  • If a seat becomes available, the student highest on the waitlist will be enrolled, subject to the restrictions below.
  • If you are moved from the waitlist into the class, you will be sent email notification if you have specified a preferred email address in your Student Center/Personal Information at MyCSULB.
  • You will not be billed for waitlisted classes but will be billed if you are moved from a waitlist into a class and the additional units result in higher registration fees. It is important to check your class schedule and account summary regularly in your MyCSULB Student Center to avoid possible cancellation of newly added classes.
  • If you are moved from the waitlist into a class, it is your responsibility to drop the class(as with any other class) if you decide not to attend. Failure to do so will result in a WU grade on your record which will lower your grade point average (WU = F).
  • There is no guarantee you will be moved off a waitlist and enrolled in a class. Approximately 1–2 weeks prior to the beginning of classes, the process to move students from the waitlist runs for the final time, then all waitlists are purged. Instructors are not required to add students who were previously on the waitlist.
  • If you decide you no longer wish to wait for space to become available, you may drop yourself from the waitlist. 

Students will be moved from the waitlist into the class if space becomes available, in the order placed, unless:

  1. There is a time conflict with another registered class. Since potential time conflicts are not checked when you place yourself on a waitlist, you should ensure that waitlisted classes do not conflict with your current schedule.
  2. You are already enrolled in another section of the same course. Do not use waitlisting to try to get into another section of a course in which you are already enrolled, as you will not be moved from the waitlist if space becomes available. You need to choose whether to take a chance and place yourself on the waitlist of the full section or remain enrolled in the current section.
  3. The only seats available are reserved and you do not meet the reserve requirements.
  4. You have a hold on your record that prevents registration.

If you cannot be moved from the waitlist, you will be skipped and the next student considered. You will not be reconsidered until the next time space becomes available in the class.