Common FAQs

You can find your individual registration date/time by navigating the Registration Access Times instructions on this webpage. 

Most incoming first-year students will be eligible to register starting June 25, 2025.

The deadline for registration is 6/30 in order for your term bill to reflect the correct amount in July. However, you can continue to register/drop for classes up until the start of the classes. 

If you are receiving this message, it means you do not have the appropriate prerequisite course and/or test score to register for the class.

If you are receiving this message in error or you really want to take the class, you need to speak to or e-mail the professor to get permission. A signature on a Registration Add/Drop form or a hard copy of instructor's approval via e-mail along with a Registration Add/Drop form will suffice. Click here for more information on the process.

You must add your lecture and lab at the same time. For example, Physics (PHYS) 120 has a co-requisite of PHYS 120L. If you do not add the lecture and lab sections simultaneously, you will not be able to register for the course.

To find both the lecture and lab for a science class, make sure you select the correct subject in the ‘Subject’ section and ALL in the ‘Attribute’ section.

NOTE: If you choose Core B2 Sciences in the ‘Attribute’ section, the lab section will not show.

MWF stands for Monday, Wednesday, Friday. R stands for Thursday. TR means the class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. S stands for Saturdays. 

If you see SR (Student Restriction) on the schedule, it means that you are not eligible to register yet. This should disappear when registration opens for you on June 25th.

Class Restriction (formerly Student Classification Restriction) means that the course offered has a set number of seats available for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. If you are unable to register for a class due to this reason, it is because the number of seats reserved for the class standing has been filled.

Class Standing Defined:

• Freshman: 0-31
• Sophomore: 32-63
• Junior: 64-95
• Senior: 96+

Reserve Closed means that the course offered is restricted to certain majors and/or minors. This is not to say that you can't register for the class at all; you just can't register during a certain time frame. Students in that major who need that course are given priority. After a certain period of time, the restriction is lifted and you will be able to register in the class if there are still seats available.

Field of Study means that the course offered is restricted to a specific major, minor, or, concentration. You will need to have that field of study in order to register for the course.

Campus Restriction means that the course offered is at one of the additional campuses under USF. These classes are not part of the main campus (or Hilltop campus).

NOTE: You will not be able to take courses offered at a different campus if you are not enrolled in the programs offered at those different campuses.

Fall 2025 classes start on Tuesday, August 19, 2025.

Placement test results for Spanish/French/German/Italian can take two weeks to come in, so you can leave space in your schedule for the language class once you receive your results.

For more information about language placement tests, visit the Foreign Language Placement Test webpage.
 

For first year students and transfer students without prior college composition credit, it is required. (It is strongly encouraged for transfer students with prior credit.)

For more information, visit the DSP webpage.

You may be able to satisfy Core requirements with AP or IB credits. You can find more information here.

Students typically take 16 units per semester, though you can take up to 18 units for the same price. You should register for 12 units to be considered a full-time student.

You should have watched the videos for your major to understand your graduation and major requirements, and which placement tests to take before your registration time.  

If you need support or have any questions regarding class registration, please contact:

College of Arts & Sciences:

Tonya Miller at miller@usfca.edu or call (415) 422-4932 during business hours.

School of Management:
Ben Bottorff at bbbottorff@usfca.edu during business hours.

School of Nursing and Health Professions:

Public Health Students: Ainsley Shallcross at atshallcross@usfca.edu
BSN (Nursing) Students at San Francisco Campus: Transfers: Stacey Kohut at sekohut1@usfca.edu, FTFY: Devan Robertson at drobertson3@usfca.edu or Vandon Nelson at lnelson5@usfca.edu
BSN (Nursing) Students at Sacramento Campus: Amanda Chavez at atchavez2@usfca.edu

School of Nursing and Health Professions: You should have received email communications from the SONHP Undergraduate Student Services Team. Please check your USF email. If you have not heard from them, please email Stacey Kohut at sekohut1@usfca.edu.

School of Management: If you haven’t already, you will be contacted by the Office of Undergraduate Studies. If you have not received an email, please contact somundergrad@usfca.edu.

College of Arts and Sciences: You should be contacted by an early registration faculty adviser or someone from your major department. Please check your USF email. If you have not heard from them, please email newstudentregistration@usfca.edu.

You can change your major using the Change of Academic Program form to change your major. This does not have to be done prior to registration, but it does mean that you will continue to receive information from your current major until you do change your major. Please note: You can’t change your major to Nursing or Public Health if you were admitted as another major.

You will need to complete the Core Curriculum, all required and elective courses for your major, and any other elective courses needed to reach minimum units to graduate.

Go to myUSF >> Dashboard >> Banner Self-Service (Student) >> Registration Landing Page >> Register for Classes.

From there, choose the "Term" and click on "Advanced Search". Go down to the 'Attribute' section and choose the CORE class category you would like to see classes for.

NOTE: For some core courses (like for science and foreign language), there is a lab or practicum component attached that requires you to simultaneously register for both the lecture and lab/practicum. To do this, you will need to choose the appropriate 'Subject' and "All" in the 'Attribute' section to see all the lectures and their corresponding co-requisite.

They are different. Major advisors are typically faculty members and they advise you on course selection and graduation requirements. Academic Success Coach supports you with your transition to college, helps you explore other majors/minors, and connects you with campus resources.

If you’ve taken AP exams that you believe may apply to your major or core curriculum requirements, we recommend not registering for possible duplicate classes until the scores are received by USF.

Please follow steps in section 2, “Important Next Steps,” slide 6/19 - “Submit Final Documents”

If your AP/IB credits are not appearing on your record, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you sent your scores over to USF's Office of Admission.
2. Contact the following emails to see if your scores have been received and if you have other questions:
   • For AP questions: appservices@usfca.edu
   • For IB questions: international@usfca.edu

In the meantime, it may be advisable to not register for classes you think you may receive credit for.

You would need to fill out the Transfer Credit Request form. Once the form has been submitted, the Office of the Registrar will review your request and respond back to you.

In the meantime, it may be advisable to not register for classes you think you may receive credit for.

Here’s a helpful link on declaring a minor. You can also talk with your academic success coach if you want to explore further:
https://myusf.usfca.edu/casa/explore-your-path/declare-major
 

No, it will not. Please allow for at least 3 business days to process your major change request.