Dartmouth College
Office of the Registrar
6014 McNutt Hall
Hanover, NH 03755-3541
Courses@Dartmouth is a user-friendly course registration system for students to elect, add, and drop courses. On this page is a list of helpful guides and the overall registration process.
Step 1 – Course election : planning
Prior to the opening of course election (review the Registration schedule for dates) students review Courses@Dartmouth to plan their courses for the upcoming term. Students can view course priorities and course NRO or CT/NC eligibility in the Course Details panel on Courses@Dartmouth. For more information on the NRO policy, see the ORC/Catalog. For a list of departments using Banner Prerequisite Checking, see the Registrar’s website.
Step 2 – Course election: Primary Carts open
Students log into Courses@Dartmouth and begin searching for, and adding, courses to their Primary Cart. Students cannot complete the registration process during this time but can save their cart in preparation for the course election period.
Step 3 – Course election: enter course elections
Students log into Courses@Dartmouth and begin searching for, and adding, courses to their Primary Cart. Students may make registration adjustments any time during course election period, until midnight of the last day of the election period. Students elect courses not sections and should submit their "ideal" schedule.
If the student encounters registration errors, they may not register for the course. Some registration errors may be overridden by obtaining the appropriate faculty member's approval and their application of the appropriate permission/override to the student's record via the web. (click here for instructions on seeking permission/overrides)
Students registering for courses that require instructor permission, a prerequisite override, or any other special permission/override must first meet with the instructor and/or the instructor’s proxy, if appropriate, and provide the instructor with their ID number so the instructor may apply the appropriate permission/override to his or her record. Students who have not obtained a permission/override are not registered for the course. After the permission/override has been applied, the student will receive a confirmation email that the permission/override was applied. The student then registers for the course. After submitting their courses, students review their class schedule to ensure they have entered it correctly.
Important – Students register for all courses. Faculty grant permission only, and do not register students.
Step 4 – Immediately after course election (the week following registration)
After the election period ends, the prioritization process is run by the Registrar's Office so that courses with limited enrollment have the appropriate number of students registered for the course based on faculty priorities. Students check their course schedule on Courses@Dartmouth several days later (date published on the Registrar's website) after receiving a notification from the Registrar to determine whether they gained entry into the limited enrollment courses elected. To view their schedule, students go to the Primary Cart menu. While in the Primary Cart, students can click on the calendar icon to see a visual breakdown of their weekly schedule.
Step 5 – Course changes period – before the next term begins
After course election is complete, the system opens again for students to make changes in their course schedule, and course priorities are no longer in effect. Students may register for course sections. This period may be for several days or extend over a longer period (i.e. during the summer) before it closes at the end of the term. The system opens again for add/drop at the start of the next term. See the guides on the Registrar’s website for adding or dropping courses.
Whenever space becomes available in a course or course section, and the student does not encounter any registration errors, the student may register for the course until the legislated last day to add. Students check Courses@Dartmouth for course availability. Courses or sections with a red ‘X’ next to them are full.
If the letters "IP" meaning "Instructor Permission" appear next to a course in the Primary Cart, the Course Details panel, and in the far-right column in the Grid view, this indicates that the department/program has closed that course. If the student still wishes to try to gain entry into an IP course (or course section), the student may try to obtain the faculty member's approval and have them apply an Instructor Permission Override.
Reminder: Students who have obtained an override to enter an IP course are not registered for the course. Students must then register for the course - (click here for instructions on seeking permissions/overrides)
Step 6 – The add/drop period – at the start of the term
At the start of the term students may add and drop courses online (including Physical Education & Wellness courses) and may choose course sections based on availability. Students should frequently check Courses@Dartmouth since there are a great deal of adjustments that occur. Any permissions/overrides that were made on courses during course election are still in effect. See the guides on the Registrar’s website for adding, dropping, or swapping courses.
Physical Education (PE) and Wellness course Registration and time conflicts: * Important * Students should pay particular attention to time conflicts between an x-hour and the PE or Wellness course. Students may confirm with the instructor that the x-hour will not be used, then obtain an override from the PE or Wellness department for the course and register.
Students cannot add an academic course that conflicts with a PE or Wellness course. If students add a PE or Wellness course before their academic schedule is complete and then add a course which results in a time conflict, students need to drop the PE or Wellness course, add the academic course, then follow the above procedure.
