How to Course Request classes

Course Request is the first phase of course registration for continuing students. In this phase, students have the opportunity to let the university know which courses they want most for the upcoming term.

Course Request is not first come, first served. Students can build their course priorities at any time during the course request period and will still get the same results.

When Course Request closes, the Hokie Registration system will place students into courses. Students may get some or all of the courses they requested during this phase.

Students can then adjust their registration when the second phase of course registration opens: the add/drop period.

To complete Course Request, enter the Hokie Registration menu and select the term for which you wish to request courses:

1. Use the search criteria menu to find courses you want to take the most and place them in your primary cart. Be sure to click through the menu to “save changes”
   • We recommend students check their primary cart before Course Request closes to confirm:  
     • All courses they want are listed (and that nothing about them has changed, like location or time) 
     • There are no error icons 
     • The student doesn’t have any registration holds
2. Courses in your primary cart will have a blue shopping cart icon. This indicates to you that courses with the blue cart icon (and no error icons) will be submitted to Course Request.
3. You can choose to stop at this step or choose more specific parameters for your requests. At minimum, ensure all holds are resolved by the time Course Request closes and there are no registration errors for the courses in your primary cart.

Choosing Registration Priorities and Alternate Courses

During Course Request, you will have two cart options, Primary Cart and Alternatives Cart.

Primary Cart: where you will select course request priorities. These are the classes you will submit for Course Request.

Alternatives Cart: allows you to select specific alternate courses that may be added during Course Request, if the section in your primary cart is full.

To add alternate courses:

1. Add courses you want to choose as alternates to your alternatives cart. You can add courses to your alternatives cart by searching for classes and choosing "alternatives cart" instead of primary when added a course to a cart. Note: you must add courses to your alternatives cart to choose them as alternates for primary cart courses.
2. Now, select your Primary Cart and choose a course within it.
3. Select “Edit Registration Options.”
4. In the “First Alternative” drop-down menu, select a course from your alternatives cart
5. You can do this same step for a Second Alternative
6. The Third Alternatives option will always remain grey- you cannot change it
   • When there are multiple sections of a course, the third alternative will be used to add any other section of the same course as your primary course
7. Select a priority for courses, ranking courses in your primary cart from 1-9 with 1 being the highest ranked course. Note: if you choose auto, the Hokie Registration system will determine priority for the course(s) based off of popularity. The more in demand the course, the higher it will be ranked.
8. Click save changes to save your alternates and registration priorities.

Remember: courses in your primary cart with a blue shopping cart icon (and no error icons) will be the courses submitted to Hokie Registration when Course Request closes.