Advance Registration: June 26 to July 17, 2023
During Advance Registration, you can request your fall semester courses through Path@Penn. The courses that are recorded as your selections at the end of the day on July 17 will be used by the Office of the University Registrar to process schedules. Please note that you are not guaranteed seats in these classes.
We recommend that you complete your course requests as soon as possible in case you have questions. If you do not submit your course requests by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 17, you will have to wait until the Course Selection (add) Period begins to enroll in courses.
See below for Advance Registration tips.
Course Selection Period Opens: July 25, 7:00 a.m. ET
During the Course Selection Period you may add, swap, or drop courses on Path@Penn in real time. You will know immediately if seats in the course(s) are available and if you have been enrolled. Use this time to adjust your schedule if you have not received the exact courses/times you requested during Advance Registration. Course requests are on a first-come, first-served basis during the course selection period. If you are unable to get into a course by the time of New Student Orientation, speak with your advisor. It will help if you remain flexible about your options.
Finding and Selecting Courses
You can search for classes, view details on individual courses, and select classes and alternatives using the Primary and Alternative Carts on Path@Penn.
Note that Wharton students are limited to a maximum of 5.5 course units (CUs) for the first semester. A typical course load for the first-semester is 4.5 to 5.5 CUs.
See the sample schedule for information on what courses you should be requesting during Advance Registration for the fall semester.
Registration and Course Selection Tips
Advance registration is not first come, first served.
You can take your time and modify your course selections at any point during the four-week period.
If you are unable to access Path@Penn, send your requests by mail or fax.
Fax (+1.215.573.2076) or mail your requests to the Office of the University Registrar by July 16.
Input your requests in descending order of priority, so that your top priority is your first request.
The system will allow you to re-prioritize your requests during the advance registration period. Your priorities should be based on curricular requirements.
If you plan on taking a Critical Writing Seminar in the fall, request it as your first priority.
Since they have limited availability (typically 16 seats or fewer per course), Writing Seminars are a priority along with economics, math, and language. Choose the one you find the most interesting and be sure to list an alternate. View the Critical Writing Seminars.
Request ALL parts of a course.
Some courses (such as BEPP 1000) have two required parts, a lecture and recitation, with different section numbers. You must request both sections in order to have a valid registration request. Path@Penn indicates which of the two sections is credit bearing (i.e., has “1 cu” next to the course title). In creating your priority list, request the credit-bearing section before the non-credit-bearing section.
For courses that have more than one section (such as economics or math), you do not need to request an alternate section.
The registration system assumes that you need such courses, and therefore will make every attempt to satisfy your course request. When you receive your course confirmation, however, you may find that your enrolled section is different from your requested section.
You may not register for courses with overlapping scheduled times.
The registration system will block your enrollment in one of the courses if you request courses with conflicting times.
Consider taking a First-Year Seminar.
First-Year Seminars provide students with the opportunity for close personal interaction with a faculty member in a small-cl ass setting devoted to a significant intellectual endeavor. They may also fulfill Liberal Arts and Sciences requirements.
To find first-year seminars in Path@Penn, use Advanced Search and Course Attribute “AUFS”
Do not register for any courses on a pass/fail basis.
First-years must take all courses for a normal (letter) grade in the first semester.
Do not panic if you do not get all of your requested courses.
Advance registration is just the first round of choosing classes. You can also work with your advisor on adding the courses you need during the course selection period.
The course selection period is first come, first served.
During the Course Selection Period, registering for courses is in real time.