» Advising and Registration FAQs

If you have not completed the mandatory New Student Academic Advising tutorial and final survey, there will be a New Student Advising Hold on your account which prevents you from enrolling in courses. To have the hold removed you must complete the online tutorial and final survey. The tutorial is intended to give you an introduction to academic advising topics and course registration at Chapman. By the end of the tutorial, you will have a better understanding of Chapman's General Education program, degree requirements, and registration procedures. 

Please keep in mind that holds are removed manually and are not removed automatically upon completion of the tutorial. Allow 24-48 business hours for your hold to be removed.  

Yes, your assigned Summer Advisor is available to help you through the advising and registration process and will have both appointments and drop-in hours available. Please reach out to your summer advisor directly.

Transfer students have a different advising process that will be communicated via email, so keep checking your Chapman email in May/June.  

Yes, you can reach out to your Summer Advisor at any time. We highly recommend that you complete the Academic Advising New Student tutorial prior to setting up an appointment or attending drop-in hours with your advisor, but please feel free to email your assigned Summer Advisor at any time.

Remember to use your Chapman email address when reaching out to your Summer Advisor and any department on campus, and include your student ID number in the email.

All First Year students are assigned a Summer Advisor as their primary point of contact. If you a are a First Year student, please reach out to your Summer Advisor.

All Transfer students should plan to speak with both an Academic Advisor from the Academic Advising Center, as well as a Program Advisor in their major department.

Your Program Advisor will primarily help you with your major or minor requirements. Your Academic Advisor will primarily advise you in your GE requirements and university degree requirements and policies.  Academic Advisors and Program Advisors work together to help you to complete your degree and help you navigate your academics.  

Program Advisors can be contacted directly and their contact information can be found on our website. 

Each department differs as to the best way to contact Program Advisors.  At this time, the best way to contact Program Advisors is by email.  If you wish a return phone call, please request it, and provide a contact phone number. 

Yes. Program Advisors are very important for transfer students, who tend to have fewer GE courses to enroll in and will need advice from their major department regarding major class selection.   

Program Advisors can also review your transfer courses to determine if they meet any of your major requirements.  Some courses are already “articulated” as courses in the major, meaning that they will automatically count towards major course requirements.  Other courses may not automatically count towards the major, but will need to be reviewed by the Program Advisor to see if they can be used to complete major or minor requirements.   This is a very important step, and will keep you from having to repeat courses you may have already taken. 

All major and minor requirements and all university requirements are listed in the University Catalog.    

The requirements that you have to complete are also shown on your Program Evaluation, located in your Student Center. The Program Evaluation is a very important tool that your Academic and Program Advisors will use to help you understand what you need to complete in order to graduate in a timely manner. If needed, rewatch the video on the Program Evaluation in the online tutorial. 

The easiest way to see whether Chapman has received your transcripts is to log in to your Student Center and access your “Transfer Credit Report.” This can be found on the main page of your Student Center in the drop-down menu. Please view our transfer credit report video below. You can also look at your program evaluation to see if it has been updated. 

• Incoming students: High school and college transcripts should be sent to the Office of Admission. If you took a college course to satisfy a high school requirement (dual credit), you need to order your official transcript from the college and have it sent to Chapman. College coursework listed on your high school transcript will not be granted any credit. You can find more details on submitting transcripts here. 

  • Current students: Electronic transcripts should be sent to the Office of the Registrar for articulation and processing. (Emailed transcripts should be sent to articulation@chapman.edu) 

It can take a few weeks for transcripts to be sent and processed. If you believe that they should have been updated by now, reach out to the Registrar’s office at articulation@chapman.edu.

You must order your AP Scores through College Board and send them to the Office of Admission.

You can view how AP and IB courses transfer to Chapman and the GE areas they fulfill, as well as the scores required, on Chapman’s AP site or IB site. Also watch the video below to learn more about AP and IB credit:

Generally, you should not register for any courses for which you know you received a passing AP or IB score. Once your scores are processed by Chapman you will receive the proper credit.  

Premed students should consult with their summer advisor to determine if it is recommended to enroll in Biology and Chemistry courses for which they for which they received AP credit.  Some medical schools require college level courses with a letter grade and will not accept AP credit. It is the student’s responsibility to check the requirements for the medical schools they are interested in. 

You can view all your transfer course work in your Transfer Credit Report. This can be found on the main page of your Student Center in the drop-down menu. Please view our transfer credit report video below:

This means that you are receiving Chapman credit for those courses but that we do not offer an equivalent course. 100 means the course is lower division and 300 means that the course is upper division.  

Additional information can be found at the Transfer Credit Policy and Guidelines page. 

Block scheduling is when a student is automatically pre-enrolled into a number of courses. 

To ensure incoming first-year students enroll in the courses recommended by their major degree program, most will be automatically block scheduled into a number of fall courses in May or June, prior to the open registration period in July

Watch our quick video on block scheduling!

First-year students in select majors who are entering in the fall will be block scheduled into 1-5 courses. This applies to all majors except the following, who will not be blocked scheduled into any courses:

• Accounting
• Business Administration
• Economics
• French
• Music majors
• Religious Studies
• Spanish

Undeclared students who have not joined the Exploratory Pathways Program. (Undeclared students must join the Exploratory Pathways program to be block scheduled.)

Transfer students and first-years entering in the spring are also not block scheduled.

Those who are not block scheduled should work with their Summer Advisor on selecting major-specific courses for their first semester.

If you are not currently in a major but want to change into one (including block scheduling for the major), it is possibly too late for you to be pre-registered into those courses (depending on when you change your major). 

If you are considering changing your major, feel free to discuss that with your Summer Advisor. To request a change of major, use our Request of Major for Incoming Students Form.

No. If you are 100% sure that you do not plan to keep that major, then you can drop your courses you were registered in. However, note that you cannot get back into them if you drop them. 

It is strongly advised that students remain in the original block schedules they were assigned.

If you would like to move to different sections of the courses you were registered in, you will have the opportunity to do so based on section availability when your registration opens.

However, if you drop yourself from a class that you were pre-registered into, you cannot be added back in.

You can use the First Year Recommend Courses for your Major to help you plan out what courses you should take in your first year at Chapman.  

Additionally, you can use your Program Evaluation in your Student Center to see what requirements you might have already satisfied (AP/IB or transfer credit) and what requirements you still have remaining. 

We recommend all incoming Exploratory/Undeclared students strongly consider joining the Exploratory Pathways Program. By being a part of this program, you will be able to choose a pathway and be pre-registered in specific major exploration courses.

If you do not choose to join this program, then you will need to work with your Summer Advisor individually to decide which classes to take.

Click here for more info on the Exploratory Pathways Program.

If you visit the General Education Requirements webpage, you can view the different GE categories.  

On the GE webpage you can select a GE category (e.g., Artistic Inquiry) and view the courses approved for satisfying that particular GE category. 

Keep in mind that just because a class is listed on that page doesn’t mean it will be offered every semester. To see what GE courses are being offered for the current semester, you will want to filter for GE’s when searching for your classes through your Student Center.  You do this by selecting the drop down menu for “Class Attribute” and selecting the GE category you are looking for. After you click search, the next webpage the loads will provide you with a list of courses that are approved for satisfying that particular GE category. See the pictures below for a step-by-step guide.

Go to the General Education – How it Works webpage and click on the GE Inquiry category that you think your major class might satisfy. For example, if you are a Business Administration major, you are required to take MATH 109 and this course satisfies the Quantitative GE inquiry. Students may share up to nine credits from the degree program or major with GE Shared Inquiry and Global Citizen courses. 

This depends on if you plan on being a part-time student or a full-time student. Full time status is when a student takes a minimum of 12 credits a semester. Most classes are worth 3 credits, so four classes would equal 12 credits for the semester. Incoming students are encouraged to take 12-15 credits a semester, which would equal 4-5 classes. Anything below 12 credits would be considered part-time status. Please note that the maximum number of credits you can enroll in for the semester is 18 credits (initially 17 credits maximum but system will allow 18 credits starting on July 24^th).

It is recommended that you also have backup courses in your shopping cart, just in case a course you wanted to take is waitlisted or closed by the date and time you are allowed to register.

Registration dates/times are assigned at random for incoming first-year and transfer students.  

During all subsequent registration periods after your registration as an incoming student, your registration date/time will be assigned based on your credits completed. The more credits completed, the earlier the registration time (for example, seniors register before juniors, etc.) 

No. Students register on their own in their Student Center on studentcenter.chapman.edu. 

Yes, you can continue to add classes to your schedule up through the first week of the semester. After the first week, you will need the major department’s permission to add a class (submit the permission number request form). No class may be added after the end of the second week, with the exception of internships and individual studies, which have a later date by which to register.

The last day you can make changes to your schedule is the Friday of the second week of the semester. Note that during the first week of classes you may change your schedule without needing any faculty/department approval to get into a class if you meet the requirements and pre-requisites. In the second week of classes, to add a new class, you must get approval from the major department (submit the permission number request form).

When the class capacity for a course is reached the waitlist officially begins. Waitlists work by enrolled students dropping the course, and waitlisted students moving up in the order they are assigned to the waitlist. For example, if you are number 1 on a waitlist and an enrolled student drops the course, you will then become officially enrolled in the course. Students should receive an automatic email letting them know if they’ve moved from the waitlist to being officially enrolled in the course.

If you decide to place yourself on a waitlist, know that this doesn’t mean you are officially enrolled in the course. Additionally, there is a possibility you will not move from the waitlist to being enrolled in the course. You are encouraged to enroll in open sections of a course or enroll in a backup course instead of placing yourself on multiple waitlists. If you want to place yourself on a waitlist, but aren’t sure how to do this, watch the Waitlist/SWAP video:

You can try to enroll in the same course in a section that is open, or you can enroll in a backup course that would still count towards satisfying either a GE requirement, major requirement, or minor requirement.  It is recommended that you use the SWAP feature in the registration process, so that you can be added to the course you wish if there is an opening, and automatically have this substitute course dropped. 

Please note that waitlists are generally only used up until the first day of school. Beginning the first day of the semester, if you are still waitlisted in a class you should submit a permission number request form to see if it’s possible to receive a permission number to enroll in the class. If the course is required for your major or minor, be sure to specify this when filling out the form. After submitting the form, you may also contact the Program Advisor for the major or minor.  

No, it is recommended that you keep a list of what courses you are using the SWAP feature for or you can email the Registrar’s Office at registrar@chapman.edu to obtain this information.

Check the course descriptions for additional requirements/class notes. Sometimes certain class sections are reserved for students who are declared in the major. Additionally, check to make sure that you met the prerequisites required in order to take the course.  

Another situation is if it is a class that combines two different sections.  Only the enrollment for the class section you are looking at will show, which may indicate open seats.  But the actual seat count is the total of all combined sections.   You can click on the course number for detail information that will show you the enrollment for all combined sections. 

If you have satisfied all the prerequisites/other requirements to add the course and are still experiencing issues enrolling in the course, contact the Registrar’s office for further assistance. Note that the office has limited staff available by phone, and email is the best method of contact. If you do call and are unable to reach a staff member, please listen to the entire recording.

A permission number is usually given to the student from the major department. This permission code will then allow the student to enroll in a course that they otherwise would be unable to enroll into on their own (such as a waitlisted or closed class).  

Permission numbers are usually issued only by department chairs or program directors and are primarily used for major-specific classes needed. If you are currently waitlisted in a course or want to add into a closed course, please submit a permission number request form. The major department will review your request and determine if they have the space to add you into the class. If they determine they can add you into the class, they will email you a permission number. If you do not know how to use the permission number to enroll in the course, click here.

First year students should contact their assigned Summer Advisor for assistance. 

You can refer to your Program Evaluation in your Student Center to review what categories the courses in which you have enrolled are being assigned. Most courses that you take will be used to satisfy your GE, Major, or Minor requirements.  If needed, rewatch the video on how to use your Program Evaluation in the New Student Academic Advising Tutorial.

There is a section on your Program Evaluation that says, “Other courses not being used to satisfy Major, Minor, and GE.” If one or more of the classes you enrolled in for the semester are showing up in this category on your Program Evaluation, it means that the course is not being used to satisfy a requirement in a major, minor or GE category.  The course may still be needed, however, to meet overall credit requirements to graduate (you need 120) or to satisfy upper division requirements (you need 42 overall).

It is your responsibility to check your Program Evaluation after you register to ensure that courses are showing up to fulfill the categories you are expecting them to fill. If they are not, you should contact either the Office of the Registrar or your Summer Advisor for further information. 

If you want to drop a course that you are enrolled in, you can do this in your student center. Click “Manage Classes” and select the “Drop Classes” tab. Only select the course(s) you are interested in dropping and click "Next.” You will then review the course(s) you wish to drop and click "Drop Classes" finish dropping and verify that the course was successfully dropped from your schedule.

We recommend that every student with experience in a language we offer take the placement exam unless they have already completed the requirement through AP or by showing proof of proficiency (by taking a proficiency exam) in a language other than English.  

You can learn more about language testing on our Language Placement Website.

All incoming first-year students must take a Math Assessment upon entry. Please review our Math Assessment website for all of the details.

Students who do not complete the required Math Assessment by Friday, June 16, will have a Math Hold added to their account and will not be able to register for classes.

Please visit the Math Assessment website and complete your Math Assessment to have your hold lifted. Please note that it normally takes 24-48 hours after completing the Math Assessment for the hold to be lifted.

It is likely Chapman hasn’t received your transcript, AP or IB scores yet, or the scores are still being processed. If you have already requested for your official scores to be sent to Chapman, you can check to see if they have been posted to your record by viewing your unofficial transcript in your Student Center under the Academic Records tile.  

You can contact our Office of Admission at admit@chapman.edu about the status of missing test scores and transcripts. 

If you have not requested them to be sent yet and it is at or near the June 16 deadline to test, please go ahead and take the appropriate Math Assessment.

If you do not pass the Math Assessment, but your credit from a class or AP/IB scores comes in later this summer, we will honor whichever is higher and you will not be required to complete MATH 100/101 if you have credit to fulfill the requirement.

Please ask your Summer Advisor if you have any questions.

If you are considering changing your major, feel free to discuss that with your Summer Advisor. To request a change of major, use our Request of Major for Incoming Students Form.

Students must get approval from the department chair of the major they are seeking to declare. Students can then change their major by filling out the Change of Major form (select the form that corresponds to your catalog year), obtaining the department chair’s signature, and submitting the form to the Registrar’s Office at aps@chapman.edu.

Some majors do require additional steps before you can declare the major. Visit our Change or Add Majors or Minors page for details on all majors.

Yes, you can potentially double major, but it depends on what the two majors are, how many credits they require, and scheduling classes.  Some double major combinations are not allowed because there already is too much overlap in classes to allow that combination. We recommend you review the Suggested Four Year Plans for the majors you are interested in. Note that students can enroll in a maximum of 18 credits in a fall or spring semester. 

Some programs are large and it may not be realistic to graduate on time, so be sure to research major requirements and speak with Program Advisors before double majoring.  

To declare a second major, you would follow the same process of declaring a major.  Your Program Advisors can advise you to consider the amount of time it may take for you to complete two programs, and if that leaves time for you to do other things, such as complete an internship, get an on campus job, lead a club, etc. It may be more feasible for you to pursue a minor or two minors instead. 

Every undergraduate major has a Suggested 4-year Plan so please visit the website to review the plan suggested for your major and then work with your advisor to customize the plan. 

After you plan out your major classes, you can create sample plans that incorporate a minor you might be interested in, as well as GE requirements. Note that four-year plans are always subject to change based on course availability and choices you make. 

Detailed majors and minors can be found listed on the Chapman Catalog.

We recommend you search the Chapman website (including the online Course Catalog) to find out more about the program and then contact the department or Program Advisor directly. This sequence will help you learn more about the program and hopefully help you organize questions.