Advising and Academic Services
Incoming students will register on either APA Day (Academic Planning and Advising) or STAR Day (Students in Transition Advising and Registration Day). For current students, registration occurs during the designated period before the semester begins, based on the number of degree credits earned, excluding current courses in progress. During this period, there's an 18-credit restriction. The Add/Drop Period commences at the start of the semester, during which students can register for up to 20.5 credits.
Transfer and AP courses CANNOT be used to meet the Contemporary Challenges (CCO/CCD) or Writing and Communication with Revision (WCr) learning goals. These learning goals must be satisfied by taking Rutgers University-New Brunswick courses.
Transfer courses that have been evaluated by the cognate department at Rutgers and determined to be the exact equivalent of Rutgers University-New Brunswick courses certified to meet the NS, HST, SCL, AH, WCd, QQ, or QR goals may be used to meet Core Curriculum learning goals.
Full-time students normally declare their major in the second semester of their second year, although some majors encourage students to declare even earlier in order to facilitate the planning needed for an appropriate sequence of the courses required to complete the major within four years. Please note that first year students are eligible to declare after their semester. Declaration is done by submitting a major/minor declaration form, available online at mymajor.sas.rutgers.edu. Some academic departments may have prerequisites and/or require approval by an advisor. Students who have not declared their major and minor by the second semester of their third year may not be able to complete all requirements and, thus, not graduate on time.
Students should take anywhere from 14-16 credits each semester. Courses can range from 1-4.5 credit hours, so you may see a different number of classes on your schedule than you expected. There are a few reasons a preferred course is not on your schedule: a time conflict with another requested course, it was closed at the time of your registration, or you are not eligible to take the course. If you would like to add a different course and you meet the placement/prerequisite requirements due to a second attempt on the math placement test, you can adjust your schedule as soon as you can see your updated placements on Degree Navigator. Otherwise, you can adjust your schedule at any point this summer through the end of the add/drop period. First-year students should remain in 14-16 total credits for their first semester. Learning about the available course options for this semester is a great way to familiarize yourself with the Schedule of Classes, which is the university's full list of courses offered in a particular term.
A 17 credit course load is likely too demanding for your first semester. Aim to take 14-16 credits in your first semester at Rutgers. You can decide which course(s) to keep and which to drop during the add/drop period using WebReg. If you have questions about your credit totals, reach out to an advisor on Live Chat (link can be found in your post APA email).
Your academic and career interests, along with your course requests guide the hand-schedule creation process. Your selections may not have been available due to time conflicts, placement requirements, prerequisites, or other reasons. In response, a First-Year Dean used their knowledge of the Arts & Sciences curriculum alongside the information you provided about your academic interests to ensure that you remain on track to meet degree requirements with the most appropriate courses. Remember, all classes you complete at Rutgers are a part of your degree--whether they are for your major, minor, SAS Core Curriculum, or elective credits.
Note: If you are a member of a Living Learning Community or other special population of students, you may have been registered for a required course that you did not request, such as the RU-1st seminar or a Topics course. You must keep this course.
Byrne Seminars can be found in WebReg or on the Schedule of Classes via a Keyword Search: 090:101. Find your section, then review the section notes to see the topic. If you didn't get a Byrne Seminar: Byrne Seminars are tremendously popular and not all requests could be accommodated this fall semester. Some excellent seminars may still be available for the fall; you can add them after receiving your schedule if you choose. There will be additional Byrne Seminars available in the spring for any students who missed an opportunity to register in the fall. Visit the Byrne Seminar website for more information.
FIGS courses can be found on WebReg or on the Schedule of Classes via a Keyword Search: 090:120; find your section then review the section notes to see the topic. If you didn't get a FIGS: Due to limited space and overwhelming demand, not all FIGS requests could be accommodated. FIGS courses start the week of September 11, so you can try to add a preferred (open) section between now and the end of the add/drop period.
We also encourage you to visit the Involvement and Community section of success.rutgers.edu to explore different ways to learn about your areas of interest and possible majors by getting involved on campus.
In some cases this may be an issue of course availability, but in other cases it is because of a placement or prerequisite issue. Please see the First-Year canvas page for information on the prerequisite placement and/or co-requisite course requirements for these courses. NOTE: If you took the Math placement test only once, you still have time to complete the customized prep and learning modules and take the test a second time. Most students improve their placement on the second attempt, so you may become eligible for one of these courses by improving your Math placement result. Take the test a second time as soon as you are able. Placement tests will close around the start of the semester, so do not delay taking any necessary tests.
Please also note that the General Biology and General Chemistry sequence are each comprised of two semesters of lecture and one semester of lab. The labs (General Biology 01:119:117 and Intro to Experimentation 01:160:171) can be taken with, or after, the second semester of lecture. They are not taken in the first semester.
Yes, and no. The writing course on your schedule is based on the results of your English placement exam and all students placed into a writing course other than College Writing must have that course on their schedule during their first semester here at Rutgers. All writing placements are checked by a writing sample completed in the first week of the class. If you are concerned about your placement, please submit that writing sample and discuss your concerns with your instructor. Writing courses cannot be dropped, but you can switch sections by adding a different section of the same course on WebReg.
If you placed into College Writing and do not see this course on your schedule: Don't panic. College Writing can be completed during the second semester of your first year at Rutgers.
Once you have a schedule, you can make adjustments using the WebReg system. You should have a balanced schedule of courses for major and minor exploration, SAS Core requirements, and general elective credits. You should not drop any courses related to your major or minor; you can change sections, but dropping required courses for your major could impact your degree progress. If you have specific questions about your unique situation or need assistance with scheduling adjustments, please refer back to your post APA email for more information. Once the add/drop period ends, we invite you to schedule an advising appointment to discuss your short and long-term academic goals with an Academic Advisor.
Please review our AP evaluation widget on your Rutgers Dashboard. If you notice something is missing, then we have likely not received your AP scores. Please contact the College Board to have your scores sent to us electronically. The Rutgers CEEB code is 002765.
If we have awarded your AP credits and the course is still on your schedule, you can adjust your registration to include an alternate course. Additionally, if you are receiving an error message when attempting to make a change to your schedule due to AP credit, reach out to an advisor on Live Chat (link can be found in your post APA email).
These "codes" are place-holders to remind students to complete their Rutgers placement tests. 355:005 indicates that the English placement test needs to be completed while 640:005 indicates that a student needs to complete the math placement test. Math and English placement tests are required for students to remain enrolled at SAS. All other 005 codes correspond to world languages. Visit the Testing & Placement site for more information about completing any missing placement tests. If you have AP or SAT scores that exempt you from English or math placement testing, please email for more information.
If you've already had an official transcript sent to Rutgers, please review the Transfer Credit Evaluation site to see if we’ve completed an evaluation.
If you have not yet had a transcript sent, be sure to have the credit-granting college or university you attended send a transcript directly to:
SAS Office of Advising and Academic Services
54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue
Lucy Stone Hall A-216
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Some schools offer the option to send official transcripts electronically. This is the preferred method. First year students opting for electronic delivery of their transcript can have them sent to for processing and evaluation. Transfer students opting for electronic delivery of their transcript can have them sent to for processing and evaluation.
We happily accept AP scores of 4’s or 5’s. If you have received a 4 or 5 on your AP exams, you may send them directly to Rutgers via College Board. We do not accept scores listed on other transcripts. You will need to send us your original score report. AP scores are evaluated by the First-Year Advising Staff. They will be updated on your transcript if you are eligible to receive credit.
Please note, these credits will update on your Rutgers transcript but will NOT appear on your Transfer Evaluation Summary Report.
For information on housing at Rutgers, please visit the Residence Life website.
