University of Wisconsin–Madison

Post-Enrollment Requisite Check (PERC)

The Post-Enrollment Requisite Check (PERC) is a process that departments can opt in to in order to help enforce enrollment requirements that were in progress at the time a student enrolled. Confirming that students have met enrollment requirements helps ensure they are making successful degree progress and enrolling in appropriate courses.

About Requisites

A requisite is the academic preparation required of all students to be successful in a course. Requisites can take the form of a prerequisite (completed prior to the start of the course) or co-requisite (taken concurrently with the course). Students who enroll for a future course while a requisite is in-progress will be conditionally enrolled. This means that enrollment is allowed in the future course under the expectation that the current course will be successfully completed.

For example, if a student is currently enrolled in Math 112 during the Fall term and enrolls in Math 113 for the Spring term, they would be enrolling under the condition that they successfully complete Math 112, which is the pre-requisite for Math 113. The in-progress course can provisionally be used to meet a requisite at the time of enrollment.

Resources

PERC Contact List (Spring 2026)

If you have questions about your enrollment after being contacted during the Warn process, do NOT reach out to the Office of the Registrar. Instead, find the departmental contacts below:

Departmental Review period for Spring 2026: January 6 – January 13

Action taken for dropped students: January 14, 2026

FAQs

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You are enrolled for a course in the upcoming semester but may not have completed the requirements. The department is reviewing your enrollment during a period of time (usually 9 days) and will make a decision to either allow you to remain enrolled or drop you from the course. If you believe you have received this email in error or wish to discuss your status, use the PERC Contact List on this page to contact the appropriate representative.

To complete a requisite, all factors must be satisfied. The most common examples of not completing a requisite are receiving a grade of I (incomplete), NW (no work), or F (failure). If you received a grade of I or NW, it is likely that you still need to complete the coursework, take an exam, or turn in an assignment in order to receive a final grade in the course. If you failed the necessary course, this means you have not satisfied the requisite and are not properly prepared to remain enrolled in your planned course.

Some examples of requisites:

  • UW–Madison courses (e.g., Spanish 101)
  • Transfer courses that are equivalent to the UW–Madison course
  • Student groups (e.g., a Residential Learning or Theme Community or First-Year Interest Group (FIG))
  • Specific academic program(s) such as major(s), certificate(s), minor(s), honors program(s), and named option(s) (e.g., Declared in Art History major)
  • Class standing (e.g., Sophomore [or higher] as determined by credits)
  • Grade in a course (e.g., Must earn a grade of C or better in Chemistry 343 in order to enroll in Chemistry 345)
  • Advanced Placement scores
  • UW Placement test scores (e.g., If Math 112 is a requisite, students who are exempt from Math 112 because of their placement test score have met the requisite)

If you have not completed a requisite and are enrolled for a course that requires completion of the requisite, a department may choose to evaluate your enrollment during our review window prior to the start of the semester. This is typically evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The department will make a decision to either  allow you to remain enrolled, or to drop you from the future course.

You will receive a decision via email at the end of the review period. If you have not completed a requisite and are dropped from a course you are enrolled in for the next semester, you have several options:

  1. Choose another course to enroll in, especially if you plan to maintain full-time enrollment and getting dropped puts you under the full-time threshold (12 credits for undergraduates).
  2. Retake/re-enroll in the course that was not successfully completed, if it is a requisite for a future needed course. This may be the best option if you need to earn a certain grade in a course in order to enroll for another.
  3. Leave your schedule as-is.

These are a few of your options, but there may be others that are better suited to your individual situation. Students are strongly encouraged to meet with their academic advisor to discuss their courses and make a plan.

No. If you are dropped from the course as a result of PERC, the course will be removed from your schedule prior to the beginning of the semester, and there will be no record of the drop on your transcript.

If you believe you received the email in error and are prepared to take the course, contact the designated representative in the PERC Contact List on this page as soon as possible. It’s also recommended that you check in with your advisor.

You are able to adjust your schedule as you like, and you can choose to drop the class on your own and/or replace it with a different course.

If you received an email warning you that you may be dropped, but you did not receive a second email indicating that you were dropped, the department has chosen to allow you to remain enrolled in the future course. You should confirm your enrollment in Course Search & Enroll to make sure that your schedule hasn’t changed. Depending on your individual situation, it’s recommended to check in with your advisor about your upcoming classes, especially if you are concerned about your academic preparedness for the course in question.

Non-undergraduates who receive a PERC email should reach out to the appropriate departmental contact listed on this page about the PERC process. Graduate students, special/guest students, and law/medicine/other professional students sometimes enroll in undergraduate courses that participate in PERC, and the PERC process can vary slightly for such students.