Permissions

When navigating through the enrollment process at UW–Madison — enrolling in a class, making changes (like drop) to your class schedule, or withdrawing from school for a semester — you may first need to get permission from a campus official.

Department permission     Instructor consent     Academic Dean approval     Late initial enrollment

Department Permission

When do you need department permission

Departments/programs manage the enrollment in their courses. You may need to receive department permission:

• to enroll in a class closed to non-majors;
• to enroll in a class when your previous courses don’t exactly meet the requisites;
• to add a class after the deadline to do so has passed;
• and many other situations.

Find department contact info in Course Search & Enroll

Departments display their contact information for permission requests in the “Subject Notes” area of the main course panel.

When you’ve received instructions that you need to get department permission to enroll in a class or to make changes to your existing classes, this list can help you find the right contact person. UW departments and programs manage the courses offered in the different curricular subject areas.

Bonus feature: select the link in the “Course Search & Enroll” column to open a new browser window; then select the search magnifying glass symbol to display that subject area’s classes (requires a UW netID). Other valuable contact information for this subject area may be displayed in the “Subject Notes” and “Class Notes” fields for the class.

[Departments and programs can send updates and corrections to Paul Oshefsky, Office of the Registrar. An official list of all subject areas is here.]

Instructor Consent

Some courses will include “consent of instructor” (or similar) as a requisite, or requirement that needs to be met before you can enroll in the class. If so, contact the instructor listed for the class to request permission to enroll.

The best place to find requisites in Course Search & Enroll is the “Section Information” field in the section details panel, as that will include requirements set for the entire course and also any that are specific to a section. The “Prerequisites” field shows the requirements for the entire course.

Finding instructor contact info

Select the name of the instructor in the section detail panel.

In the pop-up window, the instructor’s email address will appear.

TIP: When you contact an instructor by email, send the email from your wisc.edu account, include your campus ID number. You may be asked for more information about your qualifications and interest in the class.

If the instructor approves you for the class, consider contacting the department to ensure your permission is in the system.

You still need to enroll in the class! Go to Course Search & Enroll to enroll. Get in touch with the person (instructor or someone in the department) who gave you permission if you still have problems enrolling in the class.

Academic Dean Approval

Students work with the academic dean’s office in their school/college in certain circumstances related to enrollment actions.

Approval from academic deans isn’t typically required when initially enrolling in a class. However, students who want to add or drop a class late in the semester, or withdraw from UW–Madison for a term, will consult with their academic dean’s office, who will ensure that the student gets the advice, planning, and support they need.

Academic dean’s contact information