New Students

Welcome to Grinnell!

We want your first semester to be a positive experience. These tips will help get you off to a great start.

  1. Login to Colleague Self-Service to acknowledge your required agreements. Arrival on campus is accepted through the Arrival Confirmation Agreement, and the Financial Agreement acknowledges any financial obligations.
  2. Clear any holds on your account. To view your holds online, log into the Colleague Self-Service portal. Holds are listed in the top right-hand corner.
    • Holds may be placed by the Office of Student Accounts, Student Health and Wellness, Financial Aid, or Registrar and must be cleared before you will be allowed to register for classes.
    • If you have a hold, please visit that office immediately.
    • Clear your holds early! The lines to the student accounts and financial offices can be long.
    • You can visit these offices on Friday, Aug. 18; Monday, Aug. 21; or Tuesday, Aug. 22; from 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
  3. Review the New Student Registration Card. When you meet with your adviser you will work together to complete the actual card that you will submit as your final registration.

The Registration Process

With your adviser, you will fill out the New Student Registration Card. On the first line of each round, you should put the courses you most want to take in order of priority. (Do not use the fourth round unless you are not assigned a tutorial.) Then on the next lines of each round you should put courses that you would be willing to take as alternatives to your first choice in that round. (Try to ensure that your alternatives in round #1 do not create schedule conflicts with your first choice in round #2 or #3.)

One of your selections for each round will be one of your three courses (in addition to the tutorial). Therefore, the courses you list in each round should be ones that you would be willing to have as alternatives or back-ups to your first choice in that round. This enables you to select alternative courses that contribute similar breadth to your liberal arts program (for example, a natural science or a foreign language) or allow you to pursue a similar schedule of courses.

Before you meet with your adviser, consider your goals, priorities, and criteria for each round. You have the best chance of getting your first choice listed in round one. Your adviser will help you weigh your interest in the subject, your overall educational goals, and availability of positions in the course.

After you turn in the card, the Registrar’s office will enter all selections from the cards using the following process:

  • On Aug. 22 and according to a random selection, every student will be placed in a single course before any student is registered for a second course.
  • In the interest of fairness, the placement order will be reversed for the second round and reshuffled for subsequent rounds.
  • Registration will continue until every student has been registered for 3 or 4 courses. This will be accomplished by submitting a registration card of a priority list of courses for 3 to 4 rounds of registrations.
  • Registration begins with round 1 and course number 1. Once a student is placed in a course for round 1, other choices in that round will be ignored.**
  • Course preferences for the next round will be selected from courses identified in the round 2 section of the card followed by those listed in the round 3 section of the card.
  • For students without a tutorial, an additional course will be entered from round 4 so that every student who wishes may have four courses.

There are no guarantees, but in prior years nearly 90% of students received their first-choice course in the first round and around 85% received their first-choice course in the second round. In the third round more than 70% of students received one of their first three class choices.

**Please note that if nothing is available in a round, we will put in your first available choice for the next round. Remember courses can be changed during the drop/add period.

Registration Days

Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 21 and 22

After you have met with your tutorial adviser and your adviser has signed your card, bring the registration card and the New/Transfer Student Emergency Contact/Language Fluency form to the Registrar’s Office in the John Chrystal Center.

The card must be turned in no later than 3:45 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 22.

Any student who fails to submit a card by 3:45 p.m. will have to add classes when the drop/add process begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 23, in the Harris Center.

Your Schedule

As soon as registration is completed at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23, your schedule will be released and will be viewable via your Colleague Self-Service, Student Planning. Your schedule will reflect the courses that were available at the time your card was processed. If there are any errors, you should visit the Registrar’s Office immediately.

Post-Registration Forum

3–4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23

The tutorial instructors will be available in the Harris Center between 3–4 p.m. so registered students can make any necessary adjustments in their schedule. Drop/add forms will be available in Harris for the Forum only and must be turned in before you leave the Harris Center and no later than 4 p.m.; all add/drops will be done via Colleague Self-Service beginning at 7 p.m. The last day to add or drop a class will be Friday, Sept. 8.

Registration Card

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