Access to Courses

Courses with priorities in place tend to be higher-demand courses, i.e. more students want to register than there are spaces available.

Priorities are placed on courses to allow certain students to have better access to courses during online registration.
Students with priority access to a course can register as soon as their enrollment date arrives while students without priority access have to wait until the priority lifts (and can only register if spaces are still available).

Priorities specify that students must be registered in one (or more) of the following to have access:

• a degree type (e.g. priority to students in BMSc degrees)
• a "program" (e.g. priority to students in Medical Sciences 1 or 2)
• a type of module (e.g. priority to students in Honours Specialization modules)
• a specific module (e.g. priority to students in a Major in Physiology)
• a year(s) (e.g. priority to students in Years 3 and 4)
• a combination of some of the above (e.g. priority to students in Years 3 and 4 of modules in Microbiology and Immunology)

Most courses offered by the basic medical science departments have priorities in place for Fall/Winter registration - see the links for each department.
Summer offerings of most basic medical science courses, e.g. Anatomy and Cell Biology 3309 does not have priorities in place (anyone with the prerequisite can register).

Courses offered by other faculties, e.g. Biology courses or Psychology courses, indicate whether or not a priority (or restriction) is in place in the Notes beside each course in the Fall/Winter Academic Timetable. If the note is blank, there is no priority or restriction in place.

Restrictions are placed on courses to allow only certain students to have access throughout the entire online registration period.
Requests for special permission to register in basic medical science courses that have a restriction in place are not approved.

This error message pops up when your attempt to register in a course is prevented because you either do not have priority access to the course OR the spaces allotted to students in your module have been filled. 

You are encouraged to register in an alternative course but join the wait list for the course you would like to get into and choose to swap out this alternative course when you join the wait list.

See information about wait lists on the Office of the Registrar's webpage "Register in Courses".

Most basic medical science departments reserve spaces in the 4000-level courses offered by their department. These departments almost always give the best access to their 4000-level courses to students registered in Honours Specialization modules offered by their department, followed by students registered in Majors offered by their department.

For students registered in Majors, those registered in Honours degrees containing Double Majors may have better access than students registered in a Major (whether in addition to an Honours Specialization module or in addition to another Major in a non-honours degree, etc.).

Posting of the spaces reserved in 4000-level basic medical science courses has become increasingly complex, particularly as the size of the Year 4 BMSc class has increased. The BMSUE Program Committee (which includes the undergraduate chairs from all basic medical science departments) has agreed that this information can no longer be made available to students.

If you find a document on the internet, then please note that it is no longer valid.