New Students

Western Student Experience offers NEW students 1-1 Course Advising to help prepare Main campus students for their first year of study (excludes Engineering). You are strongly encouraged to participate in 1-1 Course Advising. It is a free virtual program to assist incoming students with their course selection, help answer questions about programs and services on campus and support you in feeling confident to thrive during your time at Western.

Students newly admitted to an Affiliated University College (King’s or Huron) can participate in academic orientation options at their respective campuses. 

Feel confident starting at Western by participating in Western Launch, including free summer transition programs, designed to help you thrive in first year.

• Overnight Experience
  • Visit Western’s campus to meet fellow students in your program and discover your individual strengths. Overnight options are available!
• LinCS
  • The LinCS program supports incoming international undergraduate students in becoming university-level writers prior to beginning Western University.
• SmartStart: Learning
  • Develop the skills to tackle university learning.
• SmartStart: Academics
  • Catch up on foundational math, science, writing and research concepts that you will use in your first-year classes.
• Faculty Fridays
  • Faculty Fridays are faculty-specific orientation days focused on supporting you in your academic transition into university life. Get to know your faculty supports, meet other first year students from your program, and learn more about what to expect when classes begin in the fall.

Use Draft My Schedule  to help you build an individual conflict-free class schedule.

Log into Student Center or Draft My Schedule.

Note: This tool does not import your course selections into your Student Center.  It allows you to create and play with your preferred timetable in order to prepare for course registration in Student Center.

The Western Academic Calendar is your reference for academic information, including:

First Year Courses

For a complete list of First Year courses at Western, See the Courses page in the Academic Calendar and filter for 1000-1999 level courses. Not all courses listed in the Academic Calendar are offered each Fall/Winter session.

Main Campus Residency Guidelines

If you are a Main Campus student, you:

• cannot enrol in an Affiliated University College course if the same course is also taught at Main Campus;
• cannot enrol in more than 1.0 course per session at an Affiliated University College

If you are a part-time student, and are taking only one course, you cannot take the course at an Affiliated University College.

Exceptions

1. First Year students who are taking Social Work 1025A/B and Social Work 1026A/B in partial fulfilment of the admission requirements for the Social Work program.
2. In September, you may ask the Dean's Office of your Faculty for special permission that grants you an exception to this regulation. 

Course Suffixes

See Course Suffixes in the Academic Calendar for a full explanation of courses suffixes, their corresponding course weights and when they may be offered (e.g. A, B, E, F, G).

Course Selection Tips:

Be strategic in selecting your first-year courses to ensure you will meet future course and module/program requirements.

• Pay Attention to Course Requirements such as prerequisites and antirequisites listed in course descriptions.
  The order of when you take courses can impact your access to courses (i.e. prerequisites) and course credit (i.e. antirequisites).
  • Compare antirequisite information of all your course selections
  • Keep track of antirequisites so you do not risk losing credit for a course
• Access to Courses: There may be extra enrollment conditions that restrict or delay your access to register in courses. These conditions are referred to as enrollment constraints. Refer to the Notes section in Draft My Schedule or when registering for a course to review the enrollment conditions for the course. 
  
  Refer to the Enrollment Conditions/Enrollment Constraints section on the Register in Fall/Winter Courses section for more details.
  
• First Year Requirements: See Breadth Requirements for Bachelor Degrees in the Western Academic Calendar for an explanation of the First Year Program as well as overall Breadth Requirements necessary for Graduation.
• Essay v. Non-Essay courses: As part of your eventual graduation requirements, you will also be required to take essay courses. See Graduation Requirements for Essay course requirements for the degree.
• Module/Program requirements (admission, course, and progression): Now that you know generally what you need to take in first year, review Modules and Programs offered at Western to narrow down the courses you will need to take as part of their admission requirements.

Course registration is completed in Student Center.

To register in courses, you will need an enrollment appointment. Approximately 2 to 3 days before your enrollment start date, an email will be sent to your Western email account about your enrollment appointment time. You can view your enrollment appointment time via Student Center. Go to Academics > Course Registration > Enrollment Appointments.

Fall/Winter 2025-2026 enrollment appointment start dates for Year 1 students will occur between
June 23 and June 27

Your enrollment appointment time is the earliest date and time you can access course registration. Until this date/time is reached, you will not be able to register in courses in Student Center.

After your enrollment appointment begins, you can continue to register in courses until the end of the Fall/Winter course registration period (last day to add a course). 

You are strongly encouraged to participate in 1-1 Course Adivisng. It is a free virtual program to assist incoming students with their course selection, help answer questions about programs and services on campus, and support you in feeling confident to thrive during your time at Western.

Course registration occurs over three enrollment periods for Fall/Winter. While you may register in courses in all three periods, the enrollment conditions for courses may differ in each period.

1. Priority Enrollment Period
2. Adjustment Enrollment Period
3. General Enrollment Period

Refer to the Register in Fall/Winter Courses - Register in Courses section for details on these enrollment periods and for dates that the course registration system will not be available.

For important academic dates, including add and drop deadlines, refer to the Sessional Dates in the Western Academic Calendar.

If you need to drop a course after the last day to withdraw, you can use a course change form. Consult your Faculty Academic Counselling Office for more information.

Refer to Register in Fall/Winter Courses - Register in Courses - Add/Drop Dates for details on what will be appear on your transcript in relation to each drop deadline.