Enrollment Limit and Waitlist

Enrollment Limit for Spring 2021

All undergraduate students will have an initial unit limit of 17 units. Graduating seniors who applied by October 5, 2020, will have their enrollment limit raised to 19 units on Tuesday, December 29, 2020. These students may submit the excess units petition to register up to 21 units. 

Continuing undergraduate students in good standing with a cumulative SJSU GPA of 2.0 or higher may register for up to 19 units without a petition beginning Friday, January 15, 2021. Those who want to enroll up to 21 units can file an excess units petition.

Graduate students will have the enrollment limit of 16 units throughout the advance registration period.  If you need over 16 units limit, submit the excess petition which is available at the Graduate Admission & Program Evaluation (GAPE) website.

Enrollment Limit Chart for Undergraduate Students

*Excess Units Petition required to raise the enrollment limit above 19 units, and up to 21 units. This petition will be available on Registrar's Forms page beginning January 4, 2021.

Waitlist for Spring 2021

The waitlist policy provides students with a process to help them enroll in a class that is full, if seats become available.

New for Spring 2021: Automated process for waitlists will run from January 27 through February 4th (11:59 p.m.) for most classes. Waitlist will be reorganized to give priority to graduating seniors who have applied for graduation. Students on the waitlist will be automatically added to a class if a seat becomes available, up to the enrollment cap. Starting February 5, all students will need a permission code to add a class.

The waitlist process will enroll students on a first come first serve basis if seats become available, and if the student meets the prerequisite requirements for the course. Note, if a student has already registered for another section of the same course, the student will not be added to the class unless they first drop the enrolled section of the course. Per University Policy F20-1 [pdf], seniors who have applied to graduate in Spring, Summer, or Fall 2021 will be given priority on waitlists.

See SJSU catalog for assistance with:

• Signing up for waitlist
• Issues that prevent you from being enrolled
• Billing information

Undergraduate Students

During the first three weeks of the advance registration, students are limited to 5 waitlist units. Starting November 16, the Variable Waitlist Unit Limit will apply.   

The Variable Waitlist Unit Limit defines the available units a student can waitlist at a given time. It is equal to 17 minus the number of Enrolled Units. Here is the formula:

Variable Waitlist Unit Limit = 17 minus Enrolled Units

Waitlist units formula remains at 17 despite the raise of enrollment limits or approved of excess units petition.

The system will refresh the student’s enrollment on a nightly basis. See table below for an example of the nightly changes on the variable waitlist:

*The available waitlist units will remain at 5 once your enrollment has reached 12 or more units.

Graduate Students

Waitlist is limited to 5 units for the entire advance registration period.