Registration Information

Latest Registration Essential Information

June 9-17: Late registration for the short summer session
June 16: First day of classes for short summer session
June 20: Last date to withdraw from a class with a 'W' for the full summer session
June 20: Last day to apply for grade substitution
June 28: Last date to withdraw from school with a 'W' in all classes for the full summer session
July 3: Last date to withdraw from a class with a 'W' for the short summer session
July 9: Degree petitions due for December commencement
July 9-22: Phase I registration for the Fall, 2008 semester
July 13: Last date to withdraw from school with a 'W' in all classes for the short summer session
July 25: Last day of all summer classes
August 1: Commencement
August 13-22: Phase II registration for the Fall, 2008 semester
August 18: Classes begin for the Fall, 2008 semester

Click here to view the registration calendar for each semester.

Basic Registration Information

Prior to registration, the schedule of classes will appear on OSCAR. For the Spring and Fall 2007 semesters, the schedule will come out on March 21. You will be assigned a time ticket to register, which is the earliest time that you are allowed to register. These times are generally prioritized based on the number of hours that you have. Time tickets are available on OSCAR a few days before registration begins. Click here for instructions to view your time ticket.

To register for classes, follow the registration instructions on the registrar's website. If you try to register for some classes, you might get an error message. Click here for a list of common registration errors and instructions for resolving these errors.

Holds

Holds are placed on your registration and will prevent you from being able to register for classes. They are placed because there is some problem that you need to resolve. Click here for instructions to view holds. You must talk to the department which has placed the hold on your registration to have it lifted. The BME advisor can only remove BME academic holds. Financial and student health related holds must be cleared by those departments.

Permits, Overloads or Prerequisite Overrides

Sometimes when registering for a class, you might not be able to get it because it is full, you have a prerequisite problem or you need permission to take the class. These are permits, overloads and prerequisite overrides.

A permit is given for classes you are not normally required to take, or if you are not at the correct level (for example, an undergraduate taking a graduate level class). A permit is required if you get a major restriction error, class restriction error, or a level restriction error while trying to register for a class. An overload is given when a class is full and you have a close section error while trying to register for the class. A prerequisite permit is given when you either do not have all of the required prerequisites for a class, or you have transferred a course in as the prerequisite but the system can't process it correctly. You will then get a prerequisite error while trying to register for the class.

To request permits or overloads for BME classes, contact the Academic Advisor, Paul Fincannnon, paul.fincannon@bme.gatech.edu. For other permits and overloads, contact the appropriate departments from this list. After receiving the permit and/or overload, it is the student's responsibility to register, advisors do not register for the students.

If you are an undergraduate student and want to take a graduate level class, you must request a permit and a level restriction override. Click here for instructions.

Prerequisites and Prerequisites with Concurrency

Prerequisites for required classes are listed on the BME Prerequisite Chart. Prerequisites for non-BME classes can be found in OSCAR. All prerequisites with concurrency have an asterisk (*) after each class. Unless otherwise noted, you must take the prerequisites or concurrent prerequisites to ensure that you have all of the background information for the class you are going to take.

Basics of BME Curriculum

The Biomedical Engineering curriculum consists of 90 hours of required Engineering and Science Courses, 28 hours of General Education courses (24 of which are Humanity and Social Science courses) nine hours of Engineering Elective Hours and five hours of Free Electives. This brings the total hours needed to graduate with a BSBME degree to 132. Students who are pre-med need six additional hours, which essentially uses up their five free electives. As part of their Humanity and/or Social Science electives, students are required to take an Ethics class as well. Click here for the Degree Requirements and the suggested four-year schedule. Click here for the suggested pre-med schedule.

Humanities and Social Sciences

You need 12 hours of humanities and 12 hours of social sciences. For your humanities, you will need ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102, and two elective three hour classes to make up the 12 hours. For Social Sciences, you need an Economics class (either ECON 2100, ECON 2105 or ECON 2106), a History/Government class (HIST 2111, HIST 2112, POL 1101, INTA 1200 or PUBP 3000), and two elective three hour classes to complete the 12 hours. Humanities electives are found here, while Social Science electives are found here.

NOTE:* One humanity or social science elective MUST BE an Ethics class. Here is the current list of Ethics classes:

LCC 3318: Biomedicine and Culture (Humanities)
PST 3105: Ethical Theories (Humanities)
PST 3109: Ethics and Technical Professions (Humanities)
PST 3127: Science, Technology and Human Values (Humanities)
PST 4176: Environmental Ethics (Humanities)
INTA 2030: Ethics in International Affairs (Social Science)
HTS 2084: Technology and Society (Social Science)

Note #1: Effective Fall term of 2004, students can only get credit for either INTA 1200 or POL 1101.

Note #2: Students can receive credit for either ECON 2100 or ECON 2101,or for ECON 2105/2106. Students can not receive credit for ECON 2100 and ECON 2101 or for ECON 2100 and ECON 2105/2106 or for ECON 2101 and ECON 2105/2106.

Note #3: Humanities credit will only be awarded for Modern Languages 1001 classes upon successful completion of the corresponding 1002 classes. Example: Humanities credit is awarded for SPAN 1101 only upon the successful completion of SPAN 1102.

Note #4: Undergraduate Research courses numbered 2698, 2699, 4698, and 4699 cannot be used to fulfill requirements for Humanities or Social Science.

Taking Graduate Level Classes

An undergraduate student seeking to take a graduate level course must have the permission of the department teaching the course, a minimum GPA of 2.7, and be classified as a Senior. The student must have the department of instruction enter a permit on their account, and then the student should contact the Registrar's Office to request a LEVEL permit. The Registrar's Office can be contacted at comments@registrar.gatech.edu, or in room 104 of the Tech Tower. The email should include the student's full name, gtID#, and the course and CRN for which they are trying to register. Once the Registrar's Office has issued the LEVEL permit, they will instruct the student to register for the course. For information about using the credit toward a degree please, see the Graduate Course Option section of the catalog.

Dropping Classes

Students may drop and add courses during registration without any of this activity showing up on their transcripts. However, once Phase II registration ends, classes are permanently on the transcript. If a student withdraws from a class after that point, a "W" will be placed on the transcript.

Students may withdraw from a course online without penalty any time during the first eight weeks of a semester or five weeks of the summer term. The exact date of the last day that withdrawals can be accepted is published in the OSCAR and is also found in the Official School Calendar.

Numerous "W's" on a transcript can be an indication of poor planning, ineffective time management, or lack of ability to complete assigned tasks. While a random withdraw or two should not hurt, prospective employers and graduate schools will not look favorably upon a record with a pattern of frequent withdrawals. As a practical matter, withdrawal from a course may also jeopardize a student's ability to complete the Program of Study on schedule.

How to Drop a Course

Any student who wishes to drop a course must do so using the WEB Student Access System. Only options that are currently available are presented when the arrow on the "ACTION" pull down menu is clicked. The course will remain on the student's schedule with a status of "course drop by student". A grade of "W" will be assigned for the dropped course(s) at the end of the term.

1. Go to https://oscar.gatech.edu
2. Select "Student Services & Financial Aid"
3. Select "Registration"
4. Select "Add/Drop Classes"
5. Select "Term"
6. Select "Course Drop by Student" from the pull down menu
7. Select "Submit Changes" button
8. Note that the course "Status" field will then change from "**Registered** to "Course Drop by Student"

Click here to read the handbook!