Enrollment

Add/drop Deadline

The deadline to add or drop a course is the end of the second week of the semester for full term courses. Check out the NYU Shanghai academic calendar for add/drop deadlines for full term, first 7-week, and second 7-week courses.

If you drop a course before the add/drop deadline, the course will not appear on your transcript.

Credits Minimums/Maximums

Fall/Spring Semester: Students are recommended to take 16-18 credits per semester. If you would like to take more than 18 credits, you would need to meet with your academic advisor and request credit overload.

Winter Term (J-term): Students can take up to 4 credits for J-term.

Summer Term: Students can take up to up to 8 credits per summer session. Summer Term typically has two sessions, therefore students can take a maximum of 16 credits during the summer.

Check the Bills, Payments and Refunds website for tuition fees information.

Enrollment FAQs

I am trying to register but I have a hold on my account. What does that mean and who can remove it?

The University blocks registration for students who are not in compliance with certain regulations (i.e., state immunization regulations, outstanding tuition balance, etc). Students may view all holds by checking the “Holds” tab in their Student Center on Albert. If a hold appears, click on “Details” and follow the instructions provided to resolve. Otherwise, you will not be able to register.

If your hold reads “Advisor Clearance Hold”, this means you need to meet with your Academic Advisor.

Waitlist

You are more likely to get enrolled in the course if you are on waitlist position 1 or 2, but unlikely if you are on position 10 for a small seminar class. So be realistic! If there are many students on the waitlist before you, it might be difficult for you to get into that course. We highly recommend students to enroll in their back-up course(s) first and then set up an edit swap for their preferred courses.

Edit Swap: Edit-swap is a function that the Albert system will enroll you in the set-up courses automatically if the seats are available and no time conflicts on your schedule.

Add a course after the first lecture but before add/drop deadline

Students are often still working to finalize their schedule after the first few days of instruction. As the semester progresses, you may decide you do not wish to keep a course on your schedule and find yourself looking for a replacement.

Just because you can add a course before the add/drop deadline does not mean you should do so. If you are considering adding a course that you have not been attending since the first day of instruction, consider the following and discuss with the instructor:

  • How many weeks of instruction have you missed?
  • How many readings, assignments, and/or quizzes have you missed? How likely is it that you will be able to catch up?
  • What is the attendance policy of the class?
Can I add a course(s) after the add/drop deadline?

Adding a course after the deadline is usually only permitted when changing levels within the same discipline (e.g., from CHIN-SHU 101 to CHIN-SHU 201, or from Calculus to Precalculus) and with the written approval of the instructor. 

Albert Registration Cheat Sheet

If you run into the following error message(s) on Albert during the registration, you may check the Albert Registration Cheat Sheet and find your solutions! 

Error Messages: Hold on Record, Prerequisite Errors, Time Conflicts, Reserved Capacity Errors, Department Consent, Class is Full, Class is Full and the Wait List is Full, Instructor Consent.