Registration for Mount Holyoke Spring Courses

Links to act on: New Student Orientation; Academic Guide for New Students

How to Prepare

If you have not already begun preparing for registration, please review the online materials available in the Academic Guide for New Students, which is available to you through our my.mtholyoke system. (Log in using your Mount Holyoke username and password.)

Using the Academic Guide:

• Review the advice about selecting courses. Click on each step on the left for general advice on the curriculum and course selection.

• Find links to the online placement exams you may need for math, computer science and foreign language courses.

  • Be sure to complete placement exams before you attempt to register if you are considering further study in those areas.

• Step 5 also provides resources regarding the mechanics of registration, but you may find the information in the rest of this email even more specific and helpful!
   

Reviewing and Selecting Courses

To see the schedule of courses offered, log in to my.mtholyoke.edu and select "Search for Classes" from the Self-Service Menu for students; you'll find it within the "Registration & Bill Payment" category.

You can then browse classes however you wish. Many new students find it helpful to start their browsing by selecting a subject of interest or by using the Subject/Course Level fields to select a subject of interest and specifying the 100 (Introductory) level.

Some 200-level courses may also be appropriate for new first-years if the courses don't have prerequisites or you have met the prerequisites through previous College-level study and/or one of our online placement tests.

First-year seminar

• All first-year students and all transfers/FPs entering with fewer than 28 credits must take a first-year seminar in their first semester. You will need to plan other courses around your first-year seminar commitment on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 am-11:45 am.

  • Starting Friday, Nov. 7, you can select the Class Schedule function from the my.mtholyoke Self-Service Menu for Students, then pick the Spring 2026 semester, to see your assigned first-year seminar.

Once you have located a course of interest, find out more about it:

• Course status

  • The Status column will tell you whether the course is "Open" (has seats available at present) or is already "Closed" or "Waitlisted."

    • Course statuses will change rapidly next week. But note that some introductory courses, which have "Closed" or "Waitlisted" status, are saving some additional seats for first-year students. These saved seats won't be visible/available until just before your registration time begins in mid-afternoon Thursday, Nov. 13.

      • If a course of interest to you appears full in the days or hours before your registration period starts, please check its status again once your registration time begins.

      • If the course you want remains full at that point, add yourself to its waitlist and proceed to register in an alternate available course (which, yes, can be at the same time as the course you are on the waitlist for).

    • If you have questions about how waitlists work, type "Waitlist FAQ" into the search box when you log in to my.mtholyoke.edu and select the first search result to see this helpful document.

    • You are limited to being on a maximum of six academic (non-PE waitlists) at a time. You can be on as many PE waitlists as you'd like.

• Course details

  • Click on the date range/days/times of a course to see all its details, such as:

    • The course description

    • Any prerequisites it has (courses you must take before it to be eligible)

    • Any restrictions (for example, the course may be for juniors only)

    • Any co-requisites (a course you must take and register for WITH this course — such as a lab section that may accompany a science or language course)

• Credit maximums

  • A typical program for a first-year student is the first-year seminar plus three other 4-credit academic courses and at least one Physical Education (PE) or Dance technique course.

    • 19 credits is the maximum for students in their first semester, and all students are limited to a maximum of 18 during the first week of registration.

    • Most PE courses are half-semester courses, which do not award academic credits but instead award the PE units you will need to meet the college's PE requirement.

    • Dance technique courses are full-semester courses that offer, in most cases, both academic credits and PE units.

    • You are expected to complete the PE requirement (2 PE units in total) within your first four semesters at the college. You have a higher priority to get into some PE courses earlier in your years at Mount Holyoke than later, so do start fulfilling the PE requirement in your first semester if that is at all possible.

If you have questions about course selection, you may email them to Academic Dean for New Students Kim Parent, by sending her an email with the subject line "Advising for Spring." Dean Parent can provide advice about making preliminary course selections before you meet with your academic advisor during orientation in January.
 

Preparing and Registering

Although you cannot actually register for courses before the start time of your registration date/time range next Thursday, Nov. 13, you can use my.mtholyoke.edu now to compile the online list of courses you are interested in. This functions like an online shopping cart, enabling you to return next Thursday at or after your allowed start time (but before registration ends Nov. 21 at 11:59 pm) to register much more efficiently.

1. To compile a request list after using the Search for Classes to locate classes of interest, select the "Registration" function from the Self-Service Menu for Students, pick "Search and Register for courses," find the classes you want, and then click the Select box next to each course you want on your list.

2. After your individual authorized start time, return to the "Registration" function, pick "Register for Previously Selected Courses," select the "Register" action for each course on your request list and press the Submit button.

3. The system will then check whether there is room for you in each course and whether you meet its prerequisites. The system will then show you whether your registration has been successful. 

   1. If the course is full and you are really interested in taking it, you may want to select the "Waitlist" option instead of "Register" to ask to be placed on the waitlist for that course. Please register for another open course in the meantime, in case no space develops later, that would allow you to be promoted from the waitlist into a registered spot in your preferred course.

After you register, I recommend you select the "Class Schedule" function from the my.mtholyoke Self-Service Menu and select Spring 2026, to review your schedule and make sure your registrations are complete and correct.

Check out this video on registering, made by a student! 
 

Need Help?

I hope these details are helpful to you. Registration may at first seem confusing, but we can guide you to your next steps, and it will seem more familiar soon!

• If you have any questions about the mechanics of registration, have questions about transfer credit or run into any problems using my.mtholyoke during registration, our office staff is here weekdays to help you. We are available throughout registration, Mondays through Fridays, 8:30 am-5 pm EST via email to registrar@mtholyoke.edu or via phone call to the Registrar's Office at 413-538-2025.

• If you have advising questions, email your questions to Dean Parent (title your email "Advising for Spring"). Dean Parent will respond during daytime business hours. But of course, you'll also meet with your own faculty advisor during orientation in January to review your preliminary schedule and identify if any adjustments to it will be needed during Add/Drop.

Best wishes to you!

Tara MacKay (she/her)

Acting Registrar

P.S. Please always use your MHC email address when writing to us at Mount Holyoke. Thanks!