

Course Planning:
If you are unsure what courses you need to take in order to fulfill your degree requirements, run your Academic Progress Report.
June 20: Clear all outstanding debts to the University
Check your Finances in the SOLUS Student Centre to ensure that you do not have any outstanding debts. You will not be able to enrol in classes unless your debts are cleared.
June 26: Class Timetable available on SOLUS
The class timetable lists all of the classes that will be offered in the Fall and Winter Terms along with the class meeting times. Not every course listed in the Arts and Science Calendar is offered every year so be sure to check the timetable.
July 17: View your Enrolment Appointment Time in SOLUS
All students are given an Enrolment Appointment Time to begin enrolling in classes. Enrolment Appointment Times are randomly generated according to your level at the University. Enrolment Appointment Times cannot be changed.
HINT: If you do not have access to a computer when your Enrolment Appointment Time begins, you can call us once your appointment time begins and we can assist you. Or, you can have a friend or family member access SOLUS and enrol in your classes for you. Remember, your Enrolment Appointment Time cannot be changed.
July 17: Begin loading courses into your shopping cart
HINT: Before leaving your shopping cart be sure to click the Validate button. This will check to see that you meet the requirements (prerequisites, etc.) for the classes that you have chosen. It will also check to make sure that you do not have any timetable conflicts. If you need an override on a class you must contact the department offering the class to obtain a permission number.
July 24-31: Finish Enrolling in your classes in SOLUS
When your Enrolment Appointment Time begins, access the SOLUS Student Centre to Finish Enrolling in your classes. If there is space available in the classes that you have selected you will be enrolled in those classes.
You are not enrolled in your classes until you complete this step!
August 1: Registration Pause Day
No enrolment can be done on this day. Academic advising and phone lines will be open.
August 2-6: Enrolment Restrictions are removed and your 2nd Enrolment Appointment begins at 8:00 am EDT
Some departments may put restrictions on classes in order to ensure that the students who need those classes receive priority. If you were unable to add a class due to an enrolment restriction, you may be able to enrol in that class when your second enrolment appointment begins at 8:00am EDT.
An option to be added to a Wait List for a class that is full is available on most classes. To find out more information on wait lists, please visit the Course Wait Lists FAQs below.
August 7-20: Registration Hiatus
August 21: Open Enrolment Begins
During open enrolment you may make changes to your classes. You can now be on two waitlists. Note: you can't waitlist full-year courses.
September 5: Classes Begin
September 30: Tuition and Student Activity Levy is due for Fall courses.
Access your student financial information in the SOLUS Student Centre to view your tuition payment. Tuition and SLA is due on September 30 for your Fall term courses. For information on tuition payment methods please visit the Office of the University Registrar.
Financial Drop Deadlines
The financial deadline is the final date to drop a course and receive a full tuition refund. Should you drop a course after the financial deadline but before the academic deadline, you may receive a partial tuition refund. Any refund will be credited back to your student account. Refund cheques can be requested through the Office of the University Registrar.
Please NOTE International Students are no longer required to pre-register in UHIP during this timeframe. Your UHIP enrolment will occur automatically based on your registration with Queen’s and the UHIP fee for single coverage will be applied directly to your SOLUS account. If you have dependents (spouse or children) residing with you in Ontario, then you must visit the International Centre to include these members on your UHIP plan within the first 30 days or a $500 penalty will apply.
Go to SOLUS and click on the Manage Classes tile, click Enrolment Dates from the navigation bar then the correct term and Continue
You will see an appointment for the shopping cart feature as well as your Enrolment Appointment time and the open enrolment period when course registration becomes available to every student. Reserved seats usually become available during Open Enrolment.
When does course registration start?
First year arts students: July 24
First year science students: July 25
Fourth year students: July 26
Third year students: July 27
Second year students: July 28
All non-degree students: July 31
You can check your enrolment appointment in SOLUS on the right-hand side of the page.
Where do I find courses I need for my degree?
The best way to figure this out is to run your Academic Progress report in SOLUS. Need help interpreting it? Watch our How to Read and Understand Your Academic Progress Report video.
How many courses am I allowed to take?
We recommend that students take 15.0 units per term, but students can add up to 18.0 units in courses per term. If you would like to take more, please email asc.studentservices@queensu.ca and explain why you would like to take more than 18.0 units. We will review it on a case-by-case basis.
I can see that the course has seats, but when I add it, I receive a message that I can’t enrol because it’s not available for my Program/Plan. Why?
We have reserved seats in many courses for those students who need them to graduate or progress their Plan. If you would like to get into these courses, put yourself on the waitlist and then once the reserves come down, if there are still seats, then you will be automatically added to the class. These seats remain reserved until August 1; after which, they’ll become available to all students who meet the prerequisite for the course(s).
Example: ECON 241 is fully reserved for students who are in an Economics plan because they may need that course as a requirement to graduate. If you meet the prerequisites for this course but not the reserves, you can put yourself on the waitlist and may be enrolled if there are seats available when the reserves expire on August 1.
Is this an undergraduate online course? Certain seats in these classes are reserved exclusively for Arts and Science Online students until the first day of classes in each term.
How do I find courses that are offered online?
Perform a search via the Class Search and Enrol feature then select the Undergraduate Online filter on the left-hand side.
If I’m in a full-year course, do the meetings have to be the same time each semester?
Yes, full-year courses need to be the same time each semester.
What do people mean when they say west campus?
Classes held at Duncan McArthur Hall are located a 15-20 minute walk or a short bus ride away from main campus. Many large lectures are held at Duncan McArthur but be careful not to schedule classes here back-to-back with classes in other buildings. You won’t be able to make it for the beginning of your next class!
How do I find out the prerequisites for a course I want to take?
There are two ways to find the prerequisites for a course:
Search the Class Descriptions section of the Academic Calendar.
Perform a search via the Class Search and Enrol feature, select the class you’re interested in, then click the lecture link then enrolment information.
What is the Academic Calendar?
The Academic Calendar is a document that contains information on all the admission and academic regulations, program and plan requirements, course descriptions, and more!
When can I add a 6th class?
Beginning August 22, you can add a 6th class to your schedule each term. Please note classes you are on the waitlist for do count towards your term unit totals. This is a firm deadline and no one will be allowed into a 6th class prior to August 22.
How long will I have to add classes?
The last day to add a class is September 18 for Fall 2023 and full-year courses, and January 19 for Winter 2024 courses.
If I drop a Fall term class, will I still receive a tuition refund?
Yes. You have until September 18th to drop a class and receive a full tuition refund.
When is the last day to drop a Fall term or full year class?
The last day to drop a Fall 2023 course without financial penalty is September 18. The last day to drop a Fall 2023 course without academic penalty is October 30.
When is the last day to drop a Winter term course?
The last day to drop a Winter 2024 course without financial penalty is January 19. The last day to drop a Winter 2024 course without academic penalty is March 1.
How do I contact the course instructor or Department?
You can find the email address for your instructors and the Undergraduate Staff through the Departmental websites.
All of the classes I need to take this year are full. What should I do?
Call the Faculty Office at 613-533-2470 and we can put you in touch with an Academic Advisor to assist you with course mapping and academic planning, or you can email your Department directly for advice.
All single term Arts and Science classes will be set up with wait lists. Multi-term, full year (A/B) courses cannot be set up with wait lists. The wait list option gives you an opportunity to join a wait list for a class that is full.
By adding yourself to a class wait list, you are acknowledging that you may be auto-enrolled and will therefore be responsible for the additional tuition and for dropping the class if you no longer wish to take it.
How does the wait list work?
Once a class is closed (full), students may choose to join the wait list for the class. When searching for classes in SOLUS, you must deselect the box labelled: “Show Open Classes Only”. If the class is open, you will see a green circle. If the class is full and there is space available on the wait list, you will see an orange triangle. If the class is full and all spaces on the wait list are full, you will see a blue square.
When you choose to join a wait list you will be informed of your position on the wait list. Once a wait list has been initiated, the class will remain closed until the auto-enrol process is run. The auto-enrol process will be run every hour and will check for space in classes that have wait lists. If there is space in the class, the next person on the wait list will be enrolled in the class.
NOTE: A student’s position on the wait list will not change unless a student with a lower wait list number is auto-enrolled in the course or removes him/herself from the wait list. Therefore one student cannot normally move ahead of another student on the wait list.
If a space opens in the class I am wait listed for, how am I moved from the wait list into the class?
Students are auto-enrolled from the wait list into the class by their priority ranking in the wait list. For example, if a class is full and 3 students drop the class, students in wait list positions numbers 1, 2 and 3 will be auto-enrolled from the wait list if there are no factors preventing their enrolment. The student who was previously ranked number 4 will then be ranked number 1, and will be the next student auto-enrolled if another enrolled student drops the class. This process will continue until the wait list is empty or the deadline to add a class has occurred.
How do wait lists work when there are seats reserved for students in particular programs/plans?
When seats are reserved in a particular class, it means that the department wants to ensure that the students who require that class get priority. You may still wait list for the class, but priority will be given to the students who meet the reserve up until the reserve expires.
Do online classes have wait lists?
Yes! All single term online classes have been set up with wait lists. If the class you are trying to enrol in is full, you can choose to join the wait list. Keep in mind, though, that we do hold some spaces for Distance career students so they may get priority up until the first day of class.
I see that there is a space available in the class, but the class is still showing as closed. Why?
When there are students on a wait list for a class, that class will remain closed until all of the students have been moved from the wait list into the class. In other words, when there are students on the wait list, another student cannot bypass the wait list and enrol in the class if they see that a space has become available.
How many spots are there on the wait list?
Generally, 10% of the class capacity has been set aside for wait list spots. So, if the maximum capacity in the class is 100, there will be 10 wait list spots available.
Can I go on a wait list for a class that meets at the same time as another class that I am enrolled in?
SOLUS will allow you to go on a wait list for a class that is in conflict with an enrolled class, but you will never be enrolled into the class even if space opens up. SOLUS will not enrol you in a conflict. If your plan is to drop the conflicting class in place of the wait listed class, be sure to use the “SWAP” function when you add yourself to the wait list for the desired class. By using the swap function, SOLUS will add you to the wait listed course when a space becomes available and also drop you from the class you choose to swap.
I want to switch my lab/tutorial for a class I am enrolled in but the lab/tutorial is full. Can I wait list for the one I want?
If you are enrolled in a class and use the EDIT function to switch to a section where the waitlist is active, you will LOSE YOUR SPACE IN THE CLASS! If the lab or tutorial you want is full and there is a wait list, SOLUS will drop you from the class and add you to the wait list for both the lecture and the lab/tutorial. Before choosing to EDIT or SWAP, it is a good idea to make sure that the lectures, labs, tutorials are open.
How do I know where I am on the wait list?
When you choose to be added to a wait list you will be informed of your position on the wait list. You can check your position on the list at any time in SOLUS. If you decide that you no longer want to be wait listed for the course, you can remove yourself from the wait list in SOLUS.
What are my chances of getting into the wait listed class?
That will depend on your position on the wait list and whether or not students enrolled in the class decide to drop the class.
How will I know if I have been enrolled in the class I wait listed for?
Once you are successfully enrolled into the class, you will receive an email sent to your @queensu.ca email account.
If I don’t get in the class, will I just stay on the wait list forever?
Class wait lists will be purged following the last date to add a class in the term in which the course is offered.
What would prevent me from getting on a wait list?
I am number one on the wait list and a spot opened up in the class but I didn’t get in. How come?
If any of the following scenarios have changed since you were added to the wait list, you will not be auto-enrolled in the class even though a space is now available:
Also, keep in mind that all components of the course must be open in order for you to be enrolled. If your wait listed class has a lecture and a lab, both of these components must be open in order for you to be enrolled from the wait list.
If none of the items above applies to you, please contact the Faculty Office for assistance.
TIPS:
How many classes can I be on a wait list for?
During the summer course registration period, full-time students may wait list in a maximum of 4.5 units per term. During this time period wait listed courses are included in your maximum term load of 16.5 units per term. Part-time students may wait list for a maximum of 4.5 units per term. During this time period wait listed courses are included in your maximum term load of 9.0 units per term.
During the Open Enrolment period, full-time students may wait list for a maximum of 6.0 units per term. During this time period, wait listed courses are included in your maximum term load of 18.0 units per term.
TIP! If you wish to enrol in the maximum units per term but also want to be on a wait list for another class, you must use the SWAP feature when joining a wait list. Indicate which class you would like to be dropped if you are auto-enrolled from the wait list. If you simply ADD the wait listed class you will never come off the wait list because that would exceed your term limit.
Understanding SOLUS tutorials and screenshots
Enrolment, tuition payment, and student card info
Guide to Registration and Fees
Incoming First-Years – Artsci handbook, course list, registration dates
Course reserves for Distance Students will be lifted on Sept. 12th for Fall and Fall-Winter courses, and on Jan. 9th for Winter courses
To plan or not to plan? That is the question.
The answer is: NOT TO PLAN! When preparing for registration in SOLUS, you should be using your Shopping Cart, not your Planner. The planner database shows every course that has ever been offered at Queen's, and many of these courses are now obsolete; may have a different course code and may not even be offered this coming year! This can be very confusing if you're trying to search for a class on SOLUS. The shopping cart, on the other hand, allows you to add classes that have been confirmed for the next academic year.
So next time you login to SOLUS, use the Class Search and Enrol button and choose classes to add to your Shopping Cart. Once you've filled your shopping cart, you just need to log back in when your enrolment appointment opens up and click enrol.
Happy enrolment!
If you're adding a full-year course to your Shopping Cart, you may notice that the first part of the course, the "A" portion, is listed as having no units, while the "B" portion in the Winter term has 6.0 units. This is because you will not get credit for the course until you have completed the entirety of the course. So not to worry if you see zero units in the Fall term; you'll be given full credit for the course once you complete it in the Winter term.
When adding the B portion of a full-year course to your Winter Shopping Cart, make sure that the section numbers correspond to the section numbers you added to your Fall Shopping Cart. For example if you put CHEM 112A-002 in the Fall, you should have CHEM 112B-002 in the Winter. SOLUS will not allow you to mix and match sections when you enrol. If you are a full-year student, you should be aiming for 30.0 units for the year (5 courses each term).
Are you trying to register for an online course, but getting an error saying that the seats are “reserved for students in other programs”?
If so, that is because all of the remaining seats in these courses are being held for students enrolled in a Distance Career. This restriction will be removed on the first day of the applicable term and you may enrol in these courses at that time provided there is still space available.
If there is space on the waitlist, add yourself to it and you may be enrolled once these restrictions are lifted on the first day of classes.
The Academic Progress Report (APR) is designed to give you advice on what courses you will need to complete your degree, and warn you if you have broken any of the various rules that govern which courses may be used in a particular degree program. While the APR is a useful guide, the ultimate authority on all academic requirements in the Faculty of Arts and Science is the Arts and Science Calendar. If there is a discrepancy, the online Calendar requirements take precedence. An APR may be run through SOLUS, and it is highly recommended that all upper year students run a report at least once a year, before course selection. You should also run a report before applying to graduate. The APR has been designed to closely parallel the layout of the plan requirements section of the Calendar, so it may be useful to review these requirements before you run your APR.
HINT: Before running your APR, be sure to remove all courses from your shopping cart and planner. Otherwise, you may get false results.
All Degree Programs in Arts and Science require a certain number of units to complete the degree. These include both electives and the specific requirements of the Plan(s) in which you are registered. The section labeled Unit Counts does just that: it counts all the units successfully completed towards your degree. Once you have completed enough units, you have satisfied one of the requirements of your Degree Program. Note that in addition to a sufficient number of courses, you must also maintain a minimum cumulative GPA to graduate: 1.60 for General degrees, and 1.90 for Honours Degrees. The cumulative GPA may be determined by reviewing your academic record on SOLUS.
All students are registered in a Plan, which is defined as a set of courses focusing on a particular subject. First year students either enter a plan directly, (Music, Music Theatre, Kinesiology, and Life Science) or declare their major at the end of first year. All other students are registered in one or more Plans which have specific academic requirements.
To review your Plan requirements, first look up your Plan in the Arts and Science Academic Calendar. You will see that the Plan requirements in the Calendar are laid out in the same format as within the Academic Progress Report.
The APR's most important job is to help you make sense of these requirements, and to plan your course selection accordingly. The following links explain the various components of the Plan requirements.
The Plan GPA is the GPA on all courses used to fulfill the Plan requirements. As courses are used to fill in the requirements, the Plan GPA is updated. Unlike the cumulative GPA, failures are not included in the Plan GPA since a failed course cannot be used to fulfill a Plan requirement. A minimum Plan GPA of 1.90 is required for Specialization, Major and Joint Honours Plans. A minimum Plan GPA of 1.60 is required for Minor and General Plans. If the GPA on the courses being used to fulfill Plan requirements fall below these minimum values, you will not be able to graduate.
Core courses are those for which there is little or no choice in what must be taken. Core requirements are usually listed by increasing year level, though in a few Plans requirements are grouped by a certain theme or subject. When planning courses, students should try to select all those core courses required at a particular year level.
Option courses provide students with more choice, by offering a broad range of courses. For example, any HIST course at the 300-level. Option courses are usually listed by increasing year level or grouped by a particular theme or subject. Students usually have some flexibility when choosing their options – they can skip ahead to a higher year level (assuming they hold the right prerequisites!) or delay taking a lower year level option to later years. Nonetheless, students should review their option requirements closely and plan their course selections accordingly. Please note, first year students are given priority for first year courses.
In some Plans, there are Option Lists: sets of options, only one of which is required in order to complete the Plan. In the APR, all possible Option Lists are indicated by title. If a course fulfills the requirements of more than one Option List, it will appear in both. Once all the requirements of one Option List are fulfilled, all the remaining Option Lists disappear from the APR.
Supporting Courses
Supporting courses are those in a subject different from that of the Plan but which are required prerequisites for upper year courses.; An example would be a calculus course in a Physics Plan. Supporting courses only appear in some Plans – usually those in the Sciences, and in Economics. Supporting courses are usually at the 100-level and are often taken in a student’s first year. Supporting courses in one Plan which appear in the Core or Options portion of a second Plan in which a student is registered will count towards both requirements. Thus, if you are in a Major-Minor Plan combination, you may find that some supporting course requirements listed in the calendar have been removed from your APR.
The Option requirements in many Plans contain lists of courses that are too long to write out in full on the Advisement Report. Instead, these Course Lists are written out in short form, consisting of the Department code followed by a description. For example, HIST_Canadian is a list of all courses that satisfy the Canadian History requirements of a History Plan. The detailed Course List is published in the Arts and Science Academic Calendar.
There are several different types of warnings, but all of them mean that some of the courses that the Academic Advisement Report is counting towards your Program and/or Plan requirements are invalid. You will have to look carefully at your Program and Plan to identify the faulty courses and choose a different course(s) to replace them; otherwise, you will not be able to graduate. You may also wish to seek academic advice from your department or Student Services to ensure that you will be able to complete your Program/Plan requirements.
An exclusion is a set of two or more courses where both may not count towards the requirements of your degree. Students are not normally permitted to register in a course that excludes one they currently hold, so this warning should not occur that often. However, under certain circumstances departments may authorize an override of an exclusion and allow the student to register, on the understanding that both courses are not allowed to count. This can occur in cases where the student has changed Plans and needs the excluded course as a prerequisite.
If an exclusion warning appears, first check the course(s) that are excluded. Usually, the exclusion appears as “No more than 3.0 [or 6.0] units from [List of courses]”. The extra courses are still being counted in the Program unit count extra electives must be taken to make up the deficiency. If both excluded courses also appear in the Plan requirements, you will have to use other courses to meet that requirement.
You may also wish to seek academic advice from your department or Student Services.
This sort of warning does not usually occur unless a student transferred from another Faculty or School to Arts and Science, or holds a large number of transfer credits from other institutions (TR on the transcript).
This warning applies to students who have completed more courses of a specified type than are permitted in their Arts and Science program. Some of the maximums set are: 24.0 units in COMM; 24.0 units in ARTF (except for BFA students); and varying numbers of courses with TR grades (transfer credit), depending on the Program. See Academic Regulation 16 for specifics regarding transfer credits. Although the warning draws attention to the fact that the maximum has been surpassed, it does not exclude the extra courses from being used to satisfy the total unit count. Since the extra courses will still be counted in your Program unit count it is your responsibility to review your record and take extra electives to make up the deficiency. You may also wish to seek academic advice from your department or Student Services.
Note that this warning appears even if you have already completed additional courses to make up the deficiency. In this case, if you identify which of the courses in excess of the maximum you do not intend to use in your program they can be excluded by student exception and the warning can be removed.
The Option Requirements of many Plans in Arts and Science allow you to substitute courses from outside the discipline. For example, the Department of History allows you to use certain Classical Studies courses as substitutions for their upper-year History options. These options usually appear on a Course List. However, only a limited number of substitutions are usually allowed. If you receive this warning, it means you’ve exceeded this limit.
The courses listed in the warning may still be used towards the elective component (total unit count) of your degree, but you will have to choose one or more further courses within the discipline to use towards your Plan requirements. You may also wish to seek academic advice from your department.
Note that this warning appears even if you have already completed courses such that no more than the maximum will be used in your Plan. If you identify which of the courses in excess of the maximum you intend to use as electives only they can be excluded from the Plan by student exception and the warning can be removed.
Some Plans contain secondary requirements that are shared with the Core, Option and Supporting courses. Such a requirement appears under "Part 6. Notes" in the Plans portion of the Arts and Science Academic Calendar. For example, the History Major Plan requires the student to take 6.0 units from a course in Canadian History as one of their Core or Supporting courses. Similarly, a few Programs also have minimum requirements. For example, the BSc and BCmp Programs require that 48.0 of the 90.0 total unit count be chosen from courses in the Sciences or Mathematics.
Once the Other Requirements are fulfilled, this message will disappear from the report and the student need not be further concerned with it.
Not sure what courses you need to take to meet your degree requirements? Start by running your Academic Progress Report (APR) in SOLUS.
Not sure how to interpret your report? View our Step-by-Step Guide: How to Read and Understand Your Academic Progress Report, or watch the tutorial below.
The Faculty of Arts and Science is excited to announce the launch of its new digital Academic Calendar. Please see here for previous archived calendars.
Looking for cool electives? Check these out!
BLCK200: Black Studies and the Politics of Liberation
DRAM 235: Stand-Up Comedy
HIST 223: Poison and Prejudice: Toxins in Global History
MUSC 271: Introduction to Hip Hop
IDIS 199: The Science of Mental Health, Well-Being and Resiliency
In order to encourage students to explore subject matter outside their program of study and to promote interdisciplinary study, all upper-year Arts and Science students will be permitted to designate up to 6.0 units of degree-credit courses for pass/fail grading, thereby minimizing any risk to the students’ GPA. Such courses designated for pass/fail grading will be referred to as Personal Interest Credits (PICs).
Need help regarding using SOLUS? Visit the SOLUS Student Guide on the OUR website.