Registration FAQ

On This Page

  • Major Restrictions
  • Course Prerequisites
  • General University Requirements
  • Class Status

Questions about Registration? We're here to help!

For general registration questions, check out Western's Registrar's Office FAQ.

To find out when you register, check out the Registration Schedule.

If you still have questions about registering for English courses, please reach out to english@wwu.edu.

If you have questions about English major declaration, please reach out to Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Elle Starr, at Elle.Starr@wwu.edu.

 

English Major Restrictions

The English Department restricts most 300-level and 400-level classes to majors at the beginning of registration. This gives our majors the ability to register for the classes they need to graduate.   

On the 3rd day of registration, major restrictions are lifted for ENG 301, ENG 302, ENG 371, ENG 401, ENG 402, 442, and ENG 462 by 4:30pm.

          For Winter 2025, this is Thursday Nov 14 by 4:30pm.

On the 5th day of registration, ENG 418 opens to Literature juniors. ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, and ENG 311 open to Creative Writing and Film Studies majors by 10:00am.

          For Winter 2025, this is Monday Nov 18 by 10:00am.

On the 6th day of registration, all restrictions are lifted by 10:00 a.m.

          For Winter 2025, this is Tuesday Nov 19 by 10:00am.

Restrictions are never lifted from ENG 441, ENG 443, ENG 444 or from 500-level graduate courses.

If you have questions regarding when restrictions lift from a specific course, please look up that course on the English Department's course descriptions page. New course descriptions are posted on the English Department home page under the "Quick Links" menu approximately two weeks in advance of registration.
 

Major restrictions correspond to specific English Major Emphases. This means that if the course is required for your specific English Emphasis, you should be able to register for the course. 

Some exceptions include:

Literature Seminars (ENG 307-ENG 311): Literature Seminars are restricted to Literature Emphasis and Teaching Endorsement majors for the first five days of registration. Restrictions lift for Creative Writing Emphasis and Film Studies Emphasis majors on the 5th day of registration at 10:00am.  

Upper-division Creative Writing workshops (beyond ENG 350: Intro to Creative Writing) are restricted to English Creative Writing Emphasis majors until restrictions are lifted on the 6th day of registration.  

No. The only English minor that grants access to major-restricted classes is the Professional Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacies Minor.

Students in the English Minor, Creative Writing Minor, Film Studies Minor, and Women's Literature Minor must wait to register for classes until major restrictions are removed and the classes are open to all students. 

More information is available on our English Minors page
 

English Department advisors and faculty do not provide special access to major-restricted courses while major restrictions are in place. Major restrictions exist to ensure that English majors have an opportunity to register for classes they need to graduate.

Students who are not majoring in English have the opportunity to register and waitlist for major-restricted courses once major restrictions are removed and classes are open for general registration.

Even after major restrictions are lifted, course prerequisites need to be met before a student is able to register for a course. View prerequisites using Browse Classes or ClassFinder.

Major restrictions are removed manually, so you may be experiencing a short delay. Please try registering in another minute or two. If it has been more than 10 minutes since major restrictions have lifted, and you still can’t register for a class, please email English@wwu.edu for assistance.

 

Course Prerequisites

A prerequisite is a requirement or course that must be completed with a C- or better before taking another course. View prerequisites using ClassFinder or Timetable of Classes

It's important to be aware of prerequisites in your English major or minor and to plan accordingly in order to avoid roadblocks that delay graduation.

You can look up past courses and grades on Degree Works and on your Unofficial Transcript.

Yes! Transfer Year Equivalency (TYE) courses are equivalent to ENG 202. If you take a TYE course and pass with a C- or above, you should be able to register for courses that list ENG 202 as a prerequisite. 

If you have any trouble registering for courses that list ENG 202 as a prerequisite, please reach out to English@wwu.edu to troubleshoot. 

No. A course and its listed prerequisite course(s) may not be taken concurrently.

For example: You cannot register for ENG 350 (Intro to Creative Writing) and ENG 351 (Intro to Fiction) in the same quarter, since ENG 350 is listed as a prerequisite for ENG 351. You must register for ENG 350 before you can register for ENG 351 the following quarter.

Please check out Western's Registration Policies here! 

General University Requirements (GURs) and the English Department

Yes! If you are working on completing your general university requirements (GURs), you could consider taking a GUR course in the English Department. The English Department offers several courses with GUR attributes. All GUR courses can be searched using ClassFinder. Some examples include: 

ACOM attribute

  • ENG 101 - Writing your way through WWU

BCOM attribute

  • ENG 202 - Writing About Literature

CCOM attribute

  • ENG 201 - Writing in Humanities
  • ENG 203 - Introduction to Writing for Public and Professional Audiences

Humanities (HUM) attribute

  • ENG 214 - Shakespeare
  • ENG 215 - British Literature
  • ENG 216 - American Literature
  • ENG 238 - Society Through Its Literature
  • ENG 282 - Global Literatures
  • ENG 332 - Literature and Philosophy
  • ENG 339 - Mythology and Literature

ACGM attribute

  • ENG 345 - Film and Media Across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America
  • ENG 335 - Literary and Creative Expressions Across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America
  • ENG 336 - Scriptural Literatures

BCGM attribute

  • ENG 227 - Queer Literature
  • ENG 234 - African-American Literature
  • ENG 235 - Native and Indigenous Literatures of North America
  • ENG 236 - Asian-American Literatures
  • ENG 239 - Latina/o Literatures
  • ENG 334 - Literary and Creative Expression Across North America and Europe
  • ENG 338 - Women and Literature in North America and Europe
  • ENG 344 - Film and Media Across North America and Europe

Yes!

The English Department offers several Writing Proficiency courses. Learn more about the Writing Proficiency Requirements at Western on the University Catalog. 

You can look up courses with Writing Proficiency points using Classfinder and searching under "Other Attributes."

Some of the English Department's Writing Proficiency Point courses include: 

  • ENG 401 (WP3) Writing Studies & Rhetoric
  • ENG 406 (WP3) Critical Theory
  • ENG 408 (WP3) Cultural Studies
  • ENG 410 (WP3) Lit Hist.
  • ENG 415 (WP3) Natl Lits
  • ENG 418 (WP3) Senior Seminar
  • ENG 423 (WP3) Maj Auth
  • ENG 427 (WP3) Queer Studies
  • ENG 442 (WP3) Studies in Literacy
  • ENG 464 (WP3) Film Studies

ENG 101 Writing your way through WWU fulfills an ACOM requirement in the General University Requirements. You can see whether or not your need to fulfill your ACOM requirement by viewing Degree Works.

More information on ENG 101 is available on our First Year Writing @ WWU website. Please check it out if you have any questions about ENG 101.

Class Status

Class status ranges from First-Year, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior, and is determined by your total completed credits. You can learn more about class status on the Registrar's Office website on Credits and Class Status.

Your class status and total completed credits impact when you can register. More information is available on the Registration Schedule.  

For pedagogical reasons, some courses are restricted by class or total credits completed. Class restrictions can be viewed on Timetable of Classes.

Some English courses require that you be at Junior or Senior status before you can register. Some of these English courses include:

ENG 302 Technical Writing - Requires Junior status or above

ENG 418 Senior Seminar - Requires Senior status for the first few days of registration, and may eventually open to Juniors.