Registration FAQ

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 Spring 2024, this is Thursday Feb 29 at 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 majors by 10:00am.

For Spring 2024, this is Monday Mar 4 at 10:00am.

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

For Spring 2024, this is Tuesday Mar 5 at 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.

Spring 2024 Course Descriptions are Available Now!

Most major restrictions permit all English majors to register, regardless of major focus.

However, some major restrictions are specific to Literature majors or Creative Writing majors. For example, ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, and ENG 311 are restricted to English Literature majors, and open to Creative Writing majors on the 5th day of registration.

If the course is required for your specific English major focus, you should be able to register for it.

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 ClassFinder or Timetable of Classes.

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