How to Change College Courses

In college, the first week of every new semester determines your course schedule. Normally, students seek an adviser to plan the right schedule according to their major, but you also use a degree audit or transcript to see what courses you need to take to fulfill a major. If you get into a class with a teacher who has a different teaching style or you find the topic not to your liking, then you will want to change the courses as quickly as possible to avoid penalties.

Online

Log on to college's website for course schedules and student account management. Find the course add and drop application on the sidebar under course registration. At college orientation, you normally learn your log-in and password information for the registration website.

Click on the link to view your schedule. Click the class you want to change. Drop the class by removing it from your schedule.

Look up the catalog number for the class you want to add. Alternatively, college websites often include a class search that lets you add a class by selecting it from a list of classes.

Type in the course information into the add class box. The college course information include the three letter class description such as "ENG" for English or "AMH" for American History, followed by numbers.

Click the add button to finish changing courses.

Manually

Go to your school's registrar office or the department offering the course and ask for a change of schedule form or registration drop/add form.

Fill in the fields for your name, student identification number and course description numbers. You need the three-letter course description code, such as ENG for English or BIO for Biology and the course numbers. Write in the course description for the class you want to drop, then write in the course description for the course you want to add.

Submit the completed form to the registrar or department offering the course, according to the directions on the form.