Find information below on registering for classes.
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Registration
At the start of each term, students confirm their enrollment eligibility. Incoming first-term students are assigned four courses and may not elect other classes or change class assignments among these four classes. Continuing students bid for courses during specified periods in the fall and spring using YLS:Courses and may make adjustments to their pre-enrollment schedules in the Yale Hub during the add/drop period, the first week of each term.
Course Selection and Registration
Overview
You are responsible for understanding the course selection and registration processes. Please read this information carefully.
You will have two opportunities to select courses and finalize your schedule each term:
During the law school early preference period prior to each term (October for the Spring Term and June for the Fall Term), you will bid for limited enrollment and experiential courses and put in your preferences for open enrollment and permission of instructor courses. You will also submit any required materials. Early preference course selections will be made via YLS:Courses. No late bids or changes will be permitted.
During the open add/drop period, occurring the first week of each term, you may adjust your non-limited enrollment courses in Yale Hub.
You must be enrolled in 12-16 units by the end of the add/drop period for each term (even though the computer may allocate you up to 20 units!).
You must follow all deadlines or you will miss the opportunity to bid for limited enrollment courses.
Law School Course Information and Selection
It is your responsibility to research and review course requirements. You may do so on YLS:Courses at http://courses.law.yale.edu/. YLS:Courses is the official source for course information.
From the main menu, click on “Courses” for more information for that term. Updated exam information will be available via the appropriate exam schedule links on this site. The Change Log lists courses with updated information, including recently added and/or canceled courses.
Other resources: Course evaluations, Coker fellows, deans advisors, peer advocates, and other students, the Clinical Student Board Guide to Clinics.
Early Preference Period Course Registration via YLS:Courses
Limited Enrollment Course Registration
Limited Enrollment Course Bidding will be done online during a specified period prior to the start of each term.
You may indicate up to five course bids: one first, one second, and three third choices. Students are allocated courses on the basis of the bids they express. Anyone listing a course as a third choice will not be selected before those listing it as a higher choice; likewise, no one listing a course as a second choice will be selected before those listing it as a first choice. Where the default procedure does not yield the appropriate number of students for the course, the computer program gives preference to students in their last year at the law school and thereafter chooses randomly.
Some courses may have both restricted enrollment and permission of instructor requirements. It is your responsibility to know which courses have special registration requirements; this information is posted on YLS:Courses with the course description information.
If you are admitted to a limited enrollment course and decide to drop the course, you must inform both the instructor and the Law School registrar’s office.
Permission of Instructor Course Selection
Permission of the Instructor Course Selections should be done online during the same period prior to the start of each term. Although these bids are not ranked, you may indicate your relative interest by listing these courses in your order of preference.
Your course selections will be provided to the professor, but you may still have to receive his/her permission for successful enrollment in the course.
If a course requires additional submitted materials, please make sure they are uploaded on time to YLS:Courses. It is your responsibility to know which courses have special application requirements; this information is posted on YLS:Courses with the course description information.
If you are admitted to a permission of instructor course and decide to drop the course, you must inform both the instructor and the Law School registrar’s office.
Experiential Course Selection
Experiential course selections should be done online during the same period prior to the start of each term. These bids are ranked. If no additional application materials are required, seats will be allocated based on ranked bid. When the course is overbid at the highest rank, seats will be allocated first to students in their final year at the law school within that rank, and then randomly until all seats are filled.
If the instructor requires application materials, he or she may or may not take the ranks into consideration in determining which students are accepted in the course. Please make sure application materials are uploaded on time on YLS:Courses. It is your responsibility to know which courses have special registration requirements; this information is posted on YLS:Courses with the course description information.
Some of the experiential courses, especially live-client clinics, require accepted students to commit to the clinic before classes begin and possibly before students learn the other courses to which they have been accepted. These courses generally may not be dropped after the commitment is made.
Instructors will be given presumptive acceptance lists and will notify the Registrar's Office of any adjustments before results are released to students.
If you are admitted to an experiential course and decide to drop the course, you must inform both the instructor and the Law School registrar’s office.
Open Enrollment Course Selection
Open Enrollment Course Selections should be done online during the same period prior to the start of each term. These bids are ranked according to your relative interest.
Some open enrollment courses may be capped.
If a class is over-subscribed, priority will be given to students in their last year at the law school.
Courses without announced caps have a maximum enrollment of 150, the capacity of the largest YLS classroom.
You may enroll in open enrollment courses in Yale Hub during the open add/drop period according to availability.
Early Preference Period Course Allocations Are Based on Your Selections
The computer program will add courses to your schedule in the following order:
Limited enrollment courses in which you have been accepted.
Permission of the instructor courses in which you have indicated an interest and for which the instructor has either admitted you or informed the registrar that all interested may be enrolled.
Experiential courses in which you have been accepted.
Open enrollment courses will be thereafter added up to a maximum of 20 units. The computer will give priority to students in their final year for these courses, within the preference ranks.
Note: The system does not consider time conflicts when allocating courses, which means that you could be allocated two courses with overlapping meeting times. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not have courses with overlapping meeting times on your schedule by the end of the open add/drop period.
Waiting lists: If a class is over-subscribed, a waiting list will be automatically generated based on ranked preferences and year in law school.
Your course selection results will be available online at YLS:Courses before the open add/drop period. If you wish to drop a class prior to the add/drop period, you may do so by emailing registrar.law@yale.edu.
Open Add/Drop Course Registration in the Yale Hub During the First Week of the Term (https://yub.yale.edu)
Any limited enrollment courses that you were allocated as well as all selected general enrollment and instructor permission courses will be put into your registration record in the Hub. You may be enrolled in up to 20 units at this point – it is your responsibility to ensure that you have a course load of 12-16 units by the add/drop deadline.
You may add any courses with space or drop any courses that you have been allocated during the first week of the term. You should also register for all journals, student-managed programs, or supervised research/reading courses during this time.
If you are admitted to a limited or permission of instructor course and decide to drop the course, you must inform both the instructor and the Law School registrar’s office.
Waiting lists: With the exception of experiential courses as well as some limited enrollment and permission of instructor courses, waitlists are maintained by the registrar’s office. If a place becomes available for you, you will receive an email inviting you to participate in the course. You will have 24 hours to respond to that email or the place will be offered to the next person on the list.
You may not have courses with overlapping meeting times on your schedule by the end of the add/drop period.
Note: Yale Hub will not allow you to add more than one reading group or supervised research course. To add a second reading group, use an online Add Form. To add a second section of supervised research, submit the Supervised Research form.
Supervised Research/Reading Course Registration
Please speak with the faculty member before selecting a Supervised Research course. More information on Supervised Research/Reading may be found here.
To take Supervised Research, select LAW 40001 and the specific section for an individual faculty member that is listed on the Hub > Law School open add/drop. You must then complete a Supervised Research Form, which will need approval from the Law School faculty member you selected and the Registrar’s Office.
The credits will only appear as 0 units until you have the completed form has been processed. We will increase the units as appropriate and put the title of your research on your transcript. There is no fee to increase units or change/add titles, as long as the supervised research course already appears on your transcript.
To take Supervised Reading, complete the Supervised Reading form, which needs the same approvals as above.
Taking Non-Law Courses
- Courses outside the Law School may be added during add/drop at the start of the term. If you add the course on Yale Hub during add/drop, the credits will only appear as 0 units until you have filed the completed form and the request is approved.
- To take a course outside the Law School, you must fill in a Course Outside Law School Form. The form includes uploading a copy of the syllabus for the course and the course description and permission from the instructor and a sponsoring Law School professor. The form will then be routed to the Registrar's Office for unit assessment and final approval. We will then put the units and title of the course on your schedule.
- You may enroll in no more than one outside course in any one term.
- No more than 12 units of outside work may be counted toward the J.D. (6 units for the L.L.M. degree) and a maximum of 6 units of foreign language.
- Please note that other Yale schools may have specific requirements for gaining permission to enroll (especially SOM). You are responsible for acquainting yourself with the other school’s requirements. Also, the academic calendar for other schools differs from that of the Law School, particularly in the spring term.
- Courses outside the Law School are graded on the Law School grading scale and are graded (e.g. Honors, Pass, Low Pass). Grade mode changes and late change of schedule fees follow the same procedures as Law courses.
- More information about cross-registration may be found on the University Registrar's website.
Information for Non-Law Yale Students
Non-Law Yale students may register for Law courses with the permission of the instructor during the add/drop period. Please note the Law School calendar may be different from that of other professional schools. Non-Law students may enroll in one LAW course per semester. For courses with waiting lists, Law School students are given preference as seats become available during add/drop. Some law courses may be open for browsing on Canvas at the beginning of the term at https://browse.law.yale.edu/.
Graduate/Professional Students: Complete the Request to Take a Law School Course form. The form will be routed to the instructor of the course, and your school’s registrar before being returned to the YLS Registrar's Office for approval. Once approved, we will send the form to your school’s registrar who will enroll you in the course.
Yale College students: Complete the Request to Enroll in a Yale Professional School Course. The Yale College Registrar’s Office will enroll you if your request is approved.
Submission of the request form confirms you understand the following policies:
• If I decide to drop the course, I will obtain permission from the instructor and inform the Law School registrar’s office. If an examination is required in the course, no drop forms will be accepted once the examination period has begun.
• I must file any necessary forms with my school’s registrar by the stated deadlines for my school. My school will determine fees for dropping courses.
• My school registrar and residential college dean will determine whether I may take this course for credit and my school registrar will determine the number of credits that I may earn for the course.
• The Law School’s calendar may differ from my school’s calendar; exams may be held after the end of my school’s term; grades may not be available by the deadline for my school.
• The schedule of class meetings, the administration of the final examination for the course, the course requirements, and the submission of final grades follow the Law School rules, calendar and deadlines, and are not subject to change to accommodate my school’s rules or calendar.