October 31 Deadline for Expanded Course Descriptions

[If you are teaching in Yale College in Spring 2024, please make sure that you Expanded Course Descriptions is posted to Canvas no later than October 31, 2023, so that students can register for their Spring 2024 courses. The registration timeline for Spring 2024 courses can be found below.]

To: Instructors of Spring 2024 courses
Cc: Department and Program Registrars, FAS Dean’s Office, Yale College Dean’s Office, GSAS Dean’s Office, SEAS Dean’s Office, Provost’s Office, President’s Office, Registrar’s Office, Poorvu Center

Dear colleagues,

We are writing today to call your attention to important registration deadlines for faculty members who are teaching in Spring 2024. If you are teaching undergraduate courses in Yale College in Spring 2024, the deadline to post your expanded course description to Canvas is October 31. The expanded course description is intended to provide students with information that they need to make informed decisions about their classes during the registration period. Making this information available before the registration period opens allows students to browse courses and reduces the amount of enrollment fluctuation that might otherwise take place during the add/drop period, easing uncertainty for students and faculty alike.

As the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning announced yesterday, Canvas sites for Spring 2024 are now open. You can find a template and additional resources and guidelines for preparing an expanded course description on the Canvas @ Yale website.

The registration timeline for Spring 2024 courses appears below, as well as on the University Registrar’s Office website. This timeline follows recommendations from the Yale College Committee on Teaching, Learning, and Advising.

The opening of registration is staggered, with graduate student and senior registration opening first, then registration for juniors, for sophomores, and so forth. Add/drop period will open a week before classes start, allowing students to make changes to their schedule before the beginning of the semester. Add/drop period will end one week after classes begin.

We are grateful to all those who provided feedback on last year’s process, and we welcome your suggestions about how to improve the registration process in future years. You can expect to receive further information about registration from the University Registrar’s office in the coming days.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Best wishes,

Jeff, Lynn, Tamar, and Pericles

Spring 2024 Registration Timeline

• By October 31: Deadline to post expanded course descriptions to Canvas
• November 1: Preference Selection sites open for Yale College students to rank their choice of first-year seminars, multi-section courses, and discussion/lab sections
• November 3: Preference Selection closes for students
• November 13: Registration opens for Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students and seniors
• November 14: Registration opens for juniors, visiting undergraduate students, and Eli Whitney students (without a class year)
• November 15: Registration opens for sophomores
• November 16: Registration opens for first year students
• November 18 – 26: November recess
• December 8: Last day of Fall 2023 undergraduate classes
• December 13: Last day of Fall 2023 graduate classes
• December 14: Fall 2023 final exams begin at 7:00 p.m.
• December 20: Fall 2023 final exams end at 5:00 p.m.
• December 21: Registration closes for all Yale College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students
• January 8: Add/Drop period opens for all Yale College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students
• January 16: First day of classes
• January 23: Add/Drop period closes at 5:00 p.m.