Waitlists in Workday

About waitlists

If the course section you want to register in is full and a waitlist is available, you can register into the waitlist on Workday.

Waitlists are managed by the department that runs the course. For example, a waitlist for a Computer Science course is managed by the Computer Science department, so they are the contact for any questions or troubleshooting.

Some waitlists are set up with automation in Workday which offers available seats to students via email notification and a notification in Workday. Other waitlists are managed manually which does not send out an automatic notification. For this reason, it is important to check your course schedule in Workday for updates to your registration and monitor your email frequently when you are in a waitlist. Do so until the add/drop deadline when you may still receive an offer if a seat becomes available.

How to register in waitlists

Make sure to only register in a waitlist if you intend on taking the course so that there is capacity for other students to join the list.

The first step is to check if a waitlist is available for that section. Learn how to confirm that a waitlist is available and how to check waitlist capacity.

If a waitlist is available, you can follow step-by-step instructions for registering into it on Workday, including scenarios you may encounter.

How to remove yourself from a waitlist

If you are registered in a waitlist, have not yet received a seat offer, and no longer wish to await an offer, you can remove yourself from the waitlist.

In Workday, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to “Academics” from the homepage.
  2. Click “Registration & Courses”, then “View My Courses”.
  3. Under the “My Enrolled Courses” section, you will find a section called “My Waitlisted Courses”.
  4. Find the course that you no longer wish to be waitlisted for. Scroll to the right-most side where there will be a “Drop” button.
  5. Click the “Drop” button.

After you receive a seat offer

When a seat becomes available in the section, you will either receive an automated email from Workday notifying you of the offer, or a staff member will email you directly. Depending on the waitlist, you could also be registered automatically so it is important to check your course schedule regularly while you are on a waitlist.

It is important to monitor your email if you are on a waitlist. When you receive a seat offer via email, you will have 24 hours to accept the seat before it goes to the next student on the waitlist.

To respond to your seat offer, log into Workday and navigate to the upper right-hand “My Tasks” icon from the homepage. A screenshot of the icon is shown below:

Screenshot of My Tasks button

After you find the message in your tasks, you will be presented with three buttons: Submit, Deny, Remove From Waitlist.

Accepting your seat offer

The “Submit” button allows you to accept the seat offer and register into the course.

Denying your seat offer for now

The “Deny” button allows you to skip the offer for now but remain on the waitlist. This can be a convenient option if you are not ready to commit to the course yet, but would like the option of remaining on the waitlist and possibly receiving another offer at a later time.

If you do not intend on accepting, we suggest that you do not wait 24 hours for the offer to expire. If you do not intend on accepting, please deny the offer before the 24 hours are over so that the offer can go to the next student who intends on accepting.

Removing yourself from the waitlist

The “Remove From Waitlist” button allows you to remove yourself from the waitlist entirely if you no longer wish to register in the course.

You can follow full step-by-step instructions for registering in a course from a waitlist and what to do in Workday after you receive an offer.

Next steps

If you accepted a seat offer but are thinking about dropping the class or withdrawing from it past the add/drop deadline, read about considerations to inform your decision and next steps in Workday if you decide to proceed.

Waitlist support

If you need help with waitlists, you will need to contact the course’s department advisor. For example, if you need help with a Chemistry course, you will need to reach Chemistry Advising. You can find contact information on each department’s website.

Musqueam First Nation land acknowledegement

We honour xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam) on whose ancestral, unceded territory UBC Vancouver is situated. UBC Science is committed to building meaningful relationships with Indigenous peoples so we can advance Reconciliation and ensure traditional ways of knowing enrich our teaching and research.

Learn more: Musqueam First Nation

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