Fall 2025 Undergraduate Course Updates

 Updated: June 30th, 2025

Welcome to the Fall 2025 Updates page!

Here you will learn: important Fall 2025 course information, how we manage the waitlists, enrollment priority information for CSE majors, when we are opening any available seats, and how non-CSE majors can request to enroll in CSE restricted courses. 

Due to the high demand for CSE courses, enrolling in CSE courses can be difficult and confusing. Please read the following page in detail. This page is subject to change periodically so we recommend checking our website and the Schedule of Classes for the most up to date information. 

The capacity in each course is determined by multiple variables (not just the classroom size), including but not limited to: 

• Classroom size availability
• Instructor availability 
• Instructor teaching load
• Instructional support availability (TA/tutor support) 
• Scalability of the course

Important Notes: 

1. Students will need to assume everything is in person and/or synchronous only unless stated otherwise in the "Notes" below for the course section. Course components with the location listed as RCLAS on the Schedule of Classes/WebReg will be remote/online course components.

2. If a student is waitlisted for a course in summer and enrolled in the same course for Fall or another Summer session (or vice versa), the system will drop you from the summer session waitlist if a seat becomes available because it recognizes you are already enrolled in the course. We will not clear students to add to the course in these situations as the system moves on and automatically adds the next eligible student on the waitlist.  

3. Artificial Intelligence Major Change Policy: 

   • Selective Major: The CS29 (Artificial intelligence) major will NOT be an option for the Selective Major Process at this time.

   • CS25, 26, and 27 Majors: CSE students majoring in CS25 Computer Engineering, CS26 Computer Science, and CS27 Computer Science with a Specialization in Bioinformatics may NOT request to switch to the CS29 Artificial Intelligence major during the 2025-2026 academic year. All request will be DENIED.   

   • CS 29 Majors: CSE students majoring in CS29 Artificial Intelligence may switch into another CSE major (CS25, CS26, or CS27) without restriction. However, they will not be able to switch back into CS29 until this policy is revisited.

4. CSE instrcutors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment concerns. This includes questions pertaining to waitlists, late adds, general enrollment, major restrictions, and/or graduate requests. All enrollment questions need to be relayed in the VAC.

Advising (Continuing Students)

Contact us via the Virtual Advising Center (vac.ucsd.edu) or csestudent@ucsd.edu. We are offering drop-in advising (all students) and advising appointments (current CSE majors only) which can be conducted via Zoom or in-person. To schedule an appointment, please email csestudent@ucsd.edu.

Our front Intake Office is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM and 1:00 - 3:30 PM during the Spring Quarter. Our Intake Office will be closed during Summer Session. Please visit our Academic Advising page or Undergraduate Advising page for more information. 

All advising questions should be submitted in the Virtual Advising Center (vac.ucsd.edu). **Hours are subject to change, please check our website for the most up to date information. 

Advising (Incoming First-years and Transfers)

Please register for and plan to attend a CSE New Student Preparation Information Session. You will be receiving an email on how to register for this webinar.

This info session is for newly admitted students. We will cover everything you need to know as you get started, including guidance on planning your Fall Quarter schedule and enrolling in courses. The infosession recording will be posted on this website after it has been completed.  

• Videoconference Information Session Dates/Times:
  • Wednesday, July 23rd at 12pm PST
  • Wednesday, August 6th at 10am PST

New transfer students:

• You can begin scheduling a meeting with CSE advisors via Zoom starting August 11th. To schedule an appointment, please email csestudent@ucsd.edu on or after August 4th. 
• We highly recommend students attend a New CSE Student Information Session or view a previously recorded session prior to your appointment. 

Incoming freshmen:

• You may begin requesting appointments during Week 3 of the Fall Quarter, after completing the CSE Orientation Modules on Canvas. Please visit the CSE Orientation webpage  for more details

Note: Our Intake Office will be closed during Summer Session. Please visit our Academic Advising page or Undergraduate Advising page for more information. 

Major Priority (Continuing Students)

CSE/EC26 Major Major Priority Deadline to waitlist (for continuing students): Monday, June 9th at 11:59 PM - (New students view the "Major Priority (Incoming First-years and Transfers)" tab for the appropriate deadline/directions)

Current CSE and EC26 majors who want enrollment priority must waitlist their requested applicable courses by the above date/time.

CSE majors are cleared in waitlist order as seats become available (only for courses/sections with reserved seats). This is NOT a guarantee for a requested course.

• CSE will use first-come, first-served order of the waitlists. Depending on the demand for the course, continuing CSE and ECE CE undergraduate majors might be given clearance to add a course prior to other majors being allowed into the course if they waitlist by the CSE Major Priority Deadline listed above. Note that even for CSE/EC26 majors we use first-come, first-served order.

• ***The course clearance process is not automatic, you will need to take action*** - CSE Majors waitlisted for lower-division core courses CSE 100, CSE 101, and/or CSE 105 must follow the course clearance instructions sent to them via email on Tuesday, June 11th and take enrollment action by the deadline specified in the email.***

• CSE Double Majors: If CSE is not your first major, you will not receive CSE Major Priority for courses with a waitlist that require manual clearance (i.e. seats reserved for CSE majors)

• Read your @ucsd email DAILY. This is how we contact you to tell you if you were cleared to add a course with reserved seats. If you do not respond by the deadline, you will lose the seat!

• Please refer to the 2025-2026 academic and administrative calendar for important enrollment dates and deadlines.

Priority: After major priority, all undergraduates have a priority to add undergraduate CSE courses; graduate students have priority to add graduate CSE courses. Priority is not given to:

• Students who postpone taking a course hoping for a particular instructor in a future quarter.
• Seniors (or others) who do not use their 1st and 2nd pass early-enrollment times.
• Students who failed or withdrew from the course in a previous quarter.

Major Priority (Incoming First-years and Transfers)

Major Priority: The CSE Department reserves seats in lower-division core courses, CSE 100, CSE 101, and CSE 105 for our CSE Major Students. This process is called "Major Priority". We reserve these seats by requiring students to add themselves to the waitlist and then we provide authorization for students to enroll. To partake in Major Priority, you MUST be an CSE/EC26 student and follow the directions below:

1. CSE/EC26 Major Major Priority Deadline: (Check back on this page in late July for your Major Priority Deadline) - Current incoming CSE/EC26 majors who want enrollment priority must waitlist their requested applicable courses by the stated date/time. 
2. Waitlist your CSE courses when your second pass enrollment window opens, which should be late-August or early-September. You must waitlist your CSE courses with reserved seats by (check back on this page in late July for your Major Priority Deadline). 
3. The CSE department will clear admitted Fall 2025 CSE/EC26 majors for CSE courses with reserved seats starting (check back on this page in late July for your Major Priority Deadline). CSE majors are cleared in waitlist order as seats become available (only for courses/sections with reserved seats). This is NOT a guarantee for a requested course.
4. ***The course clearance process is not automatic - Fall 2025 CSE Major admits waitlisted for lower-division courses with reserved seats must follow the course clearance instructions sent to them via email after major priority and take enrollment action.
   • Fall 2025 CSE Major admits will need to monitor their @ucsd.edu email daily for course clearance and follow the directions provided before the deadline listed in the email (be sure to check your SPAM/Junk folder).

• CSE Double Majors: If CSE is not your first major, you will not receive CSE Major Priority for courses with a waitlist that require manual clearance (i.e. seats reserved for CSE majors)
• Please refer to the 2025-2026 academic and administrative calendar for important enrollment dates and deadlines. 

Priority: After major priority, all undergraduates have a priority to add undergraduate CSE courses; graduate students have priority to add graduate CSE courses. Priority is not given to:

• Students who postpone taking a course hoping for a particular instructor in a future quarter.
• Seniors (or others) who do not use their 1st and 2nd pass early-enrollment times.
• Students who failed or withdrew from the course in a previous quarter.

Late Add Policy

No late adds - no exceptions.The CSE department does not allow students to add courses past week 2. If a student is not enrolled in enough units by the beginning of week 1, the student should contact their department advisors via the VAC.

EASy requests for Late Adds in the CSE Department will be denied, so please plan accordingly.   

If you are on the waitlist for a class, you are expected to attend class for the first two weeks and complete all assignments. NOTE: Attending class and completing course assignments does not guarantee enrollment. If students choose to miss class or not turn in assignments while on the waitlist, the student will receive a "0" on all missed assignments, if they secure a seat in the course off the waitlist. 

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment or late add concerns.

Waitlist Policy

Once all seats are released, students will only be added to courses with waitlists in waitlist order via the automatic waitlist enrollment process. The last waitlist add runs on Thursday of week 2. The CSE department will NOT manually clear any students to enroll even if space becomes available on the last day of enrollment (Friday of week 2). 

Non-CSE majors: If you are not able to enroll in your CSE courses in Fall 2025, you may need to enroll in a subsequent quarter.

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment or waitlist concerns.

Enrollment/Course Policies

Prerequisites: Enforced for ALL classes. View the Prerequisites for CSE Undergraduates page for information on all our prerequisites, in addition to transfer courses, course substitutions, and our Upper Division Prerequisite Policy.

Enrollment Strategies: See Enrolling in CSE Courses to learn the best strategies for getting into CSE classes.

EASy: For course clearances, please use the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy). These may take 5 business days to be processed. 

Petitions: If you need to petition a course for transfer credit, please use our ONLINE PETITION to do so. Please view our CSE Petitions page for detailed information.

Swaps: No swaps - no exceptions.  Be sure to enroll or waitlist in the section with the assigned time you will attend and the assigned final exam you can attend. This includes R (remote) courses. If a student is waitlisted for a course and then enrolls in the R version (or vice versa) or a duplicate version of the course, the system will drop you from the waitlist or will not allow you to enroll because it recognizes you are already enrolled or waitlisted for the other course. 

• We will not clear students to add to the course in these situations as the system moves on and automatically adds the next eligible student on the waitlist. 

We do not release names of instructors until their appointments are official with the University. Once official, instructor names are posted on the Schedule of Classes and WebReg. 

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment concerns.

Non-CSE Majors and Major Restricted Courses

For all courses with major priority (lower-division core courses, CSE 100, CSE 101, and CSE 105), the remaining seats will be released in September after our CSE majors have had a chance to enroll. 

Non-CSE Undergraduates who want to enroll in CSE Major restricted courses (indicated with an asterisk (*) below) should submit an enrollment request through Enrollment Authorization System (EASy). 

Major restricted courses are indicated with an asterisk (*) below. Please see CSE Course Prerequisites webpage for information on which majors are approved for major restricted courses.  Requests from non-CSE major undergraduate students to be cleared to enroll in CSE major restricted courses will be placed on a "Department Hold" until after CSE Majors have had the opportunity to enroll. The requests may be reviewed between Monday, June 9th and the start of classes if there are seats available.

Clearance to enroll/waitlist a CSE undergraduate course with a large waitlist does NOT indicate we intend to offer additional seats. The courses and sections we intend to offer are listed in the Schedule of Classes. 

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment or major restriction concerns.

Non-CSE Courses

For questions about enrolling in ENG 100D or ENG 100L, please see Global Ties

Each department handles course clearances for their own courses. Please contact the respective department for course clearance to ECE, COGS, MGT, etc.

Graduate Students Enrolling in Undergraduate Courses

Graduate students who wish to add undergraduate courses must submit a request through the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy). 

Prerequisite clearances and approvals to add will be reviewed by the end of week two of classes based on if there is seat availability after undergraduates enroll. The CSE department does not allow students to add courses past week 2. No late adds - no exceptions.

Requests to enroll will be reviewed after undergraduate students have had the chance to enroll, which is typically by the beginning of Week 2. Depending on the demand from undergraduate students, some courses will not be open to graduate students. Seats will only be given to graduate students based on availability after undergraduate students enroll.

Enrollment in undergraduate courses is not guaranteed. Please check your EASy request status history for the most up-to-date information.

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment concerns.

Undergraduate Students Enrolling in Graduate CSE Courses

CSE Undergraduate Advising does not manage enrollment in graduate-level courses.

Undergraduate students who wish to add graduate courses must submit a request through the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy).

The deadline for undergraduate students to submit their EASy request for graduate courses is Tuesday of Week 1. The CSE department does not allow students to add courses past week 2. No late adds - no exceptions.

Requests to enroll will be reviewed after graduate students and other prioritized groups, have had the chance to enroll, which is typically by the beginning of Week 2. Depending on the demand from graduate students, some courses will not be open to undergraduates.

Please see the list of Fall 2025 Graduate Courses pertaining to undergraduate enrollment. Please view the "Additional Notes" column for details:

• Blank Courses: Status is TBD. Do not submit an EASy request for this class. Please check back for further updates.

• "Eligible to submit an EASY request for": You may submit an EASy request before Tuesday of Week 1. The EASy request will not be reviewed until typically the beginning of week 2. If your request is not approved by Friday of Week 2, it has been denied.

• "Will be routed for instructor review and approval": You may submit an EASy request before Tuesday of Week 1. The EASy request will not be reviewed until typically the beginning of week 2. Your request will be routed to the instructor for approval. If your request is not approved by Friday of Week 2, it has been denied.

• "Instructor is not accepting EASy requests": Undergraduate students are not permitted to enroll in this class. All submitted EASy requests will not be reviewed.

NOTE: Submission of an EASy request of a course stated above does not mean your request will be approved. Requests may remain pending until Friday of Week 2, depending on seat availability. 

Co-Scheduled Courses- For courses in the CSE Department that are officially/unofficially Co-Scheduled:

• Undergraduate students must enroll in the undergraduate version of a co-scheduled course.
• Graduate students must enroll in the graduate version.
• NOTE: Students may not enroll in both versions of the course, nor may they enroll if they have already completed the undergraduate version. Students will not receive credit for both versions and will not be granted exceptions to drop the course past the deadline. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are not, and have not been, enrolled in both versions. Plan accordingly.

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment concerns.

Make sure to carefully review the Fall 2025 Graduate Course Updates page and direct any inquiries about graduate course enrollment to cse-grad-enrollment@ucsd.edu.

BS/MS Students Enrolling in Graduate CSE Courses

CSE Undergraduate Advising does not manage enrollment in graduate-level courses.

CSE BS/MS ADMITTED students will be contacted directly after CSE graduate students have had the opportunity to enroll in their courses. Please monitor your UCSD email, as there is no set timeline for when this communication will be sent. You will need to respond to the email within a certain deadline. Failure to provide a response by the appropriate deadline will result in the removal of your priority. 

Instructions on how to submit an Enrollment Authorization System (EASy) as well as the appropriate deadlines will be in the email referenced above. 

Please see the list of Fall 2025 Graduate Courses pertaining to BS/MS enrollment. Please view the "Additional Notes" column for details.

• Blank Courses: Status is TBD. Do not submit an EASy request for this class. Please check back for further updates.

• "Eligible to submit an EASY request for": You may submit an EASy request for this class once you get the email notifying you to do so. Failure to provide a response by the appropriate deadline will result in the removal of your priority. If your request is not approved by Friday of Week 2, it has been denied.

• "Will be routed for instructor review and approval": You may submit an EASy request this class once you get the email notifying you to do so. Failure to provide a response by the appropriate deadline will result in the removal of your priority. Your request will be routed to the instructor for approval. If your request is not approved by Friday of Week 2, it has been denied.

• "Instructor is not accepting EASy requests": You are not permitted to enroll in this class. All submitted EASy requests will not be reviewed.

NOTE: Submission of an EASy request of a course stated in the google document does not mean your request will be approved. If you have submitted an EASy request for a course listed above, your request may remain pending until Friday of Week 2, depending on seat availability. If your request is not approved by Friday of Week 2, it has been denied. 

Co-Scheduled Courses: For courses in the CSE Department that are officially/unofficially Co-Scheduled:

• BS/MS students may request to enroll in the graduate version of the course after being admitted into the MS program.  
• NOTE: Students may not enroll in both versions of the course, nor may they enroll if they have already completed the undergraduate version. Students will not receive credit for both versions and will not be granted exceptions to drop the course past the deadline. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are not, and have not been, enrolled in both versions. Plan accordingly.

CSE instructors are not directly involved with student enrollment, do not contact the course instructor regarding enrollment concerns.

Make sure to carefully review the Fall 2025 Graduate Course Updates page and direct any inquiries about graduate course enrollment to cse-grad-enrollment@ucsd.edu.

Max Unit Exceptions

When the college grants a max unit exception it is for the course requested, not the quarter. If a seat becomes available in the waitlisted class the system will bypass the student needing a max unit exception and add the next student on the waitlist to the course, which means that the student needing the max unit exception will not be added because the available seat will be taken.

If a student wants to be added off of the waitlist, they would need to be under the max unit limit (enrolled and waitlisted courses combined) so the system can bring them into the course if a seat opens up (in waitlist order of course).

We will not approve requests to enroll in CSE courses exceeding the max unit limit if there is a waitlist. Please plan accordingly. 

CSE 141(L)/142(L) Update

If you are a Computer Science (CS26) or Computer Engineering (CS25 or EC26) students under the pre-FA23 Computer Science or pre-FA24 Computer Engineering curriculum and have not yet completed the architecture requirement (CSE 141 and 141L or CSE 142 and CSE 142L), please read the following information carefully:

• CSE 141L will only be offered two more times: Fall 2025 and Spring 2026.

• If you do not successfully complete both CSE141 and CSE141L by the end of Spring 2026, you must switch to the new curriculum, which has different major requirements. Please plan accordingly.

• Plan to take CSE 140 and CSE 140L within the 2025-2026 academic year if you have not yet earned credit for them. CSE 140 will be waived as a prerequisite for CSE 141 and CSE 141L during the 2025–2026 academic year only, so you can take them concurrently if it fits in your schedule. CSE 140 and CSE 140L still need to be completed as part of your degree requirements.

• If you have not yet started any architecture coursework:

  • CSE 142 and CSE 142L will be offered in Summer Session 2025.  

  • If you are planning for academic year architecture courses, we do NOT advise taking CSE 142, as CSE 142L will not be offered in Academic Year 2025-2026.

• If you have already taken CSE 142 but not CSE 142L, you may consider the Summer Session 2025 CSE 142L offering, if it fits within your academic plans

If you have any questions or are unsure of your current standing, please reach out to CSE Advising via the VAC.

The courses listed below are the courses/sections we intend to offer in Fall 2025. 

Major restricted courses are indicated with an asterisk (*) below.