Registration Guide Planning

Your Program Planning Guide (PPG) is one of the most important resources you’ll need to build your schedule.

Your PPG identifies program requirements and lists all the courses you will need to complete for your degree and major. The Sample Sequencing Plan is a helpful guide of how to organize your classes to make sure you have the necessary prerequisites as you move through your degree. You should use your PPG every time you are planning your course schedule as it can help you keep track of your progress toward completing your degree.

Find my Program Planning Guide

Transfer or Post-Diploma Students
Depending on the transfer credit and the major and program you chose, your course sequencing may be different than the Sample Sequencing Plan in your PPG. Contact an academic advisor to to help with your course registration.

Fill Out / Update Your PPG (Undergraduate)

Keep track of your completed courses on your Program Planning Guide including any transfer credits. You can access a working copy of your transcript on the Bridge to see which courses are complete including transferred courses. Stay on track with your degree by prioritizing your course selections by:

1. Required courses
2. Liberal Education Requirement courses
3. Electives

Use your PPG and Sample Sequencing Plan to keep track of your completed required courses, Liberal Education Requirements, and electives. Knowing which courses are still required helps you plan registration for the upcoming term.

Choosing which courses you want to take is important, but you need to make sure they fit into a conflict-free schedule. The Registration Worksheet [PDF] is one way to make sure your desired courses fit your schedule.

Within the Bridge, there is a Plan Ahead tool that allows you and your advisor to build a course wish list for upcoming terms. You can save and adjust plans according to which courses are required for your program and when they are available. This tool makes registration easier to complete once your registration window is open.

How to use Plan Ahead

You must first be logged into the Bridge to view your registration details. For the best user experience, please disable any ad-blocking plugin that you have enabled on these pages.

1. Log into the Bridge.
2. Click on the Bridge for Students link to be taken to the Student Dashboard, navigate to the Academic Essentials section, and select Class Registration and Schedule.
3. Under the registration page select Plan Ahead.
4. Enter the term you want to plan your registration for and click continue.
5. If you had a prior plan, it would show below the Create a new plan button. You can edit or delete the plan or you can create a new plan by clicking on the create a new plan button.
6. You now have the option to conduct a basic or advanced search:
   • A basic search involves one of two options:
     • You can leave the subject box empty, or
     • Select an option(s) from the drop-down menu or enter a course number.
   • The advanced search allows you to enter additional search criteria such as the Title, Faculty or School, Attribute, Level, Schedule Type, or leave the box empty so that it will display all courses.
7. To remove any entered information or to start a new search select the clear option, so that you can start again.
8. To execute the search, click the search button.
9. The information will be displayed in a table format. To access more details, click on the course title, or the view selection button and more details will be revealed.
10. To add a course, select the add course button, the screen will divide into 3 separate panes:
    • Find class – located at the top of the screen and shows a list of classes, use the green search again button to search again.
    • Schedule – located in the bottom left corner, and consists of two tabs, Schedule tab will display the course information in a calendar view. The Schedule details tab will show more details regarding the course.
    • Plan/Summary – will display in the bottom right corner of the screen, and will display your chosen classes.
11. To save select the Save plan button located at the bottom right of the screen.

Additional Tips

• You can add notes by using the yellow post it notes icon located under the note column.
• The cog icon will allow you to deselect columns from each table within each window.
• Under the status column, the course will show Pending or Registered if the course has been saved.
• Under the action column, options to add or remove the course are available.
• To toggle between a selection of views select the panels button located on the bottom left-hand side of the screen.
• To resize the windows, you can drag and resize for better customization.
• You can create multiple plans for the same or different semesters.

Course load is based on credit hours, not a specific number of courses. For Undergraduate students, a full course load is 15.0 credit hours. For example, one student may take five 3.0 credit hour courses, while another student may take one 6.0 credit hour course and three 3.0 credit hour courses. Both students are taking a full course load even though they are registered for a different number of courses. Undergraduate Sample Sequencing Plans recommends 15.0 credit hours for each fall and winter term.

Most courses are worth 3.0 credit hours; however, some are worth more (e.g. 6.0 credit hours) and some are worth less (e.g. 1.5 credit hours). The timetable and course description websites show the credit hours for each course.

Undergraduate Students

If you need to commit a significant amount of time to activities outside of the classroom, consider limiting the number of credit hours you take per term. For every hour you spend in the classroom, expect three hours of homework. Taking less than 15.0 credit hours in a term may extend the time required to complete your program and impact student loan funding.

• You may initially register in up to 16.5 credit hours (five and one half course equivalents) until the first day of classes. Beginning on the first day of classes, students may increase their loads to the maximum allowed by their respective Faculty or School. Refer to the registration limits in Registration in the Academic Calendar.
• Most courses carry a credit load of 3.0 credit hours; some courses carry more and some carry less. Students on academic probation or in practicum terms are not able to take more than 15.0 credit hours across four courses.
• Five courses (15.0 credit hours) per term is the regular load carried during the two main terms (fall and winter) to complete a 40-course degree in four years. Keep in mind the 15.0 credit hours does not equal 15 hours; you must also consider any labs and tutorials that go with a class.
• During the summer session, the maximum number of courses varies by each faculty and school. Please contact your academic advisor. Refer to the registration limits in Registration in the Academic Calendar.
• To be considered a full-time student, you must register in a minimum of 9.0 credit hours (three 3.0 credit courses) during each of the two main terms (fall and winter).
• For certain scholarships and consideration for graduate or professional school, you may be required to carry 15.0 credit hours during each of the two main terms (fall and winter).

Graduate Students

• Continuous registration in the winter, summer, and fall terms is required for full- and part-time students.
• Full- and part-time students who do not register in a graduate course in any term will be considered to have withdrawn unless a leave of absence has previously been granted by the respective graduate program administrator.

ULethbridge is deeply rooted in a liberal education philosophy, so the Lib Ed Requirement has been incorporated into every Undergraduate degree and combined degree program.

By completing the Liberal Education List Requirements you will acquire a breadth of knowledge, encompassing a variety of disciplines, perspectives and theories throughout your program. This is a solid foundation for personal and professional development. You must complete four courses from each of the following three lists (12 courses in total):

• List I - Fine Arts and Humanities
• List II - Social Science
• List III - Science

Students pursuing a post-diploma program offered by ULethbridge are required to meet either the full 12-course or a modified set of Liberal Education Requirements.

If your PPG does not specifically list any courses specifically to meet Liberal Education Requirements, it is because these courses are built into your program requirements.

You can find details on these requirements and a complete listing of Liberal Education Requirement courses in the School of Liberal Education section of the Academic Calendar.