Reregistration for Returning Students

Students who have already had their initial registration, who are currently non-degree students, or who are currently matriculated in another Rutgers graduate program, and wish to register for subsequent semesters, generally may register on-line without further discussion with the graduate director. Such students are encouraged to frequently consult with the graduate director to ensure that their course selection is appropriate.

Students may encounter difficulties in registration. Students may need either a prerequisite override, which is a message from the graduate program asking the registrar to override a prerequisite barrier that would otherwise keep a student out of a course, or a special permission number, which is code number given out by a program indicating that some barrier, other than a prerequisite, keeping a student out of a class, should be overridden.

Prerequisite override are required in the following cases.

  • The student may have coursework at another university that satisfies the prerequisites for a course, or, very rarely, the student may have coursework at Rutgers that satisfies the prerequisites, but the prerequisites for the course are incorrectly coded in the registration data base. Students should bring transcripts showing the appropriate coursework to the the graduate director, who will override the prerequisite as above.
  • The student may not have the proper prerequisites for a course. In most cases, the students should first take the required prerequisite coursework. In rare cases, students may have aquired the prerequisite knowledge outside of formal coursework, and may demonstrate this knowledge to the graduate director.

The graduate director may override prerequisites via a paper form that the student takes to the registrar, or via an e-mail directly to the registrar. In this latter case, the registrar generally enrolls the student in the course, with no further action required from the student. If the student requests an electronic prerequisite override, and later decides not to take the course, it is the student's responsibility to promptly drop the course.

Special permission numbers are required in the following cases.

  • The course may be filled, in which case, the student should consult with the graduate director, who may issue a special permission number that will allow the student to register, current enrollment levels not withstanding. The decision on whether to give this special permission depends how full the class is. Students whose home program is Statistics and Biostatistics, and students in programs with cooperative arrangements with Statistics and Biostatistics, have priority. These special permission numbers can be used to register on-line.
  • The student may be non-matriculated, or may be matriculated in a program outside of the Graduate School -- New Brunswick. In this case, the graduate director will routinely issue special permission numbers to graduate students, as long as the class is not full.

In some cases, both a special permission number and a prerequisite override may be required. In other cases, other types of barriers, including financial or visa, may keep a student out of a class. The graduate director is happy to discuss these barriers with a student, but generally lacks the authority to remove these barriers.

If you ask the graduate director for a special permission number when a prerequisite override is needed, or for a prerequisite override when a special permission number is needed, you will not be able to register.