registering & Declaring

Why declare your major or minor?

1. Students are required at minimum 1 Major for graduation. Minors are optional, but they can enhance a student's expertise, as well as their appeal to employers and graduate programs. Declaring Majors and Minors help ensure that these show up on your graduation transcripts.

2. After declaring your major or minor, you will be assigned a faculty advisor from that same department, who you can meet with virtually or in-person as needed throughout your academic journey. They can help answer questions regarding course selection, graduation, and much more. The earlier you declare, the earlier you'll have an advisor to help along your journey!

3. You can keep informed about upcoming student scholarships, internship, jobs, and more, as part of the department's student email listserv. (The good kind of spam!)

Want to declare for the Justice Studies Major?

1. Download this form.

2. Fill out the top, then next to "Are you declaring" check the box next to "first major," check the box next to "Justice Studies," and sign/date the bottom of the form.

3. Email the completed form to: justice-studies@neiu.edu

Want to declare for the Criminology Minor, Social Justice Minor, or Pre-Law Minor?

1. Download this form instead.

2. Fill out the top, then next to "Are you declaring" select "first minor" (if you have no other minors yet), check the box next to the minor you are declaring (e.g., "Criminology" or "Social Justice"), and sign/date the bottom of the form.

3. Email the completed form to: justice-studies@neiu.edu

Let's get you registered! To begin, you can read the step-by-step directions below. Alternatively, you can watch the registration video embedded further below.

1. Start by opening www.neiu.edu/neiuport in your web browser, and log in (using your NMail username and password).

2. Click the three-line button in the upper-left corner, and select "Student" in the drop-down menu.

3. Inside the "Registration Tools" box on the page, click "Class Registration Menu," and then select the term you are registering for. 

4. Click "Register for Classes," and then select the term you are registering for.

5. Click "Advanced Search." Here are a few helpful filter boxes to try out in the advanced search page (but you can also leave these blank if you have no preference):

   • SUBJECT: specify the Departments/Programs you want to look for courses in.

   • CAMPUS:  specify your preferred class format, including Remote Learning, Online Learning, or in-person -- and if in-person, specify whether the class will meet on Main Campus, El Centro, Carruthers Center, or Off Campus/Extensions.

   • ATTRIBUTE: specify the NEIU requirement you wish to fulfill through the course. You'll see a variety of NEIU requirements that you can filter by, such as: Engaged Learning Experience boundary-crossing & discipline-specific, Improving Human Relations, Math/Quantitative Reasoning, and the four General Education (Gen Ed) areas (i.e., Humanities, Social Behavioral Sciences, Fine Arts, and Natural Sciences).

6. Click "Search."

7. Decide which course you want to register for.

   • Check that the class days/times work with your schedule, as well as that you are comfortable with the class format listed in the "campus" column.

   • Want to read the course description, as well as view any prerequisites? Click the Course Title in the far-left column: then, in the pop-up box, click "Course Description" to read about the course, and click "Restrictions" to learn about prerequisites if any.

8. Let's add a course to your virtual shopping car: to the right of any course you are considering registering for, click "Add."

   • NOTE: In the "Summary" box toward the bottom-right of your screen, the course should appear with a status of "Pending." The Pending status means that you have placed a course in your shopping cart but have NOT yet registered for the course. To register for the course, please complete the next step below.

9. In the "Summary" box toward the bottom-right of your screen, click "Submit."

   • NOTE: After clicking Submit, the status of the course will change from "Pending" to "Registered." This means you have officially registered for the course. If you forget to click Submit, the course status will remain as Pending and you will not have registered for the course yet -- so please remember to click "Submit"!

10. Repeat these steps to add additional courses.

Want to drop a course?

1. Complete steps 1-6 above.

2. In the bottom-right of your screen, inside the "Summary" box, a list of your registered courses should appear. To the right of any course you wish to drop, click the drop-down menu in the Action column and select "Web Dropped."

3. Click "Submit."

Want to be added to a Waitlist?

1. First, repeat steps 1-6 for registering for a course.

2. Next, if you find a course you are interested in the search results, and the "Status" column indicates that the class is "FULL," this means there are zero open seats remaining in the class. However, you can add yourself to the waitlist: to the right of the full course you wish to be added to the waitlist for, click "Add."

3. In the "Summary" box toward the bottom-right of your screen, next to the course you wish to be waitlisted for, click the drop-down menu in the Action column and select "Wait List." Then click "Submit."

4. Contact the professor via email or at the first class session, let them know that you are on the wait list, and ask if they would consider permitting you to register for the course. Although not required of them, many professors will consider permitting a small number of students off of the waitlist to register. However, if you miss the first day of class and have not contacted the professor prior, your odds may be decreased -- so please do try to attend the first class session.

5. If a seat becomes available in your waitlisted class, you will receive send an email informing you of this. You will then need to repeat steps 1-6 for registering fro a course in NEIUport, then in the "Summary" box change your status in the class from "Wait List" to "Web Registered," and finally click "Submit."

Want to be removed from a Waitlist?

1. First, repeat steps 1-6 for registering for a course.

2. In the "Summary" box toward the bottom-right of your screen, next to the course you wish to be removed from the Waitlist for, click the drop-down menu in the Action column and select "Web Dropped." Then click "Submit."

• NOTE: This will remove you from the Waitlist, you will not be added into the class, and you will no longer receive emails notifying you of whether a seat has opened up in the course.