Not ranking enough courses. You must select 10 credits worth of courses (4 First-Year Writing Seminars + 6 Other Courses), but feel free to choose more- more is better!

It can be tempting to list just the courses you want the most. But if you do that, Course Match will not allow you to move on, and  might not be able to give you a schedule you like.

Not ranking courses according to your true preferences.

Your rankings communicate to Course Match how you feel about courses and guide the trade-offs it must make. Be thoughtful about the courses you think of as substitutes and which you care about more deeply.  Your best approach is to rank according to your preferences and to communicate your preferences honestly. 

Course Match works best when you have selected courses based on your preferences.  It will use the rankings from you and your classmates to determine demand and assign classes accordingly, prioritizing your highest-ranked options, based on seat availability.  

If you have questions or need assistance with Course Match, Vassar offers a support request form you can submit during regular business hours. You can select this link or the "Get help with pre-registering via Course Match" button at the top of this page, complete the support request form, and a team member will get back to you shortly. 

Rules are a powerful tool at the bottom of the Rankings page in Course Match. They help you control how many courses you’re assigned from a particular group for your ideal schedule. 

Because you can pick as many classes as you like, Rules can tell Course Match, “I like all of these, but only give me this many.” 

Course Match already handles time conflicts, cross-listed courses, and multiple sections of the same course, so you do not need to set a rule for those. 

Check out this video tutorial to see some examples of setting rules! 

You can select up to 25 courses! You must select a minimum of 10 credits (4 First-Year Writing Seminars and at least 6 regular courses), but adding more courses that you are interested in improves your chances of getting a full schedule that you like right away. 

To find First-Year Writing Seminars (FWS), type ‘FWS’ in the search bar.  These seminars are offered across various departments, so be sure to read the course descriptions carefully and select at least four that interest you. 

To learn more about a course, click the hyperlink on the course name (e.g. AFRS-106-01).  This will link you directly to the course description in the Vassar College Catalogue. 

Yes! You can select any courses you’re interested in, even if they have overlapping meeting times. Course Match will automatically ensure you are not placed in two courses that meet at the same time, even if you ranked them in the same category.  

Only select courses that you would be interested in or need to take.  Do not select courses just to meet the minimum credit requirement.  Be thoughtful about your selections to avoid being enrolled in a course that you do not want to take.  

Keep searching, read the descriptions, and only rank courses that you have some interest in.

Some courses may be locked and grayed-out because they have prerequisites. Grayed-out courses will have PQ at the end of the course code, denoting that they have prerequisites (e.g., PSYC-200-01PQ).

To select these courses in Course Match, you must have the appropriate AP/IB transfer credit and receive explicit approval from the Dean of First-Years. To receive approval, contact the Dean of First-Years at deanoffirstyear@vassar.edu to unlock that course in Course Match. Please note that not all courses with prerequisites will be possible to select as they may also require departmental approval. Review the First-Year Handbook to learn more about AP/IB placement.

There are a few possible reasons why that course isn’t available for selection or ranking right now.

• First, the course may be full. While you can’t select it now, you may be able to add it at the beginning of the term.

• Second, the course might not be open to incoming first-year students. Again, it may become available to you once the term begins.

• Lastly, the course may require a prerequisite or special permission. If that’s the case, you may be able to request to add it during New Student Orientation.

In Course Match, your selections aren’t saved until you click Submit Rankings on the next screen. If needed, you can jot down your choices, exit the system, and return later to finalize your list.

Reminder: There’s no advantage to submitting your rankings early. Just be sure to submit them before the system closes.

To proceed, you must select at least 10 credits worth of courses. While most Vassar courses are worth 1.0, some are worth 0.5 or 1.5. Be sure you're adding up the total number of credits—not just the number of courses—to meet the 10-credit minimum.

The button toward the top-right of the page indicates how many more credits you need to rank before you can move on. Once you have selected enough credits, the button says NEXT: RANK CLASSES and you will be able to move forward.

• Favorite: Your absolute top choice (only one allowed). This is the class that I need/want the most above all others.  This category is optional, so it is OK to leave this empty.  

• Great: These courses closely align with my top preferences.  

• Good: These courses somewhat align with my top preferences.

• Acceptable: Courses that could fit into your schedule, even if they are not your first choices. 

If you group all your courses into one category, the system will assume you view them as equally preferable. 

Ranking categories show large distinctions in preference. 

One way to understand rankings is to think of the differences between categories as those between the floors of a building and the differences within categories as between steps on a staircase.

Also, resist the temptation to rank courses highly just because you think they will be popular. In figuring out trade-offs as it assembles your schedule, Course Match may skip courses you actually want to get you what you ranked higher.

Favorite: You may list only one course in this category. It's optional, so you can leave it empty if you don't have a single course that you prefer over all the others. 

Great, Good, and Acceptable: You can add as many courses as you like in each of these categories. 

If you group all your courses into one category, the system will assume you view them as equally preferable. 

Yes! You can select any courses you’re interested in, even if they have overlapping meeting times. Course Match will automatically prevent you from being placed in two courses that meet at the same time, even if you ranked them in the same category.  

Yes! You may select and rank both. 

Yes, you can make changes at any time while the selection period is open. There’s no advantage to submitting rankings early or late, but don’t wait too long. Once the Course Match selection period closes, no further changes can be made. Refer to the top of this webpage and email communications for when first-year preregistration closes. 

Course Match generates up to 8 sample schedules based on the courses you selected and how you ranked them. These are examples of possible, conflict-free schedules—not guaranteed final schedules.

If your top sample schedules don’t include a course you ranked highly, you can go back, adjust your rankings, and resubmit to see new sample schedules.

Keep in mind that your actual final schedule may differ from any of the samples, especially if demand for your top-ranked courses exceeds available seats.

As an incoming first-year student, you will use Course Match to pre-register for up to 4 courses, but you need to select a minimum of 10 credits to get started. 

A prerequisite is a course (or sometimes a placement score) that you must complete before enrolling in another course. Prerequisites make sure you have the background knowledge or skills needed for more advanced classes.

For example, a student interested in taking MATH-220 would need to satisfy the prerequisite – MATH-125 or MATH-127, or its equivalent (advanced placement), or permission of the department. 

If you believe you have AP/IB credit that should meet the prerequisite, contact the Dean of First-Year Students at deanoffirstyear@vassar.edu. 

A course with a co-requisite means you must add both courses to get credit. For example, to take CHEM-125, you must add both the lecture and the lab. Some courses require students to take both the course and its co-requisite intensive.

Not many courses have co-requisites, but look at the course description in the Course Catalogue if you are unsure. 

Cross-Listed courses (e.g.,DRAM-126 and MUSI-126) are the same course offered under different department prefixes.  The courses meet at the same time and place, and are taught by the same instructor.  

Yes, they mean the same thing. Vassar uses the term "unit", but Course Match uses credit to refer to course value. 1 Course Match credit = 1 Vassar unit. 

In Course Match, all courses must be assigned a greater than “0” credit value, so courses that are normally “0” units at Vassar temporarily appear as “0.1” during the pre-registration process. This is only for system compatibility. Once registration is finalized, your enrolled courses will reflect the correct number of units. 

In Course Match, every course must be assigned a day and time for system compatibility—even if the course is normally "arranged" with no set meeting times. In some instances, courses will have a schedule determined after the term begins based on an instructor’s schedule (e.g. Private Music Lessons).  For these cases, a placeholder day and a 1-minute time slot are used temporarily. Once registration is finalized, these courses will correctly appear with no assigned day or time in your schedule.