Registering for Classes - FAQ

Students register for courses via the campus portal, My.Pomona. This overview is provided to help you through the registration process.  For further details, please refer to the menu at the bottom of this page.

  1. Meet with your advisor to discuss your course choices and receive your advisor's registration clearance. If your advisor hasn't granted you registration clearance on My.Pomona, you won't be able to register during your registration appointment. 
  2. Clear any holds on your account. 
  3. Request permission (also known as a "PERM") for any courses that are closed or require instructor permission. 
  4. Add courses during your registration appointment. You have a 24-hour window during pre-registration. After all students have registered, add/drop continues until the add deadline.

Important things to remember:

  • You may only pre-register for 4.75 courses. Students who are eligible to enroll in more courses may add them on the first day of classes. For more information on enrollment limits, please see the course load section of the Pomona College Catalog.
  • If you need to switch lab or lecture sections, the system will prompt you to drop both the lab and lecture. You can make the switch on My.Pomona if both the lecture and lab sections are open. If one of the sections is closed, please contact our office. We can make the switch as long as the new section is open or you have an approved PERM.
  • Thesis courses: Seniors must request a PERM to enroll in thesis sections with their primary thesis advisor/reader. If a section doesn't exist for a particular instructor, please contact the Registrar's Office.
  • Varsity athletic teams: If you would like to receive course credit for your participation on a varsity team, you will need to add the appropriate PE section to your schedule. It won't be automatically added to your schedule.
  • During the add/drop period you can make changes to your schedule via My.Pomona, but grading option changes must be submitted in person at the Registrar's Office. 

Registering for Classes

Registration Appointment Time

Your appointment time is visible on My.Pomona. Click on the "Student" link at the top of the screen, next to your name, then click on "My Registration." and select the term you will register for. Registration appointments are scheduled by class year: Seniors register on the first day, juniors on the second, etc. Within each day, appointments based on the "priority groups" (1, 2, 3 or 4) assigned to new students at random when they first arrive at Pomona. The order of the priority groups is rotated each semester to ensure fairness, so that no student consistently receives an appointment late in the day for their class.

Here is the schedule for fall 2023 through fall 2026, with priority group 4 used as an example:

  • Fall 2023: 2, 3, 4, 1 (priority group 4 is placed third)
  • Spring 2024: 4, 1, 2, 3 (priority group 4 is placed first)
  • Fall 2024: 3, 2, 1, 4 (priority group 4 is placed fourth)
  • Spring 2025: 1, 4, 3, 2 (priority group 4 is placed fourth)
  • Fall 2026: 2, 3, 4, 1 (priority group 4 is placed third again, as the cycle repeats itself)

Registration Clearance

Your advisor will need to grant registration clearance before you can register. Please be sure to verify that you have received clearance before your registration appointment. To do so, log on to My.Pomona, click on the "Student" link, then click on "My Registration." There you will see your appointment time and whether or not you have been granted advisor clearance to register. If you haven't received clearance and have already met with your advisor, remind your advisor to clear you before your appointment. If you can't reach your advisor within 24 hours of your appointment, contact the department chair of your advisor's department or the Registrar's Office.

Holds on Your Account

You can check to see if you have a hold on your account on the My Registration page of My.Pomona. If you have a hold on your account, it will be indicated here. A hold may be placed on your record by several offices:

  • Business Office: (909) 621-8214 or student.accounts@pomona.edu
  • Financial Aid: (909) 621-8205 or financial.aid@pomona.edu
  • Dean of Students - Student Affairs: (909) 621-8017 or deanofstudents@pomona.edu
  • Undeclared Major Hold (applies to rising juniors and seniors only): Registrar's Office at (909) 621-8147 or registrar@pomona.edu

PERM(ission) to Enroll System

The PERM system enables you to request permission for courses that are restricted or otherwise closed. A course might require permission if it is open only to certain majors or class years (e.g. juniors and seniors only), or if the maximum enrollment has already been reached.

  1. Log on to My.Pomona.
  2. Via Course Search on the Add/Drop portlet, click on the course name number to view the Course Detail screen.
  3. Here you should see the section labeled "Eligible." If you are eligible for the course it will say "yes" and you can add the course. If you are not eligible, it will also give you the reason (e.g., you do not meet the section requirements) and a link will appear asking you if you would like to request a PERM for the course.
  4. Once you click on the PERM link, you will have an opportunity to add comments about your request for the instructor. This message is delivered to the instructor via email, so make it as specific as necessary for the instructor to understand your qualifications to take the course, and reason for wanting to take it.

Things to remember about PERMs:

  • You may not receive a response from the instructor right away. Many instructors wait until classes begin to see how many open seats are available, and whether any students have dropped the course. Please be patient.
  • You can view the PERM requests you've already submitted by logging on to My.Pomona and selecting the PERMissions to Enroll Requests section on the left panel.
  • There are two types of permissions an instructor can grant you:
    • Permission to register as long as the course is open
    • Permission to add the course even if it is closed
  • You'll know which kind of permission you've been granted by reading the email you are sent when/if the instructor approves your request.
  • Once you've been granted permission, you will then need to add the course via My.Pomona. The course will not be automatically added to your schedule.
  • If you receive a PERM after your appointment time, wait until the add/drop period begins and you will be able to add the course then. You can't use a PERM after the add deadline; in such a case you would need to petition the Academic Procedures Committee (APC) to add the course.

Textbook Information

Click on the course number on My.Pomona to view the Course Details page. On that page you'll see "Textbook" link at the top of the screen. Click on the link to view required textbooks for the course.

Cross-Registration with CGU or KGI

As a Pomona student you may register for graduate courses at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) or Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) during the fall and spring terms and have those courses count toward your degree requirements at Pomona. CGU classes can be found on the CGU Class Schedule and KGI classes are listed on the KGI Registrar's webpage

To register for most CGU or KGI courses you will need to request permission of the course instructor (for Management classes see below). Once you have received written permission please send a message to the Pomona Office of the Registrar (registrar@pomona.edu) with the course number you wish to take and forward the instructor's permission. Allow two to three working days to complete this registration..

Courses in CGU's Drucker School of Management in Management (MGT), Executive Management (EMGT), or Arts Management (ARMGT) require permission of the department office, as those courses are competitive and may include executives and thus require a certain level of professional participation and prerequisite experience for dialogue enrichment. Do not approach individual instructors for permission to enroll in these courses, instead contact the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at 909-607-9014 or email Ms. Virginia Bullard at virginia.bullard@cgu.edu to request permission to enroll.

To enroll in courses that are offered jointly between one of the undergraduate Claremont Colleges and CGU or KGI, you should select the undergraduate course number that corresponds to the course. For example, to enroll in Arts of the Black Atlantic, which is co-taught by Pomona and CGU, 5C students should enroll in course number HIST189D PO (and not in CGU course number TNDY405R CG).

 

Credit Conversion within the Claremont Colleges

Credits and units are assigned at Pomona based off the translation chart below:

 

Credits at
Pomona,
CMC, Pitzer, Scripps
Credits at HMC, KGI Units at CGU
1 3 4
0.5 1.5 2