Early semester registration changes

Week one

• Students are able to change their current registration in MyUI (add, drop, or change sections), without instructor or advisor approval, for the first five business days of each fall and spring semester.
• As a reminder, instructors should not add students to their ICON site until they are fully registered for the course.
• In the spring 2026 semester, those dates were January 20-26.

Week two

• Beginning the sixth business day, student registration changes require permissions.
• Adding a course requires permission from the instructor or department and the student’s primary academic advisor.
• Dropping a course requires permission from the student’s primary academic advisor.

Students’ records will not display the mark of W for any course that they drop during this early part of the semester (the ten business days before the census date). The last day for students to drop full semester-length courses without a W is Monday, February 2. This is also the last day students can add full semester-length courses without collegiate approval.

Mid-semester registration changes (from Feb. 3 to April 20)

• Students may drop full semester-length courses with authorization from their academic advisor.
• The mark of W will appear on a student’s transcript when they drop a course during this period.
• Students seeking to add full semester-length courses after February 3 must obtain permission from the instructor, their advisor, and the college.

Drop deadline

• Please remind students that the deadline for an undergraduate to drop an individual semester-length course without collegiate authorization is Monday, April 20.
• After initiating a course drop in MyUI, students must obtain authorization from their academic advisor. They must then finalize the drop in MyUI by 11:59 pm on the deadline.
• Deadlines for off-cycle courses may be found using the Registrar’s Course Deadlines Lookup. 

Considerations for instructors related to the drop deadline

• The mark of W will appear on the student’s transcript when they drop a course.
• Ws are neutral marks that do not affect a student’s GPA.
• It is helpful to students if they have a good idea of how they are doing in each course well before the drop deadline so that they can make realistic and well-informed decisions about continuing in their courses. Sometimes dropping a course can be in a student’s best interest. Students should discuss possible course drops with their academic advisors, who can help them consider all relevant factors, including their overall workload, program requirements, time to degree, and factors outside of academics. 

Withdrawal deadline

• The deadline for undergraduates to withdraw their entire spring 2026 registration without collegiate authorization is also Monday, April 20.
• After initiating a withdrawal in MyUI, students must obtain authorization from their academic advisor. They must then finalize the withdrawal in MyUI by 11:59 pm on the deadline.
• As with individual course drops, withdrawal from an entire semester can be in a student’s best interest. Students considering withdrawal should be referred to their academic advisors to discuss the relevant policies.

Please refer students with questions to CLAS Undergraduate Programs in 120 Schaeffer Hall or clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu. Undergraduate students who wish to drop a course or withdraw their registration after April 20 will need collegiate authorization. 

You can see how this information is communicated to students in the News section of the CLAS website. Important dates related to student registration can always be found in the Office of the Registrar’s academic calendar.