How to Use Carts
Prior to the course election, course change, and add/drop registration periods Primary Carts become available to students in Courses@Dartmouth during which they may review current course offerings and create a potential schedule that may be submitted once the registration period officially beings.
To know the dates/periods when primary carts are available to students, please review the Registration Schedule on our website. Primary Carts have three stages: (1) view only, (2) available to add courses to the cart but unable to submit changes, and lastly, (3) available to add courses and submit for changes during the registration period. For more information on the registration process, please review our guides.
Carts in Courses@Dartmouth
Every student may utilize two types of carts in Courses@Dartmouth: their Primary Cart and Secondary Carts. Students will use their Primary Cart to select and submit their courses for registration. Students may also utilize Secondary Carts to save course options as they are deciding what to put in their primary cart.
The Primary Cart
The Primary Cart includes the courses you select for registration. You will use this cart to submit your courses you wish to register for. Registration actions during the registration periods, such as adding a course, can only take place via the Primary Cart.
Secondary Carts
If you'd like to save courses of interest, you can create your own secondary cart in Courses@Dartmouth. Remember that if you want to submit registration for any of those courses during registration periods, courses in your secondary cart must be added to the Primary Cart, and that registration must be submitted.
When to Build a Cart
A registration timeline for each term is available on the Registrar’s website. For each registration period, students will have a period of time to edit their carts and make course selections prior to the date registration opens. Note that during these periods, course selections cannot be submitted for processing. When course election, course change, or add/drop period formally begins, students can submit their Primary Cart selections for formal registration. Students may utilize secondary carts at any time when the course schedule is available for a term. Please note that only Primary Carts can be used to submit a registration schedule.
What's the Best Way to Build a Cart?
There is no one correct way to build a Primary Cart.
Students can start by adding courses to the Primary Cart and other courses to their Secondary Cart and then updating the Primary Cart after course election results are released. Or students could build multiple secondary carts to assess their schedule or discuss the varying selections with advisors, then choose the courses for their Primary Cart based on these discussions.
NOTE: Be aware that there is a limit to the number of registration actions a student can take, i.e., the number of courses a student is attempting to register for during the course election period. We suggest not to overload your primary cart with more than the courses you intend to elect.
What ever path a student chooses to take, by the time the registration period ends, students must submit their Primary Cart, and any registration restrictions (like instructor permission) or registration errors (like missing prerequisites) must be resolved. Courses with unresolved registration errors cannot be added to their schedule. Only students can build and submit their Primary Cart.
Tips & Tricks for Cart Building
Co-requisite groups & Labs – Adding to Carts
Students must put all co-requisite courses in their primary cart. If a student’s course has a co-requisite, they will get a message in their cart to add the other co-requisite. If the additional course is not added, the registration for the course in a student’s cart will be unsuccessful. If students are adding a course to their cart that has a lab (only applicable during the course change and add/drop period), they must add both the lecture and lab to their cart for successful registration into either section.
How many courses should I put in my Primary Cart?
Maximum credit hour registration restrictions will still be in place when submitting courses through Courses@Dartmouth. If a student adds more than the allowed course/credit amount, only the first three (during election and course change) or, if applicable, four (during add/drop) courses will be processed for registration, and the additional courses will automatically not register.
Start early! Browse courses, resolve issues, and set priorities.
Search for and add courses to the Primary Cart when available to provide time to resolve any issues before carts close. Courses@Dartmouth displays registration errors for each course, and registration holds or other important messaging at the top of the cart (See the Common Warnings and FAQ guide for more details). Starting early allows students more time to request instructor permission and take care of any issues like holds or a missing prerequisite course.