What it does
The Elective Catalog shows learners the courses their program has opened for self-enrollment. Each card shows the course details, its director, seats left against the enrollment cap, the enrollment deadline, and the learner's prerequisite status. Learners enroll themselves with one action and can withdraw later.
Who it's for
Learners, in the personal portal. Administrators control which courses appear here by turning on self-enrollment for a course and setting its deadline and capacity in the course catalog.
How it works
The catalog. Lists active courses with self-enrollment on, showing name, code, credits, academic level, director, seats remaining, and the enrollment deadline. Courses the learner is already enrolled in show an Enrolled tag. Search by name, code, or instructor, or filter by academic level, credits, and availability (spots available, full, or deadline soon).
Prerequisites. If a course has any, the card shows a Prerequisites not met notice with a tooltip explaining the learner must complete them first, and the Enroll action is disabled.
Enrolling and withdrawing. Enrolling is a single action that the server re-checks at the moment it runs: the course is still active and open, the learner has program access, the deadline hasn't passed, the learner isn't already enrolled, and a seat is available. A failed check returns a specific message, such as capacity or a passed deadline. Withdrawal is the same — a confirmed server-side action.
Before you start
Enrollment is only possible while the course shows open seats and its deadline has not passed.
Any listed prerequisites must show as met on the card before Enroll is available.
Do this
Open the Elective Catalog (
/curriculum/electives) → you should see cards for every course open to self-enrollment.Search or filter to find a course, and review its seats, deadline, and prerequisite status on the card → confirm the card shows open seats and a deadline that hasn't passed.
Select Enroll on the card → the Confirm Enrollment dialog opens.
Select Enroll Now → you should see a success message, and the card switches to the Enrolled tag.
To leave a course you self-enrolled in, select Withdraw on its card → the Withdraw from Course dialog opens.
Select Withdraw to confirm → you should see a success message, and the card returns to its normal Enroll state.
You're done when
✓ A course you enrolled in shows the Enrolled tag on its card.
✓ The seats-remaining count on the card drops by one after you enroll.
✓ A course you withdrew from no longer shows as enrolled, and its seat becomes available again.
Boundaries and limits
Only courses with self-enrollment explicitly turned on appear; the catalog is not a general course browser.
Capacity is enforced at enrollment time on the server — two learners racing for the last seat cannot both get in.
Once the enrollment deadline passes, self-enrollment is blocked even if seats remain; the card shows Deadline Passed instead of Enroll.
A learner cannot self-enroll twice in the same course; an existing active or pending enrollment blocks a second attempt.
Prerequisite status on the card is informational; the server-side enrollment check separately covers activity, access, deadline, duplication, and capacity.
Error messages are intentionally generic: learners see the reason category (capacity, deadline, access), not internal details.
Common questions
Q: Why can't I enroll even though the course is listed? A: The most common reasons are a passed enrollment deadline, a full enrollment cap, or an unmet prerequisite. The message on screen names the specific reason.
Q: Can two students both get the last seat? A: No. The seat check happens on the server at the moment of enrollment, so only one enrollment succeeds when a single seat remains.
Q: Can I change my mind after enrolling? A: Yes. Select Withdraw on the course card in the Elective Catalog. Your withdrawal is recorded on your enrollment history.
Q: The Enroll button is greyed out. Why? A: Check the card for a Prerequisites not met notice, a Full tag, or Deadline Passed — any of these disables enrollment until it's resolved.
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