We DO NOT permit late adds for undergraduate students. Undergraduate student requests needing department review and/or processing AFTER the close of business (4pm) on the last day of the standard enrollment period (i.e. Friday of week 2 for FWS; Friday of week 1 for summer session 1 & session 2) are considered late adds and will be denied.

Auditing at the sole discretion of the instructor, and must be requested and approved in writing (email request and email approval is fine). If the instructor approves your request to audit their course and the instructor wants to allow you to see their Canvas information, the instructor must log onto Canvas and follow these instructions to add you as an observer (the Department cannot grant you access). Auditors, please keep in mind that auditing does not make you eligible for enrollment; auditing does not make you enrolled or waitlisted for the course and you WILL NOT receive credit for the course, even if you choose to audit for the entire term and/or to complete work for the course. Auditors, please also keep in mind that you are NOT permitted to take exams in the course, nor be present in the classroom during any exams (this would be a violation of Academic Integrity).

Either P/NP or letter-graded courses can be used towards prerequisites, no matter your major/minor/college. But in cases in which the course is double counting as a prereq AND a major requirement, your major dept. gets to decide whether you can take the course on a P/NP basis (our dept. only gets to decide this if you are a physics major). In cases in which the course is double counting as a prereq AND a minor requirement, your minor dept. gets to decide whether you can take the course on a P/NP basis (our dept. only gets to decide this if you are a physics minor). In cases in which the course is double counting as a prereq AND a GE requirement, your college gets to decide whether you can take the course on a P/NP basis. In cases in which you are a non-major, you want to take the course for P/NP grading, and the course is a prereq for a core UD physics course you want to take, see the “Special Prereq Policies for Courses Restricted to Physics Majors.”

Here at UCSD, prereqs belong to the courses themselves and not to any major / minor / GE / professional school / grad-prep program, etc., so there may be situations in which you will need to take courses that are not part of your major/minor/GE/med/grad-prep program if they are listed as prereqs for courses that are part of your major/minor/GE/med/grad-prep program. This particular policy applies to all UCSD courses, not just to physics courses.

If you failed/missed one/more prereqs (including NP grades) you cannot proceed with your proposed enrollment(s). Instead, you must take the failed/missed prereq. UCSD Students: If you fail (or drop) a prereq and do not drop yourself from the course(s) in the subsequent term that require(s) it, the Registrar’s Office will drop you when they run the “Missing Pre-Req Check” during the term in which the prereq is being used (the Check typically runs and drops students prior to the end of week 3). Note: Incomplete grades are considered missing prereqs and will be treated accordingly by the Registrar’s Office.

Planned / Waitlisted courses at UCSD do not count towards prereqs, not even via an EASy request.

Enrolled courses that are in progress at UCSD (but not UCSD Extension) automatically count as prereqs in WebReg when you enroll in a physics course for a subsequent term – no EASy request is required. For example, enrolled summer session 1 courses automatically count as prereqs when enrolling in summer session 2 through WebReg – no EASy request is required.

A non-UCSD course/exam can only be used as a prereq if it has already been approved for equivalency at UCSD and you already have a transcript showing you successfully completed the course/exam. 

If the non-UCSD course/exam does not yet appear on your UCSD record, you must follow the steps below in order to use the non-UCSD course. The steps require you to do the following in the order listed:

1. Confirm/Obtain equivalency for your non-UCSD course/exam.

2. Complete the course/exam and obtain a transcript/score report with the grade/score.

3. Submit an EASy request for preauthorization to enroll with your approved course equivalency documentation and transcript attached. 

PLEASE NOTE: Students will not be approved "prereserve" a seat in a UCSD physics courses while prereqs are in-progress outside of UCSD. No exceptions. 

The core upper-division physics program, which is made up of courses in the Physics 100, 105, 110, 120, 130, and 140 series, is restricted in the course registration system to students currently majoring in physics. Non-majors who are interested in taking a core UD physics course must complete the prereqs as listed and then use EASy to request preauthorization to enroll.

In rare cases, substitute prereqs may be used when requesting preauthorization to enroll in a core UD physics course:

• ECE 107 (B+ grade or higher) may be used in place of PHYS 100A and/or 100B (e.g., for PHYS 130A/B requests, assuming PHYS 4A-B-C-D-E, MATH 18, and MATH 20A-B-C-D-E have already been completed)
• Combo of ECE 35, 45, 65 (B+ grades or higher) may be used in place of PHYS 120 (e.g., for PHYS 122, 124 requests)
• Combo of MAE 105, 107 (B+ grades or higher) may be used in place of PHYS 105A (e.g., for PHYS 105B requests, assuming PHYS 4A-B-C-D-E, MATH 18, and MATH 20A-B-C-D-E have already been completed)

Effective Fall 2024, the PHYS 4C-D-E prereqs will be formally updated as follows:

PHYS 4C: PHYS 4A-B or PHYS 2A-B-C, MATH 20A, 20B, 20C or 31BH, and 18 or 20F or 31AH.

PHYS 4D: PHYS 4A-B-C or the combination of PHYS 4C and PHYS 2A-B-C; MATH 20A, 20B, 20C or 31BH, 20E or 31CH, and 18 or 20F or 31AH.

PHYS 4E: PHYS 4A-B-C-D or the combination of PHYS 4A and 4C and 4D and PHYS 2A-B-C; MATH 20A, 20B, 20C or 31BH, 20D, 20E or 31CH, and 18 or 20F or 31AH.

Your request will be denied if one/more prereqs:

• are in progress outside of UCSD
• would be taken concurrently w/ the requested course
• does not already have an approved equivalency with UCSD 
• is merely "planned" or "waitlisted" at UCSD
• is missing (i.e. it was never taken, was failed, or has an incomplete)

Requests for UD courses restricted to physics majors MAY have additional requirements, such as specific grade/GPA requirements, unique processing times, etc. Requirements may change from time to time (contact the dept. for the most up-to-date information).

 We will not approve your request if you are already enrolled in the course.

You must select the "Unit Limit Exception" request type. We cannot approve a unit limit request for sections w/ 5 or fewer seats available. Content

Rush processing is NOT available. NO EXCEPTIONS. Requests will typically be processed within 5 business days after the date of submission, excluding weekends, breaks, and closures (see campus calendars here). 

 in Physics, a student is only eligible for Credit by Exam for a physics course if:

• They have taken and passed an approved equivalent of our course outside of UCSD and it is deemed by UCSD to be a university-level course but not one that is UC-transferable (eg. courses taken at universities outside of the U.S. that the UC-System does not recognize)

Please note the following regarding Credit by Examination in Physics:

• Approval for Credit by Examination in Physics is at the discretion of the Department after proof of eligibility has been determined. To prove eligibility for Credit by Exam in Physics, you must submit a physics course equivalency request with a complete syllabus from the university level course(s) you took outside of UCSD that Admissions was unwilling to post to your UCSD record. Please Note: High school courses do not qualify for university credit and therefore cannot qualify you for Credit by Exam in Physics. To earn university credit based on high school coursework (eg. AP courses), you must take and pass AP, IB, or A-Level exams and earn qualifying scores. Coursework that has been successfully transferred to UCSD with course equivalency/exemptions cannot qualify for other equivalencies/exemptions via Credit by Exam. No exceptions.
• Exams take place during finals week, only.
• You can only attempt to test out of physics lecture courses.
• You can only attempt to test out of a physics course if you have already satisfied all of the prereqs for the course (you cannot test out of a course if you are currently taking the one/more of the listed prereqs or if you haven't yet successfully completed all listed prereqs).
• You cannot have already received a grade or a W in the course you want to test out of.
• You cannot currently be enrolled in the course you want to test out of.
• You must be in good academic standing to attempt a course via Credit by Exam.

You must request and attend a physics advising appointment no later than week 8 of the regular academic term (or week 3 of the summer session) to go over exam details and to process the required Credit by Exam form (if approved for Credit by Exam, we will draft and process the form and we will route the form to your college). DO NOT attempt to sign-up for Credit by Exam for a physics course or fill out the Credit by Exam form with a physics instructo

Students seeking to enroll in a UCSD Physics course via Concurrent Enrollment must adhere to the prereq policies and protocols above. Requests may be held until after the end of the standard enrollment period for UCSD students, as priority enrollment must be given to continuing UCSD students for UCSD courses.

Students seeking to enroll in a UCSD Physics course via Concurrent Enrollment must adhere to the prereq policies and protocols above. Requests may be held until after the end of the standard enrollment period for UCSD students, as priority enrollment must be given to continuing UCSD students for UCSD courses.

Please see the Special Enrollment Policies effective SP20 through SP21, only