Registration for Spring 2026 Opens for First-Year Students on Thursday, November 20 and Friday, November 21

Registration for the Spring 2026 semester will open on Vergil for first years on Thursday, November 20 and Friday, November 21.  Please check Vergil for your specific registration appointment windows, and refer to Registrar Simmons’ email of November 11 for detailed information about registration. For first-year specific information, read on. At this time, only Barnard courses will be available for registration. Please review this list of Barnard classes that are holding space for first-year students as you are considering class selections.   

You will have a second opportunity to register for classes on December 8-12, and then again during the first two weeks of the Spring term (January 20-30). During these registration periods, a small number of pre-approved Columbia classes that were not available for registration in November will be available for registration on Vergil. If there is space available in a class that appears in the list below, you are welcome to register for it directly.  If the class is full, and running a waitlist, you may certainly join that waitlist and see what happens during the first two weeks of the Spring term.  As there are no guarantees that a space will become available in a full course, it would be wise to have a plan B. 

Categories of Columbia Classes that are available for registration in December and January as exceptions to the First Year @ Barnard requirement:

1. A class in a language or level of language not offered at Barnard 

2. Musical instrument instruction

3. The following introductory courses in certain majors

Computer Science:

• COMS W1004 Introduction to Computer Science

• COMS W3134 Data Structures in Java

• COMS W3157 Advanced Programming

• COMS W3203 Discrete Mathematics

• COMS UN1404 Emerging Scholars Program Seminar

Environmental Science:

• EESC UN2100 Earth’s Environmental Systems: Climate Systems

• EESC UN2200 Earth’s Environmental Systems: Solid Earth

• EESC UN1010 Geological Excursion to Death Valley

• SDEV UN2300 Challenges of Sustainable Environment

Mathematics:

• MATH UN1205 Accelerated Multivariable Calculus

• MATH UN1207 Honors Math A

• MATH UN1208 Honors Math B

• MATH UN2015 Linear Algebra and Probability

• MATH UN1215 Accelerated Multivar Calculus

• MATH UN1202 Calc IV

Statistics:

• STAT UN1101 Introduction to Statistics 

• STAT UN1201 Introduction to Calculus-based Statistics 

• STAT UN2102 Applied Statistical Computing

Sociology:

• SOCI UN1000 The Social World

Exceptions to this list are unlikely to be approved. If you have a compelling case for one, please speak with your pre-major adviser about the petition process. And again – have a back-up plan.

Nov 11 Email from Registrar about Registration for the Spring 2026 Semester

 

Dear Students,   Registration for spring classes starts next week, in Vergil. Seniors begin registration on Monday; Juniors on Tuesday; Sophomores on Wednesday; First-years on Thursday.     THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR REGISTRATION TIME   •    Add Classes to your Planner in Vergil:    •    Search for courses in the Vergil Course Search and click the “Add to Plan” button •    You can search by subject, by department, by GER, by classes with open seats, etc. See screenshots here. •    The status of all classes will show as “Restricted” before your registration time starts, but you can still add them to your plan. When your registration appointment begins, the class status will change to Open, Full or Wait List (see details below). •    Make sure the Term in the upper-right corner is Spring 2026. •    We highly recommend adding classes to your Planner before your registration window opens.   •    Complete the Terms and Conditions for spring 2026 in Vergil:  •    Log in to Vergil.  •    Click on the orange tile at the top in order to read and acknowledge the Terms and Conditions, which includes a Financial Responsibility Statement. •    You can do this step before your registration appointment. You will not be able to register until it is completed.   •    Complete the College’s BEAR survey and the included Title VI training: •    This is a pre-registration requirement and must be completed to avoid a registration hold in Vergil. The deadline was Tuesday, November 4. If you did not complete the survey, you now have a registration hold. •    To complete the survey and have your hold lifted, check your email to find your unique survey link. •    Please note that holds are only lifted Monday through Friday, and it can take up to 48 hours for a hold to be released. We urge you to complete the survey immediately so that you can register for classes during your allocated time. •    For questions, contact oie@barnard.edu or call 212-853-6304. All holds related to this survey will be managed by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. (Please do not contact the Registrar’s Office, as we will not be able to assist you with this hold.)   •    Check for Holds that will prevent registration.   •    If you have a hold, you will see a message at the top of the Vergil pages that says “There is a Hold on your record that is blocking registration.” Click on the “resolve your Holds” link to view the specific hold and how to resolve it.     •    Contact your adviser:   •    You are expected to have an advising meeting with your adviser before you register, to discuss class selections and areas of academic interest.   •    Your adviser will review and approve your course registration at the end of next week.   •    Find your registration appointment times:   •    Look up your upcoming registration times for Spring 2026 in Vergil. Be sure the term in the upper-right is set to Spring 2026.   •    Contact registrar@barnard.edu immediately with any questions.     THINGS TO KNOW DURING REGISTRATION   •    REGISTER IN VERGIL:  Again this semester, Barnard students will be using Columbia’s Vergil registration system to register for classes. Registration will be open in Vergil from Monday, November 17 through Friday, November 21.   •    You can register from “My Planner”, or directly from the Course Search (using the “Register” button) •    You can see real-time seat availability and class status •    Open = there are seats available •    Full = the class is full •    Waitlist = All interested students must join the waitlist (even if the class has open seats) •    Restricted = the class is not open to Barnard students, or there is another reason you cannot add the class (e.g. you have already exceeded the 19-credit limit, the class conflicts in time with another class you are registered for, you have a registration hold, it is not your registration time, etc.). Look for the hint message that will explain the reason for the restriction. Email registrar@barnard.edu with any questions. •    Videos on how to register in Vergil are here. •    19 credit maximum: Vergil will allow you to register for a maximum of 19 credits.  Permission to register for more than 19 credits can be requested in January.   •    Use the “Swap” feature to switch from one section of a class to a different open section. Click the “Manage” button on a registered class to see the Swap option.  (Vergil will not allow you to register for two sections of the same class.)  •    Co-requisites: For classes that have co-requisites (such as a lecture with a required discussion section or lab), you will be reminded to add both components of the class. The system will allow you to register for just the lecture and add the other components later if needed. •    Info on registering for “special” courses (e.g. voice lessons, P.E., graduate courses at Columbia, etc.) is here. •    P/D/F Elections: You can elect the p/d/f grading option for one Spring 2026 class in Vergil, either at the time of registration or anytime before the deadline.   •    WAITLISTS:  You can join a max of 3 waitlists at a time.   •    Some Barnard classes will not have a waitlist option during this registration period.  They will appear as Full with no option to “Join Waitlist.” You will have another opportunity to register for these classes in December, when there may be additional seats available and/or a waitlist option. •    Some waitlists will have special instructions, such as a request to explain why you want to join a class, or an application to complete/upload. •    After joining an auto-fill waitlist, you will be able to see your position on the waitlist in Vergil, on the right-hand panel.   •    WHAT’S STILL IN STUDENT PLANNING? •    Your online degree audit. •    Newly registered courses will be added to your degree audit on a nightly basis. (It is not real-time from Vergil.) Planned and waitlisted classes will not display in the audit. •    Your Barnard transcript, which is the official record of your classes, grades and GPA. •    Although some academic record information displays in Vergil, it is limited to only Barnard/Columbia classes. (Vergil does not reflect transfer credit, study abroad credit, AP/IB credit, etc.) Because of this, you may find that your total credits and GPA in Vergil do not match your Barnard transcript. This is ok as long as your Barnard transcript is correct.   •    WHAT’S STILL IN SLATE? •    List of classes that satisfy Foundations (General Education) requirements. •    Forms to update your contact information. •    Academic forms (e.g. major declaration, request to withdraw from a class, summer course approval form, etc.).   •    NEED HELP?:   •    Visit our Vergil Registration resource site for additional resources. •    Email Us with any questions. •    Drop in to our office at 105 Milbank.   Best wishes,   Jennifer Simmons Registrar