Registration and Holds
You are ultimately responsible for registering for your required courses. You should always consult your graduate faculty advisor/committee.
The best and easiest way to do this is to complete your degree plan, because;
- It is the plan for your courses during your academic career.
- You will have registration holds placed on your record after your first semester of classes if your degree plan is not completed.
It is simply in your best interest to get your degree plan done as soon as possible.
How Do I Register?
The registration process is subject to a registration calendar – the window of time in which you are allowed to register for (or drop) courses. Depending on whether you are a Qatar student or a College Station student, the registration calendar will vary.
Texas A&M main campus calendar
Your first semester, you will need to meet with your faculty advisor to determine what courses you would like to take as there will be prescribed set of courses you’ll need to start with.
All students will register via the Howdy portal. You will need to have set up your netID as you will have to have this to access the Howdy portal.
If for some reason you miss the registration deadlines for either campus you need to contact your department/program to request a “forced registration”. For Qatar student you will need to fill out a request form and submit it to the Office of Records after getting program approval. For College Station students you will need to contact your home department graduate advisor to request this.
How to Register for Distance Learning Courses
Students are not allowed to register for distance learning (7xx-section) courses on their own through the Howdy portal. Petroleum students must email the graduate advisor in petroleum engineering department, Eleanor Schuler, to register for any PETE distance learning courses. To register for distance learning courses in any other department you must contact that department directly.
List of common holds, what they mean and who to contact
- Missing Degree Plan
You didn’t get your degree plan filed like you were supposed to. Now you won’t be able to register. Your degree plan has to have made it to OGS for approval or this hold will appear. It gets worse. It can take time to get your degree plan to this stage so you may not be able to register by the first day of class, which means you may see late registration fees eventually applied to your student account when you FINALLY are able to register. If you see this hold, you need to get your degree plan submitted ASAP and notify QGS. - Missing Admissions Documents
This hold is usually a result of something missing from your original application to graduate school. It could be an official transcript, a passport copy or an expired passport, official test scores, etc. Another often overlooked item missing is your degree statement. This is sometimes part of your transcript but occasionally it is a separate document so double-check that you have this item and have given it to QGS. If you have this hold you need to contact the admission processing folks on main campus. - English Language Proficiency
All international students must meet English Language Proficiency requirements (see ELP). You usually do this through test scores (GRE Verbal, TOEFL or IELTS). If you forget to have these scores reported to TAMU you will certainly see this hold. Notify QGS if you see this and be prepared to get these scores reported ASAP. - ISS Check In/Orientation
This hold usually only shows up for main campus students as International Student Services requires all international students to check in. You may never have been to main campus, however, so you should let QGS know and they will notify ISS. - Health Center/Immunization
Similar to ISS holds, this usually only shows up for main campus students. Please notify QGS so that we can get this hold removed. - Past Due Student Balance
Students are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their tuition and fees are paid in full and on time. If you don’t, you’re going to see this registration hold and the only way to have it removed is to make payment arrangements. If you are a main campus student you need to contact Student Business Services. If you are a Qatar campus student you should contact Finance.