Course Restrictions

Last updated January 5 2026

Please check back regularly for additions or changes after this date.

A restriction is a means of identifying which student cohorts are permitted to register in a course. Enrolment may be restricted to particular programs, specializations or semester levels during certain time periods. See below for details about two types of restrictions:

• Temporary First-Year Restrictions
• Priority Access Restrictions

The restrictions are on all sections of that course and include the Co-op major, unless otherwise noted.

Note: this page does not provide a complete list of course restrictions. For more information about a course restriction, please first check the website of the department offering the course; a list of department websites is below. If you have additional questions, contact the department or Academic Advising office.

Temporary First-Year Restrictions

The following first-year courses have been temporarily restricted to students who have less than or equal to 5.00 credits in total that are completed, in progress, and already enrolled for the upcoming semesters. Exception: the limit is 5.25 for BENG. Some of these courses are also restricted to certain degree/diploma programs or specializations (as noted in the list below). Specializations include majors, minors and areas of concentration. These specializations are ONLY restricted to first-year UNLESS there is a notation "all years", in which case the course is open to all levels of the specializations listed.

Based on enrolment, departments will determine if these restrictions can be lifted. If a course restriction can be lifted, this will occur at 2 PM on Wednesday, July 23. All students will have the opportunity to enrol in these courses on WebAdvisor at that time (space permitting and provided the student meets any prerequisite[s] or remaining restriction[s] on the course).

Priority Access Restrictions

Some high-demand courses are designated "Priority Access" for enrolment management purposes. The department offering the course determines if access will be restricted to a certain population of students on a priority basis. Priority Access Restrictions are indicated in the course’s description in WebAdvisor's Course Catalog and in the Academic Calendar. Based on enrolment, some Priority Access Restrictions may remain in place for the entire course selection period, while others may be lifted July 23 at 2pm (see dates in table below).

A list of Priority Access courses is below with details about the restrictions (i.e., which group[s] have priority). The restriction is on all Winter 2026 sections of that course and includes the Co-op major unless otherwise noted.

Additional Information

The department websites below provide additional details about their course offerings, including restrictions, space availability and contact information.

• Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition: FRHD and some NUTR courses
• Department of Sociology and Anthropology: ANTH and SOC courses
• Department of Geography, Environment & Geomatics: GEOG, IDEV and INDG courses
• Department of Political Science: CCJP, JLS and POLS courses
• Department of Psychology: PSYC courses (see "important dates" link)
• Guelph Institute of Development Studies: IDEV courses
• Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics: ACCT, ECON, FARE, FIN, HROB, HTM, MCS, MGMT, REAL and SPMT courses
• Bachelor of Computing Academic Advising Office: CIS courses
• Bachelor of Engineering Academic Advising Office: ENGG courses
• Bachelor of One Health and Bachelor of Science Academic Advising Office: BIOC, BIOL, BIOM, CHEM, HK, MATH, MBG, MICR, NEUR, some NUTR, PHYS, STAT, TOX and ZOO courses
• OAC Academic Advising Office: Courses relevant to BBRM, BLA, B.Sc. (Agr.), BIESP, B.Sc. (Env.) and DTM students. See the "News" section for course updates.