How to enrol in classes

MyTimetable

There are two ways you can enrol: using MyTimetable or using Mosaic. MyTimetable is the newest online self-service tool for undergraduate students that allows you find an optimal and conflict-free timetable and direct class enrolment. Any classes you enrol in or drop from MyTimetable will be immediately reflected in Mosaic.

Undergraduate Calendar

The undergraduate calendar is the official document where you can find all degree, program and course requirements, along with rules and regulations for the academic year. 

Enrolment Appointment

The date and time you are assigned to enrol in classes based on your academic level. You can use MyTimetable to create your schedule prior to your enrolment appointment by adding to your shopping cart but can only “check out” (submit) those classes after your enrolment appointment date/time opens. Enrolment appointments are randomly assigned and cannot be changed. 

Course Catalogue

A historical list of all courses that are currently or have been offered at McMaster, with descriptions and additional course details.

Dynamic Class

A dynamic class does not follow the regular start and end dates, drop and add dates or withdrawal dates for undergraduate students. After you enrol in the class, you will be able to check the dates by clicking on the ‘Deadlines’ for the class under ‘My Class Schedule’ in the Student Centre.

Class Search

A master timetable of courses offered during the current academic year.

Academic Advising

Picking your courses can be overwhelming. Academic Advisors in your Faculty are here to help! Advisors can answer questions about your program, picking courses, course requirements and more.

Component

Each course is made up of one or more components, such as lectures, labs, tutorials, and seminars. Each component may have multiple sections, or groups of students, and where there are multiple sections, you may have some choice in selecting sections for each component of the course.

Synchronous

Synchronous learning is any activity in a course that happens live in real-time, whether in person or online.

Asynchronous

Asynchronous learning is all the other activities in a course that you can complete online, in a self-paced manner, on your own time.

Instruction Mode

During course selection, each course component will be marked with a distinct instruction mode that will indicate if it is virtual, online, or has elements of in-person learning.

If you are enrolling in a course or course component designated as in-person, there will be varying levels of in-person engagement throughout the term. Please note that you are expected to attend any in-person components of such courses on campus for the duration of the term.

If you are not able to attend any in-person components, it is recommended that you register in another course that is offered virtually or online. If the in-person course is a degree requirement where you have no other course options, please contact your Associate Dean’s/Program Office where you may request consideration based upon extenuating circumstances. Please note that not all programs are able to offer consideration and that you may have to defer the course if you are not able to attend campus.

Access MyTimetable

You can access MyTimetable two ways:

  1. Log into Mosaic and go to the Create MyTimetable tile on the homepage.
  2. Or, go to the MyTimetable link in the Student Center in Mosaic.
  3. Once logged in, you will be able to search, sort, select your optimal timetable.
  4. Check enrolment dates for when MyTimetable will become available and when you will receive your enrolment date.
  5. On the day of your enrolment appointment, you will be able to move your selected schedule from the shopping cart and enrol.
Go to MyTimetable

Plan your schedule

You can access MyTimetable before your enrolment begins. This allows you to save schedules to your favourites and easily pull them up when it’s your time to enrol. You may want to save multiple favourites for each semester in case any classes fill up or if the timing you want becomes no longer available. Need help picking your courses? Academic Advisors in your Faculty can answer questions about your program, picking courses, course requirements and more.

To add courses to your shopping cart:

  1. Search for and select the classes you want.
  2. Once you have found your ideal schedule, go to ‘Get this Schedule’. On the next screen under “Action” you’ll see that it has been set to ‘Add to Cart’.
  3. Go to “Do Actions” and the “Results” column will update to let you know that it has been added to your shopping cart.
  4. Go to “Return to Select Courses”.
  5. View the results for each course and make changes as needed.

Even though these classes are in your shopping cart, you are not enrolled yet and a spot is not held for you. You will have to wait until enrolment opens for you before you can successfully add these classes.

Checking requirements and prerequisites

You can find course requirements and prerequisites in the Academic Calendar. You can also review the catalogue description in MyTimetable – just go to ‘show more’ on each class in the left-hand column.

Dates, times and locations

When you search for a course through the ‘Add Courses’ section, the date, time and location of the class will appear on the timetable in the results section, under each course.

Full courses and course availability

Both class and enrolment information are refreshed every 30 seconds so full courses shown on MyTimetable are accurate and up-to-date.

Courses with a green circle are available and courses with a blue box are full. At this point we do not offer a wait-list for full classes.

Screenshot of course availability in MyTimetable

Time blocking

You can click and drag to block out certain times in the schedule based on your commitments. The timeslot will appear grey once you have done this.

Time blocking won’t remove any timetables, just re-order the results so the ones that work best with your personal time constraints are at the top of the list. This way, you can really see all your options and make an informed decision about what works for you.

To remove a time block, just click on the grey area for the timeslot that you no longer want to block. The block will be removed to show that you are available.

Sorting results

In some cases, you may be facing tens or hundreds of possible options for your schedule. You can use the sort preferences found in the top right-hand corner of the results section to bring more favourable results to the front. While this will not eliminate other options, it allows the more favourable ones appear first so that you can scroll through less schedules before finding your favourite one.

You can sort your schedule results by going to ‘Sort Preferences’ on the right-hand side of the screen to include:

  • None
  • Most days off
  • Morning classes
  • Mid-day classes
  • Evening classes
  • Time off campus
  • Most on-campus

Based on what preferences you select, your results may change.

If you come up with too many schedule possibilities while selecting courses, we recommend reducing the number of enabled classes or pin some classes before adding more courses. This will help you narrow down a timetable.

Pin courses

When you find a course section that you really want to keep, pin it down and the list will eliminate any timetable options that don’t include your pinned course or section. You can click to pin right on the time grid or in the list of courses. Now when you sort through, the system will hold that class constant and sort other combinations again. Just click again to un-pin.

When a class is unpinned, this may provide more possible schedule results to display searched classes during the day and time of the unpinned class.

To search for a class during a time that you already have a class enrolled, unpin the enrolled class and search for the desired course. The results section will display alternative schedule options.

Favourites

Go to ‘Favourite’ at the start of the page to save a timetable to refer to later. This will open a new panel and all timetables that you favourite can be found here. You can save 5 favourite schedules; this can be done before enrolment opens.

NOTE: Placing a timetable in ‘Favourites’ will NOT reserve a seat. Please complete your enrolment as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. You may want to have multiple favourites saved for each semester in case any classes fill up or if the timing you want becomes no longer available.

Once your enrolment appointment opens and you’ve created the timetable you want using the shopping cart, go to “Get This Schedule”. It’s recommended that you enrol as soon as you can after choosing your timetable. While the class availability updates every 30 seconds, it’s possible that a course which was not full when you were creating your timetable in MyTimetable might be full by the time you register. Note: please use a different browser if you have trouble with enrolment on Google Chrome.

From here, click “Go to Enrol” and you’re done! You can print your schedule by going to the “Print Schedule” link in the top left corner of the “Results” section.

Enrol now

Adding courses to your list

  1. Select a term
  2. Search for a course: In the search box start typing any of the following options:
    • Course code (e.g. ENGLISH, ENG 1A03) or title (e.g. Literature in English: Shorter Genres) or instructor’s name (e.g. Jeffery Donaldson).
  1. Select the desired course from the list that appears.

Repeat step 2 for all desired courses for the term. Conflict-free schedules will generate and appear in the right column. You can go through all options and choose your optimal schedule.

Note: if you select courses but no results appear, this means that a conflict-free schedule cannot be generated from the combination of classes you have selected. Try deselecting one at a time using the checkbox found in the top left-hand corner of the course, to see if conflict-free options appear.

Dropping and removing courses

If you’re currently enrolled in a course, the word “Enrolled” will appear under the course code in the left-hand column. Here’s how to drop the course:

  1. Click on the “x” in the upper right-hand corner of the box for that course. The box will turn grey and the drop down menu in the box will show “Drop Course”.
  2. Go to “Get this Schedule” in the right-hand column.
  3. Go to “Do Actions” and ensure that you receive a success message in the results column.

To remove a course, use the “x” in the upper right-hand corner of the box for that section. To deselect a course without removing it from the list, remove the check mark left of the course code.

Labs and tutorials

All associated course components, including labs and/or tutorials, automatically display in your timetables in order to ensure you can select the most optimal timetable. You don’t need to search for labs and/or tutorials.

If you are looking for a specific core, lab or tutorial, you can select the combination from the drop-down menu found in the box for that course.

When trying to decrease the number of available lecture/lab/tutorial combinations, do NOT deselect the individual lecture/lab/tutorial check boxes on the left.

Use the drop-down menu to pin a class or scroll through the generated results to pin a preferred class.

Screenshot using MyTimetable to pin a class

If you are already enrolled in a course(s), your current timetable will be pre-loaded in MyTimetable and you will be able to review them when you log in.

Having trouble with MyTimetable? You can also enrol with Mosaic.

For enrolment and course related support, contact an Academic Advisor in your faculty. 

For problems logging into Mosaic or accessing the MyTimeTable tile, contact University Technology Services (UTS).

For admissions and financial support, contact the Office of the Registrar.