Barnard College Barnard College
The Barnard Degree

Choosing Your Courses

The official Barnard Catalogue holds course listings, degree requirements, major and minor requirements, program descriptions and academic policies.

Choosing your classes - steps to ensure smooth registration:

  1. Review your online degree audit in Student Planning to identify classes you still need to take, to satisfy your degree requirements. See which courses satisfy your Foundations general education requirements.

  2. Search for classes: 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.  First-year students take all of their first-year courses at Barnard.  Starting with sophomore year, Barnard students can register for any Columbia class that says it is “open to Barnard” in its course listing. Information about each department’s courses is available at this link.

  3. Add classes to your Plan in Student Planning.  Planning opens 3 weeks prior to the first registration period.

  4. Consult your adviser: All students need their adviser’s permission at two stages of the process: once before their initial registration for the semester, and again to approve their final class schedule on/before the registration deadline (the second Friday of classes each semester).  Before declaring their major, students are assigned a “pre-major” adviser. When declaring a major, a student is connected with an adviser within their major department.

  5. Register for classes: Registration periods are listed on the College’s academic calendar.  Within these periods, students are assigned specific registration appointment times (this short video shows where to find them), which can be viewed in Vergil. Instructions on how to register in Vergil can be found here.

  6. Be sure to register for enough — but not too many — credits: Students can take a maximum of 19 credits each semester. An adviser must grant approval for a student to take more than 19 credits. As a reminder, all students must be registered for a full-time courseload, with a minimum of 12 credits per semester.

  7. Finalize your schedule by the registration deadline: Students can add and drop classes online through the second Friday of the semester.  

For more information, visit the Register for Classes page.