Fall 2024 Course Registration
Students will register for their fall 2024 courses on MyBU Student (https://student.bu.edu/MyBU/). The fall 2024 course schedule builder became available on March 6, 2024.
Fall 2024 Semester COM Registration Calendar
At your registration appointment time, we encourage all students to register for a full fall semester course load. Full-time students generally take 16 units (credits) each semester. Students enrolled in the College of General Studies (CGS) have the same registration access as our COM undergraduates. Please read and note the dates carefully.
UPDATED 4/14/24: Registration appointment times for rising seniors, rising juniors, and rising sophomore will be determined by the last digit of your Boston University ID number. That information will be posted on the Boston University Registrar’s website at https://www.bu.edu/reg/calendars/registration/.
Saturday, April 6 – COM graduate students register via MyBU Student.
Rising Seniors UPDATED 4/14/24 as of 3:30 p.m.
Monday, April 15 – COM rising seniors (COM majors, CGS students, students with an official declared COM minor) register via MyBU Student. Please note: If you were able to successfully register for fall 2024 courses in MyBU Student on Sunday, April 14, before the system went down, those classes will remain and you will see them on your schedule during or after your new enrollment appointment time on Monday, April 15.
Rising Juniors
Sunday, April 21 – COM rising juniors (COM majors, CGS students, students with an official declared COM minor) register via MyBU Student.
Rising Sophomores
Sunday, April 28 – COM rising sophomores (COM majors, CGS students, students with an official declared COM minor) register via MyBU Student.
Non-COM Students Without an Official Declared COM Minor Who Are Seeking COM Courses for Fall 2024
Most COM courses will not be open to you at your assigned registration time. At your assigned registration time, we encourage all students to register for a full fall semester course load. Full-time students generally take 16 units (credits) each semester.
Students seeking an Intra University Transfer (IUT) into the College of Communication must first complete the course COM CO 101 with a grade of a C or better. COM CO 101 for the fall 2024 semester will be available to students at their assigned registration appointment time.
Thursday, August 15 (at midnight as Wednesday, August 14 becomes Thursday, August 15) – Non-COM majors and students without a formally declared COM minor will be eligible to register for select COM courses provided seats remain available. Students will register via MyBU Student.
COM Minor Information
The College of Communication offers five different minors:
Advertising
Public Relations
Media Science
Journalism
Film and Television
Requirements for our COM minors can be found toward the bottom of our Curriculum Guides & Minors webpage or in the COM portion of the BU Bulletin.
Non-COM students will need to formally declare a minor through their home school or college. Students MUST first complete a pre-requisite course to be eligible to formally declare any COM minor. If you have not already completed the course pre-requisite with the minimum grade, you are not eligible to formally declare a COM minor.
The pre-requisite to declare the Advertising, Public Relations, Media Science, or Journalism minor is successful completion of COM CO 201 with a grade of a C or better.
The pre-requisite to declare the Film and Television minor is successful completion of COM FT 201 with a grade of a C or better.
Please note, any BU students who have a COM minor declared, but have not yet met the pre-requisite to declare that minor, will have any COM courses they register for prior to our cross registration date (August 15, 2024) dropped from their fall schedule. The COM minor will also need to be deleted from their record by their home school/college. The one course exception is COM CO 101 that will open to non-COM students at their assigned registration appointment time.
Academic Advising Appointments
COM first-year students (rising sophomores) are required to meet with a COM Undergraduate Affairs academic advisor at least once in the spring 2024 semester. Furthermore, we encourage all COM undergraduates to meet with a COM Undergraduate Affairs advisor at least one time each semester.
Appointments with a COM Undergraduate Affairs academic advisor can be made via Handshake, please visit https://bu.joinhandshake.com/appointments/new, then choose “COM Undergraduate Affairs” from the menu and follow the prompts.
Non-COM students who wish to meet with a COM Undergraduate Affairs academic advisor please email us, at comugrad@bu.edu, before trying to set your first appointment with COM Undergraduate Affairs via Handshake, with your full name and BU ID number so we can tag your Handshake record to make you eligible to use the system to schedule a meeting with our academic advising team.
Due to the overwhelming number of academic advising appointment requests we receive, we strongly encourage you to plan early and set an advising appointment as soon as possible to discuss your registration and other plans. As we approach the fall 2024 registration dates, we anticipate our available appointments reaching capacity.
COM curriculum guides are available on our Curriculum Guides and Minors page for your reference. Please be sure you are referencing the correct guides based on your entry method and date to Boston University.
Fall 2024 Registration Information
To ADD/DROP or CHANGE SECTIONS a student must use MyBU Student and you may only do so on a space available basis (for adding or changing a section).
If a COM course is at capacity, COM Undergraduate Affairs, our advisors, and the COM professor of record for the course cannot add students over the limits enforced via MyBU Student.
If a COM course is full, your best course of action is it to keep an eye on MyBU Student to see if a seat becomes available as another student drops the class or switches sections. We also encourage students to reach out to department offering the COM course to see if there is any waitlist or course demand list that they can be added onto. The Film and Television Department can be reached at filmtv@bu.edu. The Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations Department can be reached at mcadvpr@bu.edu. The Journalism Department can be reached at jodept@bu.edu.
Some COM courses will have seats that are reserved for external transfer students from outside Boston University. Those seats will open via the MyBU Student (if any remain) on August 15, 2024 (at midnight as Wednesday, August 14 becomes Thursday, August 15).
KHC students are encouraged to meet with a KHC advisor as well as an advisor in COM Undergraduate Affairs prior to fall registration.
Enrollment Status
All COM undergraduates (except for some second semester seniors) are expected to be enrolled as full-time students (12 or more units in a semester). The normal academic load in COM is four courses (16 units). Students may take up to 18 units (credits) without incurring extra charges. For more than 18 units (credits), please refer to the Overload Up to 20 Credits Fee Waiver Information Form on our COM Undergraduate Affairs forms page.
Any final semester senior who plans to be part-time (fewer than 12 units in a semester) must be registered in the final courses they need to graduate in January 2025 and then must contact comugrad@bu.edu to request their status to be changed to part-time. Any international students planning to be part-time in their final semester before finishing their degree must also clear this with ISSO.
In rare cases, COM undergraduates who are not in their final semester are allowed to be in part-time (take fewer than 12 units) in a fall or spring semester. This is not allowed for international students who are studying in the United States. Undergraduate COM students in this situation wishing to be part-time must submit a petition to COM Undergraduate Affairs (comugrad@bu.edu) in an effort to request part-time status. The Petition Form and instruction on the process are on our COM Undergraduate Affairs forms page.
Please keep in mind that students have a maximum of seven (7) years in which to complete their degree.
If you have a question or would like to make an appointment with a COM Undergraduate Affairs academic advisor, please visit https://bu.joinhandshake.com/appointments/new, then choose “COM Undergraduate Affairs” from the menu and follow the prompts. We do not accept appointment requests via email, but quicker questions that do not require a full advising appointment can be sent to us at comugrad@bu.edu. Please be sure to include your name and BU ID number.
New COM Students starting at Boston University in September 2024
COM incoming first year students accepted to Boston University for the first time in September 2024 will be contacted via email at a later date about the fall 2024 registration process. BU plans to allow new incoming first-year students (freshmen) to register for fall courses on Monday, June 17.
COM incoming transfer students who will be joining Boston University from an outside (non-BU) college or university for the first time in September 2024 will be contacted at a later date about the fall 2024 registration process. BU plans to allow new incoming external transfer students to register for fall courses on Thursday, June 13.
New COM first-year and COM transfer students will need to have their fall schedule approved by a COM Undergraduate Affairs academic advisor prior to their registration time. COM Undergraduate Affairs will be in touch with information on this process in late May and early June.
All incoming BU students starting at BU for the first time in September 2024 should be sure to sign up for a Boston University orientation session. Information regarding Boston University Orientation is online here.