Incoming Student FAQ

Welcome to the College of Arts & Sciences at Ҵýƽ! We know there is a lot to do and keep track of as you preparefor your first semester, so we want to helpmake your transition as smooth as possible! We created this page, organized alphabetically by topic,to address the most common inquiries that we receive from incoming students.

Academic Advisors

Incoming Fall 2025 students are not assigned to academic advisors yet.

Incoming transfer students who have confirmed their enrollment will see their academic advisor assignment on May 10.

Incoming first-year students who have confirmed their enrollment will see their academic advisor assignment on May 24.

On the appropriate date, go to Buff Portal Advising (BPA), Log in as a Current Student, and look at your Student Success Team. Your assigned academic advisor will appear there. You can also check your Ҵýƽ email for a welcome/introduction email from your advisor.

Yes, your academic advisor may change. However, reassignment would happen automatically as appropriate; you do not need to specifically request a change.

Adding a Major or Minor

Incoming students cannot declare an additionalmajoror a minor until classes begin. For further guidance, you can discuss your plans with your assigned academic advisor.

AP/IB Credit

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Yes, but please be aware that you will not receive duplicate credit. Connect with your assigned academic advisor to discuss the potential pros and cons of taking a class for which you have already earned credit.

Buff Portal Advising (BPA)

In general, we find that incoming students report Buff Portal Advising issuesbecause:

  • They havenotconfirmed their enrollment, so they have not officiallymatriculated (been activated) yet.
  • Or, they confirmed their enrollment very recently and/or have not activated their IdentiKey, so theydo not have full access to CU systems yet.

Make sure that you haveconfirmed your enrollment and . After that,please understand that it can still take a few days for things to process.

Actual technical issues are rare in our experience, but if you believe this to be the case, first contact oithelp@colorado.edu for assistance. Then, please feel free to email us at asadvising@colorado.edu, and we would be happy to help you with scheduling while your issue is being resolved.

Incoming Fall 2025 students are not assigned to academic advisors yet.

Incoming transfer students who have confirmed their enrollment will see their academic advisor assignment on May 10.

Incoming first-year students who have confirmed their enrollment will see their academic advisor assignment on May 24.

Changing Majors

Incoming students wishing to change majors must do so through the Office of Admissions. Log into your , and there you should see an option to submit a major change request form. Complete the form to be considered. Major changes are not guaranteed, and there are typically additional steps needed when requesting to change from one college or school into another. If you already changed your major once and are trying torequesta second major change, please contact your admissions counselor. If you do not know who your admissions counselor is, you can use this tool to find their contact information: .

Class Search

Generally speaking, information you see in the Class Search is likely tochange by the time you actuallyregister because a number of seats are being reserved in selected courses for each registration period. Our advising team is prepared to support you through registration and make sure all incoming students are enrolled in an appropriate schedule of classes.

Deferring Admission

You can request to defer your enrollment for up to one year byusing the term change form on your . Fill it out with the updated term you plan to start at Ҵýƽ, the reason(s) for the deferral, and what you will be doing during the deferment period.

For more information, read the Term Change FAQ page.

Dual/Concurrent Enrollment Credit

You should have login access to the college/institution that you were dually enrolled in and be able to request that a final, official transcript be sent directly from that college/institution to transcripts@colorado.edu. You cannot download and submit your own transcripts, as they will not be considered official.

New Student Orientation Sessions

You can do this through your .

Early orientation sessions are not necessarily betterthan the later ones. Many key classes will have a set number of seats reserved for each session, so studentsin everysession will have the same opportunity toaccess them.More important than the session itself is making sureyou have prepared your cart ahead of time and areready to enroll during your session.

Online Experience

Contact New Student & Family Programs at welcome@colorado.edu or 303-492-4431.

The Online Experience hold maynot be released immediately upon completion. It is typical for there to be somedelay between completion and the release of the hold. However, if you believe that you completed the Online Experience more than 3 days ago and still have the hold, contact New Student &Family Programs at welcome@colorado.edu or 303-492-4431.

Placement Assessments

You can find more information and the links to the placement assessments here. Please review the page carefully, as it outlines who would need to take each assessment and why. If you still have questions, your assigned academic advisor can offer specific guidance.

Please note it is highly recommended, and in some cases required, to have assessments completed prior to your scheduled orientation to register for appropriate classes for your major.

Registration

Registration will occur during the second day of your scheduled in-person or virtual New Student Orientation session. Advisors will be available to support students during their enrollment period.

To be considered a full-time undergraduate student,you must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours. We recommend 14-16 credit hours for your first semester.

If you have a declared major, you may have been automatically pre-enrolled inclassesyour majorrecommends studentstake intheir first semester. We recommend taking these coursesunless you plan to change your major, as these courses will ensure you begin making progress toward your intended major. We also recommend you try to remain in the class section/s that you are originally placed in. Attempting to switch sections may cause difficulties if you lose your spot in one section and then cannot join a different one.

In general, you should not make any changes to these classes without consulting with your assigned academic advisor first. For example, if you believe you will receive credit for one or more of your pre-enrolled courses based on your AP/IB exam scores, please connect with your advisor to discuss alternative course options.

Special program registration is a separate process that happens outside of New Student Orientation sessions. Students participating in these programs will receive instructions directly from the program, so make sure you are carefully monitoring your Ҵýƽ email!

Please note: If you were invited to participate in the Honors Program, but you are not in the Honors RAP, then it is not a separate process and you will be able toregister for an Honors class during your orientation session. An easy way to look for Honors Program classes is to find the “Other Attributes” filter at the bottom of Class Search and select “Arts & Sciences Honors Course (HONR)”.

We cannot reopen registration for you or manually enroll you in classes. There will be a schedule adjustment period for transfer students that begins on July 23 and will remain open through open enrollment. Open enrollment for first-year students will begin on August 14.

First make sure that the class does not have any other restrictions besides pre/corequisites, such as being restricted to students who are declared in a specific major or minor. You should be able to see any additional restrictions in the Class Notes section in Class Search. Connect with your assigned academic advisor for additional assistance.

You will not be able to waitlist for a class during your New Student Orientation session, but you will be able to do so during the schedule adjustment period. In the meantime, look for alternative sections of your desired class or alternative classes.

Please note: individual academic departments control/manage waitlists for their classes. Advisors do not have the ability to push a student into a full class, add a student to a waitlist, change a student's waitlist position, etc.

Transcripts

  • Your final, official high school transcript.
  • If you took college-level classes during high school, the final, official transcript from that institution is also needed (not just your high school transcript).
  • Final, official transcript/s from any other higher education institutions you have attended.

Final, official transcripts must be submitted directly from the issuing institution/s to transcripts@colorado.edu. You cannot submit your own transcripts, as they will not be considered official.

If you are transferring in college-level credits:InBuff Portal, navigate to Class Registration Guide -> Plan -> View Degree Audit -> Transfer Evaluations tab. If you see “UNOFFICIAL EVAL” and “Need Official Transcript” underneath your transfer credits, it means your final, official transcripts have not yet been received and processed.

If you only have a high school transcript:feel free to contact asadvising@colorado.edu and wecan check for you.