First-Year Pre-Registration Process

This process helps you jump-start your first registration period as a Carolina student. We want to make sure you are enrolled in courses that you are required to take in your first year as soon as possible so you can focus on other pre-arrival tasks. It is recommended that all first years take at least two First-Year Foundations courses in their first semester at Carolina, so pre-registration is a way to help you do that.

Once you are enrolled at UNC and matriculated, you will receive an email from Undergraduate Admissions with the survey link. Beginning in mid-April, you can also access the survey directly from the First-Year checklist page on the Admissions website. See “By May 29” section.

The deadline to complete the First-Year Pre-Registration Survey is 11:59pm, May 29. We recommend completing the survey in one sitting, but you do have the ability to save your progress and return to it later. All survey responses must be submitted (you will receive a confirmation email after submitting) by 11:59pm on May 29, or your answers will not be recorded, and we will not be able to pre-register you in classes of your choice. We will still attempt to pre-register all incoming first-year students in at least one required First-Year Foundations class.

Good news! All classes listed in the survey satisfy First-Year Foundations requirements in the IDEAs in Action Curriculum. As a first-year student, you are required to complete the First-Year Foundations requirements in your first year. Some of these classes also fulfill major and additional IDEAs in Action Curriculum requirements, such as Focus Capacities or Reflection & Integration requirements. We suggest that you select classes in the survey that interest you, knowing they will fulfill requirements that you have to take anyway. You can always drop them later during your summer registration session if they don’t work out with your schedule or you later decide you are no longer interested in that class.

No. Pre-registration is meant to jump start your registration process to get some required classes on your schedule. If they don’t ultimately work with your schedule or you decide you’re no longer interested in the class, you are welcome to drop one or all of your pre-registered classes during your first-year registration session over the summer.

You can take the following steps to ensure you can access the survey.

1. Make sure to set up your UNC username (also known as your “ONYEN”) and your UNC email address. You can find instructions to set these up on the Admissions website. Please be aware that it takes up to 24 hours after you set up your ONYEN for it to populate in the system and allow you to log into the First-Year Pre-Registration Survey.
2. The survey works best in Firefox and Chrome; if you are not using one of these web browsers, we encourage you to try this step next. If you are using these browsers, please clear your history, cookies and cache, and retry the survey.

If you continue to have issues accessing the survey 24 hours after you created your ONYEN and UNC email address, please email us at pre-registration-help@unc.edu and include your name, PID, and a screenshot of the error message you received. We’ll escalate this to our IT support partners.

Please send us an email at pre-registration-help@unc.edu. A member of our team will be in touch to help you.

These are special, smaller versions of large introductory courses. They introduce you to a certain major and help you make a connection early on with an instructor. First-Year Launches fulfill a requirement in your prospective major while also fulfilling your FY-SEMINAR/FY-LAUNCH First-Year Foundations requirement in the IDEAs in Action Curriculum.

1. Some First-Year Launches have pre- or corequisites. The First-Year Seminar/First-Year Launch Brochure shows the pre- or corequisites for each class. If you have taken placement exams or transferred in credit from another institution, check the transfer credit page on the Admissions website to be sure you will receive credit for the pre- or corequisites.
2. Students cannot transfer in credit for or place out of the First-Year Launch First-Year Foundations requirement, but you can transfer into or place out of the class that a specific First-Year Launch section is based on (e.g. PSYC 101, BIOL 101, CHEM 102, etc.). If you have taken placement exams or transferred in credit from another institution, check the Admissions website’s transfer credit page. If you will receive credit for the course the First-Year Launch is based on, do not include this First-Year Launch in your list of 10 preferred First-Year Seminars and First-Year Launches.

If the class has a “H” at the end of the catalog number (e.g., AMST 55H-001), it is an honors class. These classes are reserved for Honors Carolina students and are not included in the survey. You may have the option to enroll in one of these classes in August, depending on seat availability.

No, the First-Year Pre-Registration survey is for non-Honors students. You will be contacted separately by the Honors Carolina program about their pre-registration process and your fall classes.

Through the CAA, you will fulfill most of the First-Year Foundations requirements and many other General Education requirements in the IDEAs in Action Curriculum (See: Information for North Carolina Early College Students); however, you are still eligible to enroll in First-Year Foundations classes. Completing this survey is the best way to let us know your plans as a student coming in under the CAA. If you don’t want to be pre-registered into First-Year Foundations, you must indicate that on the survey. If you do want to be pre-registered, you can select your preferred classes in the survey. Most CAA students prefer not to be pre-registered.