Students are encouraged to meet with an academic advisor at least once a semester to go over course recommendations for each semester, to make sure that students are staying on track for their preferred graduation timeline and taking courses that align with their interests and goals. Below are resources to help students in the selection, registration, and review of courses.

Course information

You can view what courses are included in the MVS degree here, as well as recommended course paths for degree completion. Course Explorer is the official university-wide site that updates each semester with which courses are being offered across campus. Note that not all courses under the VCM subject code in Course Explorer are a part of our MVS degree curriculum.

Registration time tickets

Students receive a “time ticket” which states the earliest time a student can begin to register for classes. After registration opens, it remains open until the 10th day of the following semester. The approximate week registration opens for graduate students each semester is listed below:

Spring registration: 2nd week of November
Summer registration: 2nd week of April
Fall registration: 2nd week of April

To find your exact “time ticket” date, use Self-Service > Registration & Records > Class Registration > Prepare for Registration. 

Registration process

Go to Student Self-Service.
Select the Urbana-Champaign campus and use your NetID and password to log-in
Select the ‘Registration and Records’ tab
Select ‘Class Registration’ from the menu
Select ‘Register for Classes’
Read and agree to the statement (select ‘I Agree to the Above Statement’)
Select the term
Subject: Veterinary Clinical Medicine (VCM)
Course Number: per recommendation (see email)
Leave ‘Title’ blank
Select ‘Search’
Select the ‘+ Add Course’ button
Select the ‘Submit’ button in the lower right-hand of the screen to officially register. All registration activity is in Pending status until you click Submit.
To add additional classes, select the green ‘Search Again’ button on the right side of the screen and repeat steps 8-11.

Verify your schedule

To confirm that you have registered for all classes, the lower right third of the screen should provide a list of courses. Under ‘status’, the course should say ‘registered’ in a green block. If it says ‘pending’, complete step 11 above. If you have a course missing, you will need to re-add the class (check for error messages).

View your schedule

Go to Student Self-Service.
Select the Urbana-Champaign campus and use your NetID and password to log-in
Select the ‘Registration and Records’ tab
Select ‘Class Registration’ from the menu
Select ‘View Class Schedules’
Select term

Error messages

If you receive an error message when attempting to add a course, please contact your academic advisor with the specific error message you received.

How to find a Course CRN Number

If you need to verify that you are adding the appropriate section of a course, you can use Course Explorer to confirm the CRN number, a unique 5-digit number distinguishing each section of a course.

Go to Course Explorer – https://courses.illinois.edu/
Select ‘Schedule’ tab
Confirm that you are looking at the term you are registering for (you can find the term in the gray banner under the tabs)
Select Subject Code ‘VCM’ (Veterinary Clinical Medicine)
Select the course you are registering for (i.e., VCM 547)
Find the CRN code under the Section Details