Prerequisite Approvals and Early Enrollment

If you plan to take a course at CU Boulder for which you completed the prerequisite(s) at another institution, and/or take a course for which Individually Designed Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health students have early enrollment privileges, follow the instructions below. The Enrollment Services team in Continuing Education will need to enroll you in the course; you cannot enroll yourself.

Prerequisite Approvals

If you completed General Chemistry 1 at another institution, earned an A or B in it, and would like to move on to General Chemistry 2 at CU Boulder, follow these steps to obtain prerequisite approval:

  1. Send an email to chemundergrad@colorado.edu with the appropriate transcript attached to request a prerequisite check and permission to enroll in General Chemistry 2.
     
  2. When you receive a reply from the Chemistry department stating that you have permission to enroll in General Chemistry 2, save that email reply as a PDF.
     
  3. Submit the Continuing Education Course Request Form, attaching the PDF of the Chemistry department's email reply as documentation
     
  4. Once non-degree registration opens, Continuing Education's Enrollment Services team will enroll you in the course; you cannot enroll yourself.
     
    • For fall/spring courses, registration typically opens the week before classes start. Check this webpage for specific dates.
       
    • For summer courses, registration opens in early March. Check this webpage for specific dates.

If you are planning to take General Chemistry 1 and General Chemistry 2 in the same summer at CU Boulder, the enrollment system may prevent you from enrolling in General Chemistry 2. If that happens, please follow these steps:

  1. Using Buff Portal, enroll yourself in Gen Chem 1 lecture and lab (CHEM 1113 and 1114) -- note that you must complete both the lecture and the lab to move on to Gen Chem 2.
     
  2. Fill out Continuing Ed's Course Request Form so ask our Enrollment Services team to enroll you in B Term General Chemistry 2 lecture and lab (CHEM 1133 and 1144 -- be sure to indicate which sections you want).

If you have questions, please contact our Enrollment Services team at ceregistration@colorado.edu or 303-492-5148.

If you plan to take Organic Chemistry 1 and/or 2 at CU Boulder but completed the prerequisites at another institution, earning an A or B in the prerequisites, follow these steps to obtain prerequisite approval:

  • Meet with a Continuing Education academic advisor or send an email to our academic advising team at ceadvise@colorado.edu with the relevant transcript(s) attached to ask for a prerequisite check. If the specific course you took at your prior institution has already been approved as an equivalent course to CU Boulder's prerequisites, then our academic advisors can enter your prerequisite approval themselves. (Please allow up to 3 business days for a response if you send an email.)
     
    • If your specific course is not listed as a direct equivalent, then you will need to send your transcript to Dr. Jacquie Richardson in the Chemistry department to ask for a more in-depth prerequisite review. In that case, send your transcript to jacqueline.richardson@colorado.edu. If she writes back to say that you have been approved to take Organic Chemistry 1 or 2 at CU Boulder, save her email reply as a PDF.
       
  • Submit the Continuing Education Course Request Form.
     
    • If you had your prerequisite checked by Dr. Jacquie Richardson, attach the PDF of her email reply when you submit that form.
       
  • Continuing Education post-baccalaureate students are eligible for Early Enrollment in Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 if you submit your Course Request Form during the Early Enrollment period. See additional details below. For reference:
     
    • Fall courses: The Early Enrollment window typically runs from late April through mid-June. Non-degree enrollment re-opens one week before classes begin.
       
    • ​Spring courses: The Early Enrollment period typically opens in late November. There is no closed period for spring course enrollment.
       
    • Summer courses: Students can enroll themselves in summer courses by following the Summer Session enrollment dates for non-degree students.

If you plan to take Anatomy or Physiology at CU Boulder but completed the prerequisites at another institution, earning a C- or better in the prerequisites*, follow these steps to obtain prerequisite approval:

  • Send the relevant transcript to IPHYinfo@colorado.edu to request a prerequisite check. If you receive a reply stating that you have been approved to take Anatomy or Physiology at CU Boulder, save that email reply as a PDF.
     
  • Submit the Continuing Education Course Request Form, attaching the PDF of the email reply from IPHYinfo@colorado.edu when you submit that form.
     
  • Continuing Education post-baccalaureate students are eligible for Early Enrollment in Anatomy lecture, Anatomy lab, and Physiology lecture if you submit your Course Request Form during the Early Enrollment period. See additional details in the expandable section below. For reference:
     
    • Fall courses: The Early Enrollment window typically runs from late April through mid-June. Non-degree enrollment re-opens one week before classes begin.
       
    • ​Spring courses: The Early Enrollment period typically opens in late November. There is no closed period for spring course enrollment.
       
    • Summer courses: Students can enroll themselves in summer courses by following the Summer Session enrollment dates for non-degree students.

* Note that, for the purposes of pre-health preparation, it often is advisable to repeat the prerequisites for these courses if your grade was below a B. Talk to your pre-health advisor if you have questions about how best to proceed. 

In general, if you wish to take a course that is restricted to students with certain majors (IPHY is the most common), it is likely that you will be given permission to enroll if seats are still available once the semester has started. (To get a sense of the likelihood that seats may remain available, you can check the classes.colorado.edu course search to see if the course was full to capacity in the same semester in a prior year.) Please follow the steps below:

  1. First, contact the department or instructor to ask for permission to take the course as a non-degree-seeking post-baccalaureate student. (For IPHY courses, send an email to IPHYinfo@colorado.edu.) If the course has prerequisites that you have completed at another institution, include the relevant transcript to show that you have met the prerequisites.
     
  2. Once you receive approval to take the course from the department or instructor, submit the Continuing Education Course Request Form, attaching the PDF of the email reply from the instructor or department when you submit that form. 

If you plan to take any other course at CU Boulder for which you completed the prerequisites at another institution, proceed with one of the following options to have your transfer credit evaluated:

Option 1:

  • Send an email to our academic advising team (ceadvise@colorado.edu) to ask for a prerequisite check. If you are an established pre-health post-baccalaureate student, let them know that that the relevant transcript already has been uploaded to your student file. Otherwise, attach the relevant transcript. (Please allow up to three business days for an email reply.)
    In your email, include the course number and specific section number that you want to enroll in. (If the course is waitlisted and you need to be flexible about which section you'd be willing to take if you roll in off the waitlist, provide all of the section numbers that you are considering.

    If the course you have taken previously is accepted as equivalent transfer credit at CU Boulder, the academic advisor will add a permission to your student file so that you can enroll yourself in the course once registration opens.
     
    • Please be aware that our advisors may need to refer you to the instructor or department for approval if your prerequisite course is not listed as an equivalent course in our transfer tables.

Option 2:

  • If you already are planning to meet with an academic advisor in Continuing Education to discuss logistics and procedures related to your enrollment at CU Boulder, ask the advisor during that meeting to complete a prerequisite check. Be ready to provide the course number and specific section number that you want to enroll in. (If the course is waitlisted and you need to be flexible about which section you'd be willing to take if you roll in off the waitlist, you'll need to provide all of the section numbers that you are considering.)

    If the course you have taken previously is accepted as equivalent transfer credit at CU Boulder, the academic advisor will add a permission to your student file so that you can enroll yourself in the course once registration opens.
     
    • To schedule a time to meet with a Continuing Education academic advisor, use Buff Portal Advising (after logging in, click on the Continuing Education tile, then use the "Select a Service" dropdown menu to select "Academic Advising") or call our office at (303) 492-5148.
       
    • Please be aware that our advisors may need to refer you to the instructor or department for approval if your prerequisite course is not listed as an equivalent course in our transfer tables.

Early Enrollment for Select Courses

Individually Designed Post-Bacc students can be enrolled early in the main campus sections of the following courses by our Enrollment Services team in fall and spring (note that there is minimal to no wait to enroll in evening, online, or summer courses):

  • Organic Chemistry 1 lecture and lab (CHEM 3311 and 3321)
  • Organic Chemistry 2 lecture and lab (CHEM 3331 and 3341)
  • Anatomy lecture (IPHY 3410) and lab (IPHY 3415)
  • Physiology lecture (IPHY 3430) and lab (IPHY 3435)

Please follow the instructions below to submit your Early Enrollment Course Request.
Students cannot enroll themselves in courses during the Early Enrollment window. The Enrollment Services team in Continuing Education must process your request.

For fall and spring main campus courses, the Early Enrollment window for Individually Designed Post-Baccalaureate students opens three weeks after the start of the enrollment period for main campus students.

For fall semesters only, the Early Enrollment window closes in mid-June, on the date when enrollment closes for main campus students. If you miss the Early Enrollment window for fall courses, we regret that you must wait for the regular non-degree enrollment window to open, which is typically one week before classes begin. The opening date for regular non-degree enrollment is posted on the ACCESS Dates and Deadlines webpage.

Fall 2024

  • The early enrollment window for Fall 2024 for Individually Designed post-baccalaureate students opened on April 21 and closed on June 13, 2024.
  • The regular enrollment period for Fall 2024 for non-degree students opened on August 19, 2024.

​Spring 2025

  • The early enrollment period for spring courses for Individually Designed post-baccalaureate students opens on November 25. There is no closed period for spring course enrollment.

Summer 2025

  • If you completed any of the prerequisites for the course at another school, you must first complete the steps listed in the Prerequisite Approval section above.
     
  • Prior to the close of the Early Enrollment window for a given semester (listed above), submit Continuing Education's Course Request Form, attaching prerequisite approval documentation if necessary.