Graduate School Registration

Registration is the first step in your study at Weill Cornell Graduate School (WCGS). Once registered with WCGS, you will have established your student status and be able to use Weill Cornell's many resources. You must be registered each semester until you finish your degree or withdraw from the program.  In order to be considered a registered student, a student must enroll in at least one course, or enroll in a graduate thesis/dissertation research course. 

Course Enrollment - General Information

Course listings are available on LEARN and all registration occurs in that environment. Registration reminders are disseminated by email before each registration period. Instructions on adding and dropping classes in LEARN are listed below and can also be found in the Common Forms Links section on this page. 

All Graduate students must be registered by the first day of classes of each academic term. 

Both MS and PhD students must be enrolled in coursework every semester. Students should contact their programs with questions about the specific registration requirements.  Specifically, for PhD students:

  • Pre-ACE students must be enrolled in at least three (3) credits of coursework or a Pre-ACE Research course (REST.900X) every fall and spring semester. 
  • Post-ACE students must be enrolled in Post-ACE Dissertation Research (REST.910X) continuously through every fall, spring & summer term.

Full-time Enrollment Definition

  • Full-Time Enrollment for Ph.D. students is 3 credits per semester.
  • Full-Time Enrollment for MS students is 9 credits per semester.

Registration Dates

Please see the Academic Calendar for a detailed semester schedule.

We request that all students register no later than 5:00 pm on Friday, March 22nd. Students who do not register by Friday, March 22nd at 5:00 pm will not be able to get confirmation of advanced enrollment for the Summer 2024 semester.  

  • Registration: March 18 - March 22, 2024
  • PHS Registration: March 18 - March 22, 2024
  • Add/Drop Deadline:  2 weeks after the start date of the course. (*1 week after the start for the PHS program.)
  • Withdrawal Deadline: 3 weeks after the start date of the course. Courses will appear with a W grade on a student's transcript. Students can withdraw as of right until this deadline. After this deadline, students can only withdraw from a course with permission of the Associate Dean of Students, Dr. Randi Silver. 
  • Audit Deadline: 3 weeks after the start date of the course. In order to request an audit for a WCGS, complete the WCGS Audit Course Request Form in Learn. 
    • Students are required to first register for the course in order to request the audit.
    • Students must obtain approval from the course director and their home department before they may audit a course.
    • Audit request must be submitted within 3 weeks of the course start date. Request submitted past the 3 week deadline will be denied. 
    • Students may not audit a course and later retake the same course for credit. 
    • Courses taken as an audit do not fulfill program degree requirements.
    • Audited courses do appear on the student transcript with an AUD grade following the successful completion of the course.

Students will self-register in LEARN, using these Instructions.

Ph.D Instructions 

For specific enrollment details for the Admission to Candidacy (ACE) Exam, Pre-ACE Dissertation Research, Post-ACE Dissertation Research, the Final Dissertation Exam and Off-Campus Internships, please review these instructions

Required Responsible Conduct of Research Course

All students must take the RCR course in their first year of grad school study and a refresher RCR course in their fifth year. Students will receive a registration link from MSK. Once registered, the course will be added to the student WCGS registration.

Lab Rotations

Students are required to register and complete agreement forms in advance of all lab rotations. 

Taking Courses at Affiliate Organizations

Degree-seeking students may have the opportunity to participate in courses at affiliate organizations. These offerings are all subject to availability. 

Cornell Tech

Each semester, there is a limited number of Cornell Tech courses that are available to WCGS students. The Cornell Tech application will be announced and disseminated via email for each fall and spring semester

Cornell University

Students interested in attending courses on the Ithaca campus may apply for the Linkage program. Students may also take select graduate-level distance learning offerings from Cornell Ithaca with prior approval of both WCGS and the Cornell-Ithaca instructor. Please email confirmation of these approvals to registrar@med.cornell.edu in order for your enrollment to be processed.

CUNY-Graduate Center

A limited number of courses offered by the CUNY-Graduate Center may be available to WCGS PhD students.  Please see the Inter-University Registration Information form for more information.

Rockefeller University

PhD students may apply to take courses at Rockefeller (pending availability) each semester by completing an application in LEARN.  Instructions for applying for Rockefeller courses are disseminated via email each semester.  Students may take courses for credit with the approval of the department. Auditing may be permitted.  

New York Genome Center – Genomic Innovation Course

PhD students may apply to take Genomic Innovation at the NY Genome Center.  See https://genomicinnovation.org/ for more information. Once your registration has been processed at the NYGC, please forward the confirmation to registrar@med.cornell.edu so it can be added to your registration records.

New York Structural Biology Center

PhD students may apply to take courses at the New York Structural Biology Center.  Please see https://nysbc.org/education/courses/ for more information.  In order to have courses added to your registration records, please email confirmation of registration as well as approval from the program director to take the course for degree credit to registrar@med.cornell.edu

Taking Courses as a Non-Degree Student

Many WCGS courses may be taken (either for credit or audit) as a non-degree student.  For more information, please see Weill Cornell Graduate School Non-Degree Admissions.

Academic Policies

For information regarding WCGS academic policies, including grading policies, please see the WCGS Code of Legislation.