Class Signup Information

Class signup at CalArts happens in three phases. 

  1. First, required courses are added to student schedules in advance of registration. 
  2. Second, students sign up for other required and elective courses online. 
  3. Finally, students meet with mentors and faculty in their School to make final schedule changes.

Online registration for fall typically opens during the summer break, and online registration for spring opens at the end of the fall semester. Please see the Academic Calendar for specific dates.

Find Program Requirements

For information about your métier ("program") requirements, start by reviewing the year-by-year requirements in the catalog:

If you have questions about métier requirements, please contact your mentor. If you don’t know who your mentor is, contact your school office, or check the My Profile page under your Academic Profile in the Hub.

Help and Assistance

If you’re not sure what classes you need to graduate, here are links that will help:

  • To view your progress toward your degree, click on Go to My Progress in Self-Service.
  • To see a list of all the courses you've taken at CalArts, view your unofficial transcript on the Self-Service.
  • For questions about BFA Critical Studies or transfer credit, please contact our Academic Advisors at academicadvising@calarts.edu.
Troubleshooting

If you have trouble logging into Self-Service, Catalog, or Hub Helper, contact CalArts IT at cait.calarts.edu.

If you’re logged in, but are having trouble adding a class, contact the Registrar’s Office at 661-253-7842 or registrar@calarts.edu.

Course Catalog and Academic Requirements

The Office of the Registrar maintains both the Academic Requirements and Course Catalog based on information submitted by the Schools and programs within the Institute.
 
The Course Catalog is a listing of all active courses at CalArts; as well as the class schedule, which lists detailed information about all of the classes/sections being offered in a given semester. For information about historical course records, or any course not displayed in the Archived Catalogs, please contact the Office of the Registrar.

Each course number has three main parts. The first letter indicates the school the course is offered through. These are the codes used for the first letter of the new course numbers:

  • A = Art
  • C = Critical Studies
  • D = Dance
  • F = Film/Video
  • M = Music
  • T = Theater
  • I = Institute
  • X = Transfer Credit (you may see this on your transcript or degree audit, but not on the class schedule)

The next three letters indicate the general subject area. There are many different subject area codes.

The final three digits indicate the course’s level. General guidelines for course levels are:

  • 001 to 499 are for undergraduate students (BFA and Certificate)
  • 500 to 799 are for graduate students (MFA, MA, DMA and Adv. Certificate)

Examples: 

The example below shows the BFA1 Critical Studies course “Critical Writing and The Arts.”

  • CCIS-110

The first letter C indicates that faculty from the School of Critical Studies teach this course.

The next three letters indicate the general subject area, CIS (Critical/Intellectual Skills). The last three digits, 110, indicate that that this is an undergraduate course (BFA and Certificate students), and that the course is primarily for first-year students.

Some courses are offered for both undergraduates and graduates. In these cases there will be two numbers, one for undergraduates and one for graduates. For example the course “Advanced Web Design” has the following two course numbers:

  • AGRA-470
  • AGRA-670

The first A indicates that the course is offered through the School of Art. The three-letter code GRA indicates that the course is from the program in Graphic Design. Undergraduate students would sign up for the course with the three digit code 470, and graduate students would sign up for the course with the three digit code 670.

CalArts Institute Policies

The Office of the Registrar is responsible for the consistent interpretation and application of academic policies approved by the faculty, as well as administrative policies and procedures that have been established to keep the Institute in compliance with state and federal regulations, and accreditation requirements. 

Academic policies include items such as minimum requirements for the degree and expectations for satisfactory academic progress. Administrative policies managed by the office include leaves of absence and withdrawals from the Institute, course registration and student privacy rights outlined in the Institute FERPA policy.

 

All academic and administrative policies are available to view at Policies.CalArts.edu.