There are three enrollment periods for Tele-Bears: Phase I, Phase II, and Adjustment Period.

Tele-Bears is how students enroll in classes. The official website for enrolling is telebears.berkeley.edu. Before you add any classes, an incredibly useful site is schedulebuilder.berkeley.edu. This site will help you generate a list of potential schedules in a 5-day, visual format. You can then narrow down your options by de-selecting certain lectures that you don’t want to attend, or under Advanced Options, making your earliest class 9am. I recommend doing this even before CalSO: There is a limited amount of time to pick your classes and it is best to walk in the second day knowing exactly which discussion section to pick for a Phase-I class. This program, run by NinjaCourses, can help you decide which Physics Lab doesn’t interfere with a humanities lecture (e.g. Psych 1) you want to enroll in Phase II. Because this process of adjusting your schedule can take a few minutes or hours, it is hard to accomplish at CalSO. ScheduleBuilder will help you plan out your options and help you decide which discussion/lab section you should enroll in to save room for your Phase II classes.

Phases and Enrollment Information:

Phase I is the first enrollment period, when undergrads can enroll in a maximum of 10.5 units. If you make mistakes, you can drop classes and re-add them. Phase I for incoming freshman is designated by their CalSO (when you go to CalSO, you can add your first few courses). For every other semester, we will get an appointment time given on bearfacts.berkeley.edu. Here, you should enroll in the most impacted classes (i.e. Physics, Chemistry) to make sure you get in the discussion and lecture that fits your schedule.

Phase II is designated by an appointment time for all students. To view this appointment time, log on to bearfacts.berkeley.edu. During this phase, undergrads can add classes until they have at least 16 units on their schedule (soft limit). Meaning: If I have signed up for 15 units (including waitlisted courses), I can add a 3 unit class and Tele-Bears will accept enrollment. However, now that I am enrolled in 18 units, I will not be able to enroll in any more classes. Once you are enrolled in 16+ units, you cannot enroll in more classes until adjustment period. You are allowed to drop classes at this time, also. Here, you should strategically add the rest of your classes, especially if you have more than 16 units. If you have 16 or less units, you need not worry about this cap. If you have more than 16, plan out the order of which you are enrolling in Phase II classes (i.e. if you have 17 units, enroll in a 1-unit seminar before you enroll in a 4-unit technical class). Make sure you are at least enrolling in the minimum required units of classes (12 for COE and CED, 13 for L&S, Haas, COC, CNR). For both Phase 1 and Phase 2, it’s important to note that your appointment period marks the BEGINNING of your access. After your appointment, you can still access the system during open hours until the end of the phase.

Adjustment Period starts after Phase 2 ends and lasts until many weeks after classes start. Here, students may add and drop classes and change grading options, just as with the other phases. All undergraduates can add and drop classes up to Week 5 of classes on Tele-Bears (Week 2 for EED courses). Without petition, students may add up to a maximum (soft limit) of 20.5 units (L&S, COE, CED, Haas), or 19.5 units for COC and CNR. You may adjust the grading option from P/NP to letter grade or back up until the 10th week of class.

If you find a De-Cal you really want to enroll in, or finally get the CCN for Music 40, or realize that Chemistry 4A is too hard and want to drop it, you can do it during the first few weeks of class. Be careful! There can be late fees charged. For example, adding a class after Week 3 costs $5; dropping a class after Week 2 costs $10. Regardless, this is a great time to refine your schedule. Many student go for the “shop and drop” method, where they sign up for more classes than they intend to take and drop a couple after attending class. Depending on what you want to do (add/drop/etc.) and which college you’re in, there are different deadlines. Check http://registrar.berkeley.edu/TBOLADSAvail.htm for Tele-Bears deadlines based on college and transaction.

Requests beyond Tele-Bears deadlines can occasionally be done via “dean’s exception”/OLADS. But do not think that this is just another option. The tele-BEARS availability deadline is and needs to be treated as an ABSOLUTE deadline. Petitions for late change are rarely approved. The difficulty differs from college to college. For L&S, any late drop attempts due to difficulty, course load issues, not knowing deadlines, not doing well, not being aware of enrollment, etc. (e.g. anything you could have prevented) are automatically DENIED. For L&S and College of Chemistry students, late drops are marked on the transcript as well. So keep on top of deadlines and make decisions accordingly. Add and drop classes as early as possible. Remember to check information on your college’s website for specific minimum and maximum course load requirements. If you want to enroll in more than maximum or less than minimum, you must seek approval from your college.

For the official Tele-Bears Calendar on when specific phases are, check http://registrar.berkeley.edu/telebears_calendar.html