Registration Instructions - Summer and Fall 2023

All upper-class students (JD's and LLM's) will register for May term, summer term, and fall term courses via Please read all instructions and make sure to check the exam schedules on the Registrar's website before registering for your classes. Exams cannot be re-scheduled due to time conflicts.

All students must have all holds cleared in my.SMU prior to registration. 


Add/Drop Info & Deadlines (All Students)

ALL CREDIT HOURS that are to be applied to the fall 2023 semester must be added to your schedule by the last day of the add/drop period, which is Friday, August 18th. *This includes hours for Directed Research, Externship, Moot Court/Mock Trial, Clinic Deputy, and Law Review. The applicable Docusign Form must be filled out and submitted prior to the add/drop deadline.

Students may drop a class via my.SMU any time before the add/drop deadline with no penalty. Students wishing to drop a class after the deadline must fill out a withdrawal form and have the instructor approve it. Upon receipt of the form, the Registrar's Office will drop the course from the student's schedule resulting in a grade of "W" on the transcript.

A student may withdraw from a course at any time with the permission of the instructor, who shall use personal discretion to determine the grade received for the course. Students enrolled in required first-year courses must also obtain the permission of the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs to withdraw from a course.

Withdrawal from the Law School. Withdrawal means the student's enrollment is cancelled and the student is no longer enrolled for any classes. If a student is enrolled for only one course, dropping this course constitutes withdrawal from the Law School and is subject to penalties. The student must contact the Registrar's Office in writing to withdraw from the Law School. The effective date of the withdrawal is the date the Student Petition for Withdrawal is processed in the Registrar's Office. This date is used for credit or refund purposes.

Clinic Registration (For students who were selected for clinic through the lottery)

Clinic seats are assigned through a lottery prior to registration. Students who receive a clinic seat in the lottery are required to register for that clinic through my.SMU during registration. Do not register for a clinic unless you were selected for it through the lottery. Students who register for a clinic they were not chosen for will be dropped from that clinic. Any clinic openings that occur after registration will be filled on the basis of the waiting list. The clinic will contact any students who have made a clinic spot and were on the waiting list.


Financial Aid/Scholarships (All Students)

If you are or will be receiving a scholarship, you must remain in good academic standing and be registered as a full-time student based on your program in order to keep the full amount of the scholarship. (12 hours for JD students, 8 hours for LLM students). If you fall below the cumulative GPA needed to keep your scholarship, the scholarship will be canceled. Dean's scholarships may be re-instated if your GPA rises once again in a future semester.

Scholarships are applied towards your tuition for the fall and/or spring semester only. Scholarships do not apply to the summer semester. Also, scholarships are not applied towards tuition for classes taken at other schools. If you will be visiting another school, your scholarship will be canceled for that particular semester. Receipt of scholarship funds cannot be accelerated. If you graduate earlier than the normal matriculation for your program, you will only be awarded scholarship funds for the semesters you are enrolled in the law school on the basis of the scholarship award per semester.


Required Courses and Reminders (All Students)

Required Courses for Graduation (JDs):

All first year courses (32 hrs.),
Professional Responsibility (3 hrs.),
Constitutional Law II (3 hrs.),
Edited Writing course (EW) (3 hrs.), 
Experiential Learning Courses (EL),
Public Service Requirement  (30 hrs.)

You may refer to Degree Requirements for a degree audit checklist and more information regarding degree requirements.

*The maximum number of credit hours JD students may register for is 17. The maximum number of credit hours that LLM students may register for is 14. Students may not petition for additional hours.

*Hours for Clinic Deputy, Directed Research, Externship, Law Review, and Moot Court/Mock Trial hours must still be added to your schedule by the Registrar's Office. The applicable Docusign Form must be filled out and submitted prior to the add/drop deadline for the applicable semester. See the Academic Calendar for deadlines.

*If a class that you want to add to your schedule is full/closed when you try to add it, you can either go ahead and add another (open) class to your schedule or keep checking my.SMU periodically throughout the add/drop period to see if the class has opened up. Most courses have a seat limit based on the number of physical seats in the class. If the class is full, it is most likely because there are no remaining seats in the class or the professor has set a specific seat limit.

*Courses MUST be designated as "EW" (Edited Writing) on the Course List next to the title of the course in order to satisfy the writing requirement.

*6 Residency credits are required for graduation. (1 credit is given for passing 12 course hours in a semester; 3/4 credit for 9-11 hours; 1/2 credit for 6-8 hours; and 1/4 credit for 3-5 hours) Transfer students receive 2 residency credits for their courses that transfer in. Refer to the law school catalog for more information.

*The maximum number of pass fail hours (other than for externships) which can be applied to satisfy the 87 hours required for graduation is 6. This restriction also does not include hours transferred from other law schools or another graduate school at SMU. Generally, the type of pass fail hours that this affects are hours for law review, mock trial and moot court competitions, and serving on the BOA. **There are no in class lecture courses that JD's can elect to take pass/fail.

Steps to Follow Prior to Registration (All Students)

  1. Check for any service indicators (holds) on your  account which need to be cleared prior to your enrollment. The most common holds that you will see on your account are the Student Financial Rights and Responsibilities hold and the Personal Information hold. Once these are taken care of, they will automatically release. If you have any other type of hold on your account, such as a financial hold, it could take up to 24 hours for the hold to be removed.

*If you have trouble clearing a hold, contact the appropriate person or department listed with each hold to inquire about it and have it cleared. If no contact person or department is listed, contact the University Registrar's Office in the Laura Lee Blanton Building at 214-768-3417 or registrar@smu.edu. If you have a hold on your account when your appointment time opens you will lose registration priority.

2. Check your enrollment appointment time in my.SMU and make sure it corresponds to the schedule below for on-line registration.

To view your enrollment appointment time, please follow the steps below.

  1. Go to
  2. Click the Students tile on the landing page
  3. Enter your username and password
  4. Select Enrollment on the left-side menu
  5. Select Enrollment Dates
  6. Select View Details for each term listed
    (Enrollment appointment date and time will be listed at the top)


The schedule for on-line registration for upper-class students is as follows:

All LLMs

&

JD students who have 53 hours and more including hours in progress.

 Tuesday, April 11th beginning at 12:30pm.

LLMs register for a maximum of 14 hours for the fall semester and no more than 8 hours total for May term & summer combined.
.
JD students register for a maximum of 17 hours for the fall semester and no more than 8 hours total for May term & summer combined. 
JD students who have 0-52 hours including hours in progress. Wednesday, April 12th beginning at 12:30pm.  JD students register for a maximum of 17 hours for the fall semester and no more than 8 hours total for May term & summer combined. 

3. Review the course schedule and choose your classes. The course listings and block schedules are on the Law School Registrar's webpage under Course Schedules and Information.

4. Make sure to review the exam schedule prior to registering for classes. Do not register for courses in which the exams are scheduled at the same time. The exam schedules are also on the Law School Registrar's webpage under Exam Information and Schedules.

5. Check for seat availability for the courses you have chosen. Seats are automatically updated in my.SMU as students add and drop courses.

*Visit the my.SMU essentials page at my.SMU Student Essentials for enrollment instructional videos. 


Wait Listed Classes (All Students)

Students may wait list a class via my.SMU when the box under the OK to Wait list column on the Add Classes page is available. (*Note - The wait list option may be added to additional classes depending on demand once registration opens.)

Please see the Waitlist Guidelines for details.