ASL FAQ

We stagger the release of seats to ensure that students with later registration times have an equal opportunity to register for the section they need. We’ll be releasing a few seats per day until all seats in a section (usually no more than 20) are taken. At that point, waitlists will be turned on for all 601D, 610D, and 311D sections.

As mentioned above, we only release a few seats each day during registration. ASL courses are consistently in high demand across the university, and since we offer a limited number of seats each semester, we try to make registration as fair as possible.

If you’re a SLH Specialization in Educ Deaf/Hearing major, your academic advisor will have instructions for how to request a reserved seat. Other than this, there is no way to guarantee a seat in any ASL course.

Yes, as long as the class says "open" even if the "reserved" is there, you may register for the section.

Our department policy does not allow for any special exception. Although we'd absolutely love to accomodate you, instructors will likely forward your email back to the Linguistics Reception desk. 

No, you probably should not have registered for this course! While the registration system will technically allow you to register for any ASL course as long as seats are available, please be aware that we can and do check student transcripts to make sure that you have met the prerequisites for both ASL 610D and ASL 311D. To enroll in either 610D or 311D, you must have passed the previous course in the sequence with a grade of C or higher. If you register without meeting these requirements (or without having the transfer credit equivalents on your transcript by the beginning of the semester), you will be dropped from the course. If there will be some delay with your transcript, you should email the Linguistics Reception desk as soon as possible to avoid any changes to your schedule, which could result in your seat being filled by a student on the waitlist.

All general inquiries regarding ASL should be directed to the Linguistics Department by email, linguisticsreception@austin.utexas.edu.

While it is possible to get into a class from a waitlist, do not assume that a position on a waitlist equates to you eventually getting into a certain section. Students may change their schedules, miss tuition deadlines, or fail to attend the first couple of classes; these are the usual ways that seats become available.

Because of our strict attendance policy (which is normal for UT language courses), students who miss the 1st and 2nd meeting of a course are dropped. Therefore, waitlisted students may be added until the 5th class day. Since our courses are so fast-paced, however, it is extremely rare that anyone is added after this time, as it would be difficult to catch up on the material covered.

You are most likely receiving a ‘promotion error’ through the system. This happens sometimes with students who have indicated a ‘swap’ class for waitlisted courses. They system accounts for adding the waitlisted class before swapping/dropping your requested class, not for what the final hour total would be. This means that the registration system is preventing you from having over 17 hours, even if, with a dropped course, you’d still be under.

If you are attempting to add 601D or 610D, make sure you have 11 hours at most on your schedule. 311D will allow you to add with a maximum of 14 hours. If you’d like to register for more than 17 hours in a semester, please speak with your Dean’s Office.

Yes! We have plenty of students who begin ASL at Austin Community College or at other institutions and then finish the sequence here. Please be aware, however, that our sequence differs from most other colleges and universities. If your institution offers ASL/SGNL 1-4, you will need to transfer credit for both 1 AND 2 to equate to our ASL 601D course. If you only transfer the first semester of a four-semester sequence, you will not automatically gain credit for ASL 601D. If you would like to claim this credit and go directly into 610D, you’ll need to complete our departmental placement exam.

If you’re transferring in the full language sequence – credit for ASL 601D, 610D, and 311D – then you likely only need just two upper-division ASL courses away from finishing the minor, depending on how many credits you are transferring. You’ll still need to apply for the minor (and might need to submit a video demonstrating your proficiency before the faculty approve your application), and you will need to work with Dr. Quinto-Pozos on petitioning the UT language minor residency requirement.

*There is a residency requirement for this minor in which at least half of the hours must be completed at UT Austin. This can be petitioned in order to satisfy the total hour requirements for the minor without having to retake a course that may be transferred