How to Register as an International Undergraduate Direct Entry Student

Before you can begin the registration process, you must register your BlazerID and be able to log in to your Blazernet page. It may take several hours for your ID to work after you have registered it. Next, you must understand requirements for your visa, program, and university policies for holds. To choose your courses and graduate on time, there are many things you must first understand.

Know the Difference between the Course Catalog and the Class Schedule.

The course catalog for your program will list all courses the program offers. However, only a certain number of courses are offered each semester. Not all courses are offered every semester by the program!

UAB has three semesters each academic year: Fall (August-December), Spring (January-April), and Summer (May-August). Your program will offer a different selection of classes each semester. Check the class schedule by semester and program to see what you can register for each semester.

Understand Your Holds

A hold is a university’s way to communicate that you are required to provide missing information, documents, or tuition payment. When you have a hold, you are not able to register for the next semester. You must take care of holds as soon as possible. The hold tells you who to contact if you have questions. Questions about how to remove any hold can be directed to the One Stop office: onestop@uab.edu

Types of Holds

• Immunization hold – This means that you still need to provide information to student health that’s required of all students; you can find information on what you need to provide for proof of immunizations on the Student Health website (click on Patient Portal).
• Financial hold – This means that you owe money to UAB. Deadlines are very strict; you will be charged late fees if you do not pay on time.
• Immigration hold – You must turn in certain immigration documents upon arrival in the U.S.
• Admissions/official document hold – This means that you need to provide some type of official document to International Admissions (transcripts, graduation certificate, English test scores, etc.). You need to carefully follow instructions from International Admissions on how to turn in these documents, as there are very specific instructions that you must follow. You can turn in these documents in one of three ways:
  1. Bring the official documents with you and turn them in to International Admissions once you arrive in the U.S. Bring these documents in a sealed envelope from your former school or university; opened documents are considered unofficial.
  2. Have your former university or high school send the documents by email to the International Admissions office.
  3. Have your former university or high school send the documents by mail to the International Admissions office.
• International MA hold – This means that you still have your International Mailing Address listed on BlazerNET. As soon as you secure your accommodations, you need to update your Birmingham address to stay in immigration compliance.

Know Your Advisor

Undergraduate students must meet with their advisor at least once per semester. You will not be allowed to register for the next semester’s classes until you have met with your advisor. You should consider that the advisor is the expert concerning your degree’s requirements. Not following the program of study plan that your advisor helps you develop could result in delaying your graduation by several semesters.

Tips for Relating to Your Advisor

Know Your Visa Requirements for Registration

All undergraduate students on an F-1 visa are required to register for at least 12 credit hours each semester. Undergraduate students can take up to 16 credit hours. If you wish to take more than 16 credit hours, you will have to have special permission from your advisor. Additionally, there are restrictions on registration for online courses for international students. For an international undergraduate student on an F-1 visa, you must be registered for at least 9 credit hours of in-person classes. After registering for 9 credit hours in-person, a student can choose either online or in-person classes for a total of 12-16 credit hours.

Know the Dates You Can Register

You can always find this by checking the academic calendar. Open registration times are published on the calendar. Make sure you are on the correct academic semester when you use the calendar. Register early to get the courses you prefer. Make sure to drop any course by the drop/add deadline if you decide you do not want to take that course. (See more information below on drop/add.)

Know about Placement Testing

Understand the Core Curriculum

During your first two years at UAB, you will take courses at the 100 and 200 level. Core curriculum classes are required at nearly every U.S. university or college. No matter what major you are, all students are required to take some classes that are not specifically part of your major. For example, all undergraduates must take a Fine Arts course and at least one History course. There are four areas where you must satisfy these requirements. You can find out general information about the core curriculum here: Overview of Core Curriculum. Your advisor can help you know which semester you should take which core curriculum classes. All these classes will count towards the credit hours required for your degree.

Understanding Your Tuition

Payment is due by the first day of class, or you will be dropped from classes. You can also sign up for a payment plan. Learn more about payment plan options.

• Your tuition and fees will show up on BlazerNET one-two days after you register for classes; your fees may change if you change your schedule. Some courses and labs have different tuition rates or fees, so the total owed to UAB changes depending on your registration.
• You will also be charged for UAB Student Insurance. For questions about submitting an insurance waiver, please use the Patient Portal on the Student Health website. All students at UAB are required to have health insurance.
• You can pay for your tuition and fees through BlazerNET or through wire transfer. One Stop can help you know how to pay. Email them at onestop@uab.edu. You can also sign up for Flywire, which is a wire transfer service that saves you some money on currency transfer fees.

Understanding the Difference between Dropping/Adding a Class and Withdrawing from a Class

Students can drop/add a class during the first week of class. Check the academic calendar for the exact date each semester. When you drop a class before the drop/add, you are not financially responsible for the class and the class will not show up on your transcript. Always check with your advisor before dropping, adding, or withdrawing from a class; this could affect your graduation date!

Withdrawing from a class is the only option that you can take after the drop/add date has passed. This deadline is very strict. When you withdraw from a class, the class will still show on your transcript with a “W” in the grade column. This does not negatively affect your GPA; students choose this option if they realize that they probably will not perform well and use this option in order to save their GPA from a grade of D or F.

Please note: you will NOT receive any money back if you withdraw. If you have to take the class again another semester, you will have to pay for the class a second time. Also, remember you cannot withdraw from a course if it will drop you below your minimum required hours (12) for an undergraduate student on an F-1 visa.

Understanding Grade Replacement Rules

Every class that you take at UAB counts towards your overall GPA. You are allowed to retake classes, but you must pay for them a second time. Most classes you are only allowed to take two times total. You are allowed to retake classes in which you make a C or lower. You can replace the original, lower grade to improve your GPA; you are allowed to do this only 4 times while at UAB. The One Stop office can help you with this process. For more information see One Stop's Grade Forgiveness Policy.

Understanding Transfer Credits

You are responsible to provide the information needed to have your transfer credits evaluated for equivalent transfer credits at UAB. If you studied at a university outside the U.S., bring officially translated syllabi and course descriptions. You must turn in your translated syllabi/course descriptions to the International Admissions office. This office will turn in your transfer credit information to the Transfer Credit Articulation office. This process can take several weeks; you need to turn these in as soon as possible during your first semester of study at UAB.

If you studied at another university in the U.S., you need to make sure that an official transcript is sent from your former university. Please note that some classes may only count as general elective credits. Not all courses taken at another university receive credit for specific courses at UAB.

All courses at any other university will be transferred over and will be calculated into your overall GPA at UAB. You are not allowed to choose which grades will be transferred.