Course Eligibility and Approvals

Students must be flexible and willing to work with academic advisers at their home institutions to identify courses they wish to take at MSU. We cannot guarantee requested courses will be approved for any student.

Course denial is very common and is not unique to international students. Domestic, degree-seeking students must also meet all requirements. As such, American Semester Program & Exchange students must be understanding and willing to work with our office and academic advisers to find the best courses for them.

American Semester Program students can find more information on course availability on our ASP academics page. Exchange students can find more information on our Exchange Academics page. 

Check Your Current Course Enrollments

It may not be possible to fully complete your schedule prior to arrival due to numerous reasons outside of our control. However, prior to arrival, you should be enrolled in or approved for a few courses.

To check the status of your current enrollment:

1. Log in to the Student Information System at student.msu.edu with your NetID and password

2. Once logged in, please reference the Student Guide to Course Enrollment to review your enrolled courses and schedule, add courses and drop courses.

Reminder: Per visa regulations, you must be enrolled full-time at MSU. Undergraduate level students must be enrolled in 12 US credits (approximately 3-5 courses), and Graduate level students must be enrolled in at least 9 US credits (approximately 3-4 courses).

IMPORTANT: When checking your enrollments DO NOT drop any courses before speaking with us. Your immigration and visa requirements depend on this. If you drop a course on accident, we cannot guarantee you will get it back.

   Selecting Additional Courses

While you should already be enrolled in a number of courses, you may be interested in changing your schedule or requesting additional coursework.

When looking for additional courses, it is important to think about:

• How many credits do I need to take?
• Do I want to fulfill degree requirements at my home university?
• Will my home university accept the courses I wish to transfer back?
• When is the course offered?
• Are there course prerequisites or requirements?
• Do I meet these prerequisites or requirements?
• Are there subjects I have never had a chance to take before but want to at MSU?

Course offerings, course descriptions and prerequisite requirements can be found on the schedule of courses.