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Registration

Plantastic

Before registering for the first time, you must have an approved plan in our online advising system, Plantastic (http://plan.northwestern.edu/msed). You can login with your netid and netid password. From there, entering a new plan should be easy -- just select your start term, and then use the pulldown menus to select your classes. Plantastic knows which degree rules apply to you and will not allow you to submit a plan unless it is valid (meaning that it fulfills all the degree requirements). When you submit your plan, your advisor will be notified. Your advisor will then either approve the plan or reject it. A plan is not active until after an advisor has approved it. 

It's also a good idea to check Plantastic each quarter before registering to make sure that you are following your plan. If you need to make changes, you can do so -- just click "revise this plan." Again, the changes will go to your advisor for approval.

If you plan to take a class outside the MS_ED department, select "Other" for the course. Classes that are listed as graduate-level in CAESAR (most 300-level classes and all 400-level classes) can be counted as a graduate-level elective toward your degree. To make sure that Plantastic knows you are counting a class as a degree elective, make sure to select "Other Degree." For 100- and 200-level deficiency courses, you should select "Other Non-Degree" -- those classes are purely for undergraduate credit, and cannot be counted toward the MSEd degree.

Note: if you know the course number of an "Other Degree" or "Other Non-Degree" course, be sure to include the entire course number in Plantastic (for example, THEATRE 312-A or THEATRE 312-1, not just THEATRE 312). 

Please note that if you are off campus, you will need to use VPN to connect to Plantastic. Instructions for setting up VPN can be found here. 

CAESAR (Computer Aided Enrollment Student Activated Registration)

Once you have verified your plan in Plantastic, you may register by going to CAESAR (https://www.northwestern.edu/caesar/). On the login page, you will see links to the registrar's website, which lists important dates and policies, as well as a link with instructions on using CAESAR. There are tip sheets available with detailed instructions on how to use CAESAR (https://www.northwestern.edu/ses/students/index.html). To view petition forms, click here.

Course Career is important (a.k.a. why can't I find a content-area class?) 

By default, when you login to Caesar, your course career should be "Education Graduate." This is where you will find all of your MSED classes. However, you may need to take classes from other departments -- this may require you to change the course career when running your search. If you are looking for undergraduate classes in the "day school" to fulfill content-area licensure requirements, change your course career to "Undergraduate." If you are looking for undergraduate classes in the School of Professional Studies (formerly the School of Continuing Studies) to fulfill content-area licensure requirements, change your course career to "SPS Undergraduate."

Full-time, Half-time, and Part-time

"Full-time" refers to taking 3.0 or more units (most classes are 1 unit) in a quarter. "Half-time" is exactly half of full-time -- 1.5 units. "Part-time" is anything less than full-time (so half-time is always part-time, but part-time is not necessarily half-time). These levels are important for a handful of reasons: 

  • A student must be enrolled full-time in order to: 
    • maintain visa eligibility
    • maintain athletic eligibility
  • A student must be enrolled half-time (or more) in order to:
    • maintain eligibility for federal student loans