Welcome to Harold Washington College one of the City Colleges of Chicago. We are located in downtown Chicago within the Loop and can proudly say we serve every single neighborhood of the city. Our distinguished college helps prepare our students to receive real-world training with the opportunity to transfer to four-year institutions or go straight into a fulfilling career.

One of the ways we can help you is through our academic advising department where one of our esteemed college advisors will serve as your guide on your academic journey. Once you’ve applied to be a student, I invite you to connect with our Admissions and Financial Aid Departments prior to meeting with a college advisor. If you are brand-new to college and have not attended any other college or university, you’ll likely need to take a math and English placement test.

We encourage you to have these completed at least three business days prior to registering for classes. There are a few exceptions such as having: AP, IB, CLEP, HISET, GED, and Transitional English and/or Math scores. You could possibly bypass the placement with certain ACT or SAT scores. When in doubt, connect with an advisor and we’ll provide clarity for you. If however, you’ve earned college level English and college level math credit, even if its from a different institution, you may be able to bypass the placement test.

As advisors, we can have conversations so you know the right classes to take and can provide a step-by-step walk-through of how to self-enroll. The depth of conversations go beyond registration and include: career advising, academic planning, coaching, transferring, and so much more. Perhaps you don’t know what to major in. No worries. We can explore skills, hobbies, or personal interests to help you pinpoint classes to help you narrow down your options.

Next, we offer a variety of class options in the morning, afternoon, evening, weekend, online via Zoom, and even self-paced online classes. Keep this flexibility in mind when registering so you can select classes that fit your schedule and don’t overlap with your work or personal schedule. Additionally, do you know if you’d like to attend full-time taking 12 credit hours and above or do you prefer to attend part-time? Part-time indicates taking under 12 credits. We encourage you to consider dedicating at least three hours of studying for every one hour you enroll into.

When in doubt, we’ll guide you to the appropriate area to best help you. As a reminder, once you register into a class or multiple classes, you’ll want to have payment within 72 hours of enrollment to avoid being dropped due to non-payment. Need help with payment? Our Financial Aid Office can provide information on Pell and Map Grants along with loans and scholarships as well. Our Business Office can provide detailed information on payment plan options. In fact, payments can be made via your student portal under the Finance tab.

Let’s recap. Here are the five steps you need to take before meeting with an advisor for registration assistance:
1. Take your math and English placement tests
2. Attend new student orientation
3. Have your payment method ready
4. Consider your intended major or area of study
5. Identify the best schedule for you and if you’d like to attend part-time or full-time
With that being said, we look forward to working with you throughout your academic journey and hope to see you soon!