All course prerequisites are set by the Academic Division Faculty and are enforced by the college. To be eligible to register for a course that has a prerequisite, students must complete the prerequisite course at Saddleback College or submit an accepted piece of evidence for clearance. In the Class Schedule, course prerequisites are indicated with a padlock symbol below the unit count.
Procedures and Requirements for Clearing Prerequisites
Students are responsible for satisfying any prerequisites on a course they plan to enroll in. Satisfying a prerequisite is referred to as "clearing the prerequisite." Make note of the following guidelines:
- To avoid registration delays, submit your Prerequisite Evaluation Request and evidence well before your Registration Date. (See below for accepted evidence.)
- An evaluation can take 5 business days or more to process, so plan ahead -- submit your Prerequisite Evaluation Request at least 2 weeks prior to your registration date.
- In fairness to every student, each Prerequisite Evaluation Request is processed in the order received. No exceptions made.
- Temporary clearance cannot be granted. If you are in progress in the equivalent prerequisite course at another college, you must wait until you earn a final passing grade of C or higher to submit your request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Students who have submitted official transcripts to Saddleback College's Admissions & Records Office must submit a Prerequisite Evaluation Request form (linked below). Having a transcript on file will not automatically clear prerequisites. The form is required for this action to take place.
Step 1
Acquire and prepare your documents (i.e. transcript or other evidence).
NOTE: If you are currently in progress in the prerequisite course at another college or university, you will need to earn a final passing grade before submitting your request. We do not offer temporary requests.
Step 2
Make sure your name and the school's name (or logo) are visible on the transcript(s) you are submitting for evaluation. Only transcripts from regionally accredited U.S. colleges/universities and U.S. high schools are accepted. For further detail, click on the links below.
NOTE: For Summer enrollment, guidelines allow for the use of in-progress high school coursework to satisfy a prerequisite. For example, if you seek to take SPAN 2 this Summer, your high school transcript may include 1.5 years of Spanish completed with the current Spring semester of Spanish 2 in progress. (See 'All Other Prerequisites' for details.)
Step 3
Submit the Saddleback College Prerequisite Evaluation Request Form.
- The e-form will require you to log in with your Saddleback College student email address and password.
- If you forgot your password or need to reset your password, please visit the Microsoft Online Password Reset page.
New Students: If you applied for admission within the last 24 hours, you might not have login credentials. If you would rather not wait, access this alternate e-form and select "Create New Account."
Students can check their prerequisite clearances by adding the course(s) they wish to register for into their Saddleback College Shopping Cart. This action prompts a Pre-registration check for the desired target course.
- If the prerequisite has not yet been satisfied or your clearance request was denied, a prerequisite error message alert will display.
- If the prerequisite has been satisfied or your clearance request was approved, no error message will display.
- Prerequisite clearance is valid for current and future registration periods at Saddleback College. No need to resubmit a clearance request once approved.
NOTE: If you added a course to the Shopping Cart before you submitted a Prerequisite Evaluation Request Form, the course ticket number must be removed and re-added for a current Pre-registration check.
For questions regarding prerequisites, please contact us via email at scmatric@saddleback.edu.