Is it possible to audit a course at McMaster?

Originally Posted by Alexmahone

Is it possible to audit a course at McMaster?

Officially there's a form you need to fill out and I believe you also need to pay (more details are in the course calendar and on the registrar's website).

Unofficially, as long as there's space in the class, you can usually just sit in.

Originally Posted by starfish

Officially there's a form you need to fill out and I believe you also need to pay (more details are in the course calendar and on the registrar's website).

Could you give me the link?

Originally Posted by Alexmahone

Could you give me the link?

I don't have it right now, I've just stumbled across it several times over the years.
Do some searching, it can't be that hard to find.

what does it mean to audit a class??

you go to class but not expected to write test, papers or assignments. In the transcript it comes as "AUD"

why would you want to do that? just wondering

Originally Posted by rpg51

why would you want to do that? just wondering

Usually it's if you want to take a course just for interest, but don't want to do the work/risk getting a bad grade that brings down your GPA. Like...say I'm interested in the cold war and whatnot but don't want to write essays or anything because I'm terrible at them. I could audit the on USA in the 1960s, go to all the lectures and learn the material, without having to spend all that time doing readings and research and writing essays and getting a low grade at the end of it.

This past year I audited two courses because I was exempt from them, having taken equivalents here at Mac four years ago. The courses are heavily memorization-based and I forgot a lot of the material, so I audited them. This way I'd get a refresher on the course content without having to spend time studying.

Couldn't you just show up the lectures and listen anyway? Is it just to get access to the course on avenue?

Originally Posted by rpg51

why would you want to do that? just wondering

In order to take courses that I like but may not receive a good grade in.

Originally Posted by rpg51

Couldn't you just show up the lectures and listen anyway?

Wouldn't that be illegal as I haven't paid for them?

Originally Posted by Alexmahone

Wouldn't that be illegal as I haven't paid for them?

I don't think so. Some professors have openly said in their lectures that guests are all allowed in their class.

Originally Posted by Alexmahone

Wouldn't that be illegal as I haven't paid for them?

Yea it would be wrong to sit in. But attendance mostly is unenforced by the school, so to me its in the grey zone for most classes.

Do you have to pay to audit a class? i assume yes?

Originally Posted by biglandfarm

Yea it would be wrong to sit in. But attendance mostly is unenforced by the school, so to me its in the grey zone for most classes.

Do you have to pay to audit a class? i assume yes?

I am pretty sure I could go up to the President of McMaster and tell him I sat in a class that I wasn't enrolled in and he wouldn't care

Originally Posted by rpg51

I am pretty sure I could go up to the President of McMaster and tell him I sat in a class that I wasn't enrolled in and he wouldn't care

DO IT