The Very Beginning

The Very Beginning

 
Pioneer Portal | Find Your Classes | Register and Pay For Classes

Pioneer Portal

One of the very first things you will need to do when you find out you are accepted is to create a Pioneer Portal account. Pioneer Portal is the official communication system of the University. You'll go here to register, pay and get your grades and unofficial copies of your transcript. Below is a link to a demo of how to create your Pioneer Portal account.

How to create and log-in to your Pioneer Portal Account (2:09)

Upon creating your Portal account, you will be assigned a University email account, which may be accessed through the Portal. TWU uses a web-based version of Microsoft Outlook for its staff and student accounts. Outlook is very user-friendly. Your University email address is: YourPortalUsername@mail.twu.edu

To access your email account, log into Pioneer Portal and click on "My Email." Log-in to the system using the following format:

Username - pioneer\YourPortalUsername
Password - YourPortalPassword

You should plan to check your email account daily for University or course information. If you don't want another email account to check, you can forward your TWU email account to another, personal account. You can do that from the Pioneer Portal home screen. Log-in to Pioneer Portal and under Important Links, "Forwarding" will be listed under the Email heading.

Find Your Classes

Get Advised

After you set-up your Pioneer Portal Account, the next thing you will need to do is pick out your courses and get the information you will need for each one in order to register. 

To find out which classes you need to take for your degree, you need to talk with your advisor.

• Undergraduate students should consult the list of Undergraduate Advisors to be connected with an advisor.
• Graduate students should contact their academic department to have an advisor assigned to them.

You and your advisor will discuss the courses that are right for you and layout a degree plan to determine the courses you will take each semester at TWU.

Check the Schedule

After you have been advised and are ready to register, you should check the online schedule of classes to make sure the courses you need are offered for the semester. In the online schedule of classes, you must fill out at least three fields. Select the appropriate term, and under "Instructional Methods" select "Internet Instruction." Finally, for your third field, under "Course Type" you can select "Online/Distance." If you know which subject or course level you are looking for, fill those out to narrow your search even more. You can even narrow your search by instructor or day of the week if you are taking online classes.

Once your results are returned, fully examine all the information for each course. You can click on the course title to get more details. Be sure to note if there are any optional or mandatory face-to-face meetings.

Please understand that the online schedule of classes is for reference only; you cannot register here. Take note of the Title, Course and Section number for the course you want to register for and then log-in to Pioneer Portal to Register.

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Register and Pay For Courses

Once you have determined your courses with your advisor and have the information you need to register, you are ready to enroll! Know when you can register by checking the registration dates in the Academic Calendar.

You can register in 6 easy steps:

1. Login to your Pioneer Portal account.

2. When you are logged-in and on your My Start Page, click on Search and Add Courses.

3. Select the appropriate Term and Subject. Click Submit.

4. Search for the course you want to register for and click on the add link next to the course. This will add the course to a temporary list of your desired courses. This is not your final selection!

5. To add more courses to your list, select Search For More Courses and repeat steps 3 and 4.  

6. Click on "Register For These Courses" to make your selection final.

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Pay for Courses

After you register, don't forget to pay for your classes! If you do not pay by the deadline, your courses will be dropped from your schedule. Don't let that happen! Check the Academic Calendar and the Bursar's website for important payment deadlines and policies.

When you are ready to pay, you can pay online through your Portal account using a credit card or web check. Login to your Portal account; select Web Advisor and then Pay Online. Your registration is not complete until you pay for your courses! For more information about paying for classes, please read this message from Kathy Woods, TWU Bursar.

Waitlist

If a class you want to register for is full, you may be able to waitlist that course section if a Waitlist button is present. Click on the Waitlist button to add that course to your Waitlist cart. You may only waitlist one section of a course. Waitlisted courses are not considered registered courses.

If more seats become available for a course, you will be notified of your opportunity to register for the class. You will be notified via email and you will have 24-hours  to register for the course through the Manage Waitlist feature in Portal. If you do not register for the course within that 24-hour time period, the offer expires and moves to the next student on the waitlist. For more information about paying for classes, please see this message from Kathy Woods, TWU Bursar.

How to Manage Your Waitlist:

1. Login to your Portal account.

2. Select the Manage Waitlist link near the bottom of the My Start Page.

3. Any courses you have waitlisted will be displayed.

4. You can register for classes that have become available and/or remove unwanted waitlisted classes from this page.

5. Prior to the beginning of the semester, you will be notified that the Waitlist feature is closing. Any classes you have waitlisted will be deleted then.

Removing Registration Blocks

You may be prevented or blocked from registering for reasons such as not submitting complete academic records, not completing required orientation or THEA testing, not returning books to the library, having a Financial Aid or disciplinary problem, having unpaid parking fines or having balances owed to other units of the University.

If you have a block on your account, you will receive information through Portal about the registration block when you attempt to register. The system will indicate the reason for the block and the office to contact for removal. Once you have the block removed, you can register.

Test Your Knowledge
The Very Beginning Quiz

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