Bid Instructions

Law School Bidding System Instructions

The bidding system is essentially an auction that allows students to rank their class preferences.  Each group of students, based on program and year in school, is assigned a fixed number of bid points for the entire academic year.  The bidding system then enables a student to bid heavily for any class.  This design fairly addresses enrollment for the most popular classes where demand exceeds capacity.

Bid Points and Rounds

In advance of fall bidding, students are assigned a pool of bid points for the entire academic year.  Students should ensure that at the end of fall bidding, they have saved enough points to bid for spring classes.

  • Fall Semester: 2 rounds of bidding + Last Chance period
    • Last Chance is only for cancelling bids to recover points.  Bids cannot be placed during Last Chance.
  • Winter Intersession: 1 round of bidding + Last Chance period
  • Spring Semester: 2 rounds of bidding
  • Summer Term: No bidding - class registration all done through Open Enrollment

During the bid rounds, students can place, modify, or delete bids in CAESAR by assigning a point value to each desired class.  The system will attempt to resolve your highest value bid first, so each of your bids must be assigned a different number of points.  Students may submit up to 10 bids.

During the Last Chance period, students can ONLY cancel bids to recover points for use in future terms. Bids cannot be placed during the Last Chance period.

  • As bid points do not roll over from year to year, and there is no bidding for Summer registration, there is no Last Chance period needed in Spring and no value in saving points during Spring bidding.
To access the bidding system:
  1. Log in to CAESAR at www.northwestern.edu/caesar
  2. Choose the Law Bidding and Class Schedule tile
  3. Select Submit/Change Bids
When placing bids, keep in mind:
  • Pre-requisities: Students must meet all pre-requisites before placing a bid on a class. The system may allow you to bid, but once the bids are processed, if you do not meet the pre-req, the system will not enroll you and you will lose your bidding points.
  • Co-requisites: If a class has a co-requisite, more points must be bid for the co-requisite class than the class that requires it.
  • MSL Only: Courses noted as “MSL Students Only” cannot be enrolled by anyone outside of the Master of Science in Law program. The MSL program is comprised of a separate curriculum and does not qualify students to sit a bar exam in any jurisdiction. MSL Only courses will not appear in the bidding system and waivers are not available for these courses. 

Bid Costs

If a class fills in a bid round, the lowest successful bid establishes the cost (clearing price) of the class. If a class does not fill, the cost will set as 1 point.  In either scenario, points bid over the cost will be returned at the end of each round. For instance, if a student bids 500 points for a class, and the lowest successful bid is 100 points, that student will have a GOOD bid result and receive 400 points back.

Each round establishes a separate cost for each class. For instance, if a class does not fill in Round 1, the Round 1 cost will be 1 point. If there are more bids placed in Round 2 than the number of remaining open seats, the Round 2 cost will be the lowest successful bid placed in Round 2.

Non-biddable Courses: Some courses are elective, non-biddable courses that require an application for enrollment followed by manual enrolled by the Registrar’s Office. There is a bid point cost of at least of 25 points per credit hour associated with these courses (some courses cost more, please click here for additional information). The Registrar’s Office will adjust bid points manually when the student is enrolled. Be sure to save some points in the fall to enroll in any of these classes in the spring as additional points will not be allocated to students.

Bidding Strategy

The bidding system permits students to express the strength of one’s class preferences by the amount of points allocated to each bid. If one truly prefers a specific class, bid high, understanding that points bid over the cost of the class are returned at the end of each round.

Bid histories are available to help students consider their bidding strategy.  Students should bear in mind bidding preferences may change each semester and with each population of students. Therefore, the Registrar’s Office cannot tell students how many points to bid on any class. Please use the history as a guide, not an absolute, to judge the number of points to bid each semester to secure a seat in the class. 

Bid Results

After each bidding round, the Registrar’s Office will process all bids to a result. During this processing time, students will not be able to see their bids in CAESAR, but the bids have not been lost.

The Registrar’s Office will notify the community when processing is complete, and students will then be able to view their results in CAESAR.  The Registrar’s Office will also post a summary of the bidding results that includes the points cost for each class, the number of remaining open seats, and waitlist sizes on the Bid Results webpage.

To view your bid results after the Registrar's Office announces they are available:
  1. Log in to CAESAR at www.northwestern.edu/caesar
  2. Choose the Law Bidding and Class Schedule tile
  3. Select Bidding Results

If a student has a successful bid, it will appear with a Status of "A" (accepted) and a Reason of GOOD. Students will see the number of points bid on the class and the actual cost as explained above. The points to cover the actual cost will be deducted from the bid point account. GOOD bids will result in enrollment in the class at the conclusion of bidding.

A bid may also be denied (Status of "D"), the Reason for which will also appear in the bidding results. A denied bid may occur for one of the following reasons:

  • CRED (Credits): Enrollment in the class, or placement on a waitlist, would exceed the ABA limit of 17 credits per semester.
  • TIME: Bids may be placed for classes that have a time conflict, however, the system will consider the class with the higher bid first and, if successful, deny the class with the lower bid because of the time conflict.
  • SEC (Section): Bids may be placed for multiple sections of the same course, however, the system will consider the section with the higher bid first and, if successful, deny placement in the section(s) with the lower bid(s).
  • ENRL (Enrollment): The student was already enrolled in the class for the semester through pre-enrollment by the Registrar’s Office, so did not need to place a bid.
  • PREREQ: The prerequisite for this course has not been satisfied.
  • SIZE (Waitlist): The bid was not high enough to secure a seat in the class before it filled and resulted in being placed on the waitlist. If this occurs, the bidding results will show SIZE followed by a number (e.g. “001” or “025”). That number is the position on the waitlist.
    • A waitlist position costs the number of points bid on the class, regardless of the actual cost of the class for students with GOOD bids AND regardless of whether the student ends up enrolled in the class.

Bidding Rounds 1 and 2

Students who are satisfied with their Round 1 results do not need to participate in Round 2.

Students may cancel GOOD bids and waitlist positions from Round 1 during Round 2 to recover the corresponding points. Cancelling a GOOD bid cannot be undone.  You will not be enrolled if you cancel a GOOD bid and we cannot guarantee a seat will be available should you later change your mind.

Students may place new bids during Round 2 in the same manner as Round 1. However, please note:

  • Rounds 1 and 2 are discrete. A Round 2 bid will not affect or override a bid from Round 1.  For example:
    • If a student bids 100 points in Round 1 for a class that meets Monday at 9am and receives a GOOD bid, bidding 200 points in Round 2 for a different class that meets Monday at 9am will be denied even though more points were bid. The Round 1 bid would need to be cancelled to have a chance at getting into the 2nd class through bidding.
  • Denied bids are permanently denied.  If you have a bid denied in Round 1 and you are still interested in the class, you must resolve the conflict and place a new bid during Round 2.  For example: 
    • If a bid was denied for CRED/TIME/SEC and you wish to try again:
      1. Cancel the GOOD bid for the class(es) that caused the conflict
      2. Place a new bid in Round 2.
  • Cancelling a SIZE (Waitlist) bid after Round 1 recoups the points and removes the student from their position on the waitlist. The student may re-bid on the class in Round 2, but regardless of the number of points bid in Round 2, the student will not secure a seat in the class and will instead be placed on the waitlist behind all students who were waitlisted in Round 1.

During Round 2 bidding, the Registrar’s Office runs a process that promotes students from waitlists into open seats that are created when others cancel GOOD bids. This process will not promote a student from a waitlist if doing so would cause that student to exceed 17 credits. 

Last Chance Period

During the Last Chance Period (Fall Semester and Winter Intersession only), students can cancel GOOD bids or waitlist positions to recoup points but cannot place new bids. The Registrar’s Office will continue to run the process to promote students from waitlists into newly open seats. Please carefully review your bids and cancel any that are unwanted before the end of the Last Chance Period. The Registrar’s Office will process bids to enrollment, and though you will still be able to update your schedule, you will not be able to recoup bid points after the Last Chance Period has ended.

Pushing Bids to Enrollment

After the Last Chance Period has ended, the Registrar’s Office will process all GOOD bids to enrollment and waitlists. If you have a hold on your record that prevents registration (e.g., Student Accounts, Student Health, Emergency Contact), your bids will not result in actual enrollment, and you will lose your bid results and points.


The Registrar’s Office will notify the community when bids have been processed to enrollment, and class schedules will be available to view in CAESAR.

To view your enrolled class schedule:
  1. Log in to CAESAR at www.northwestern.edu/caesar
  2. Choose the Manage Classes tile
  3. Select View My Classes
    • The dropdown menu on this page can be used to filter by only Enrolled classes, only Waitlisted classes, or ALL.  The class status will appear on this screen.

Open Enrollment (Add/Drop)

Following bidding is an Open Enrollment (also called Add/Drop) period in which students may add themselves into or drop themselves from classes and waitlists. These actions are all taken using the Manage Classes tile in CAESAR (NOT Law Bidding).

  • Students can add into any class with an available seat, or add to a waitlist, without using bid points.
  • Students can drop any class or waitlist position, but will no longer recoup bid points.
    • Once Open Enrollment begins, canceling a bid using the Law Bidding tile does NOT drop the class. This action must be taken using Manage Classes > Drop Classes.

Waitlist Processing

  • During Open Enrollment, open seats that become available will be filled in order of the waitlist.  We will notify students via email if they are enrolled from the waitlist. If the student no longer wants to be enrolled in the class, they must drop the class in CAESAR.
    • The Registrar’s Office manually enrolls students from the waitlists into open seats twice daily. CAESAR does not allow for automatic, real-time enrollment from the waitlist, so although you may see an available seat in a class with a waitlist, you can't be enrolled into it until our office is able to run the next waitlist advancement process.
  • Week 1 of Open Enrollment:
    • If we are unable to enroll the next student on the waitlist due to a conflict (e.g., time, section, already enrolled in too many credits), we will send an email to confirm class selection and allow the opportunity to adjust their schedule for enrollment in the waitlisted class.
    • If the student does not act or respond by the deadline in this email, we will drop the waitlist position and move to the next student.
  • Week 2 of Open Enrollment:
    • If we are unable to enroll the next student on the waitlist due to a conflict (e.g., time, section, already enrolled in too many credits), we will drop the waitlist position and move to the next student.