Cross-Registration for Harvard College and Harvard Griffin GSAS Students

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Harvard College and Harvard Griffin GSAS students

 Harvard College new cross-registration policy highlights:

  • Effective July 1, 2024 for the Fall 2024 term
  • No course enrollment limits
  • Grading evaluation and notation will follow the grading system of the school, which will be noted on the student transcript. If the grading system of the host school differs from Faculty of Arts and Sciences grading, students are not permitted to request letter grades.
  • Courses will not count towards your GPA (unless it is a failing grade)
  • Cross-registered courses will not count towards the letter-graded requirement
  • Individual concentrations will decide which courses may count for concentration credit
  • Until June 30th, the current policy will remain and we can retroactively process the Concentration Credit Petition for Cross-Registered courses form and include the grade in GPA calculations
  • After July 1st, the new policy will be in effect and the Concentration Credit Petition for Cross-Registered courses form will be taken down. No cross-registered courses taken prior to Fall 2024 will count towards GPA calculations

 

Cross-registration options

FAS students have several options for cross-registration:

  • MIT
  • MIT ROTC
  • Non-FAS Harvard schools (Harvard College students cannot receive undergraduate College credit for online/hybrid courses)
  • Brown/Tufts Fletcher School (Harvard Griffin GSAS only)
 

Key dates and deadlines

MIT – Spring 2024

As a general rule, you must cross-register by the earliest possible deadline. When an MIT deadline is earlier than a Harvard deadline, you must complete cross-registration by the MIT deadline. When a Harvard deadline is earlier than an MIT deadline, you must cross-register by the Harvard deadline.

January 8, 2024: Harvard cross-registration opens

January 29, 2024: MIT cross-registration opens

February 20, 2024: Last day Harvard College students may add/drop an MIT course. 

March 4, 2024: Last Day Harvard Griffin GSAS students may add/drop an MIT course.

MIT Fall 2024 cross-registration will open in August 2024 

Brown/Tufts Spring 2024

GSAS only: Brown/Tufts courses are only available to graduate students. 

As a general rule, you must cross register by the earliest possible deadline. When a Brown/Tufts deadline is earlier than a Harvard deadline, you must complete cross-registration by the Brown/Tufts deadline. When a Harvard deadline is earlier than a Brown/Tufts deadline, you must cross-register by the Harvard deadline.

January 8, 2024: Cross-registration opens at Harvard

March 4, 2024: Last day graduate students may add a cross-registered course

March 18, 2024: Last day graduate students can drop a cross-registered course

Brown/Tufts Fall 2024 cross-registration opens in August 2024

Non-FAS Harvard Schools – Spring 2024

As a general rule, you must cross register by the earliest possible deadline. When a non-FAS deadline is earlier than an FAS deadline, you must complete cross-registration by the non-FAS deadline. When an FAS deadline is earlier than a non-FAS deadline, you must cross-register by the FAS deadline.

November 1, 2023: Cross-registration opens for Harvard Divinity School courses only 

January 8, 2024: Cross-registration opens for all Non-FAS Harvard schools

February 20, 2024: Last day Harvard College students may add/drop a cross-registered course (Fifth Monday)

March 4, 2024: Last day graduate students may add a cross-registered course

March 18, 2024: Last day graduate students may drop a cross-registered course

March 28, 2024: Last day Harvard College students may add/drop a Spring 2 cross-registered course

Non-FAS Harvard Schools –Fall 2024

April 3, 2024: Cross-registration opens for Harvard Divinity School courses only 

August, 2024: Cross-registration opens for all Non-FAS Harvard schools

How to cross register

Graduating students planning to cross register at MIT: If you wish to receive your diploma on time, you may want to reconsider taking an MIT course in your final semester.

Step 1: Cross register for courses directly in my.harvard. 

  • If you are a Harvard College first-year student, you must send a statement of interest to your Resident Dean to be able to cross-register at MIT.
  • If you are a fellow, you cannot cross-register at MIT.

Step 2: The MIT instructor will approve your request to enroll. 

  • Once the MIT instructor approves your request, you will see a Permission Granted icon in my.harvard. 

Step 3: You must officially enroll in the course once the MIT instructor has given you permission.

  • You are not officially enrolled in the course until you complete Step 3.

GSAS only: Brown/Tufts Fletcher School courses are only available to graduate students. 

Step 1: Complete the Non-Harvard Cross-Registration Petition. You cannot register directly via my.harvard.

Step 2: Email Non-Harvard Cross-Registration Petition to enrollment@fas.harvard.edu.

The Harvard FAS Registrar's Office will process your request and enroll you in the course directly. Once we process your enrollment, you will see the course under Enrolled Courses in your my.harvard student home.

Step 1: Cross register for courses directly in my.harvard. 

  • If your course does not require instructor permission, you do not need to take further action to enroll. 

Step 2: If the non-FAS Harvard course requires instructor permission, the non-FAS Harvard instructor will approve your request to enroll. 

  • Once your enrollment request has been approved by the non-FAS Harvard instructor, you will see a Permission Granted icon in my.harvard. 
  • At this point, you are registered for the course.

Step 3: You must officially enroll in the course once the instructor has given you permission.

  • You are not officially enrolled in the course until you complete Step 3.

 

Drop a cross-registered course

As a general rule, you must follow the earliest deadline when dropping a cross-registered course. When an MIT deadline is earlier than a Harvard deadline, you must drop a cross-registered course by the MIT deadline. When a Harvard deadline is earlier than an MIT deadline, you must drop a cross-registered course by the Harvard deadline.

Dropping MIT courses is a 2-step process

Step 1: Drop the course directly in my.harvard. 

Step 2: Contact the MIT Registrar's Office. They will drop the course in MIT's course registration system. 

As a general rule, you must follow the earliest deadline when dropping a cross-registered course. When an non-FAS Harvard deadline is earlier than an FAS Harvard deadline, you must drop a cross-registered course by the non-FAS Harvard deadline. When an FAS Harvard deadline is earlier than a non-FAS Harvard deadline, you must drop a cross-registered course by the non-FAS Harvard deadline.

To drop a non-FAS Harvard course, you can simply drop the course directly in my.harvard. 

As a general rule, you must follow the earliest deadline when dropping a cross-registered course. When a Brown/Tufts Fletcher School deadline is earlier than a Harvard deadline, you must drop a cross-registered course by the Brown/Tufts Fletcher School deadline. When a Harvard deadline is earlier than a Brown/Tufts Fletcher School deadline, you must drop a cross-registered course by the Brown/Tufts Fletcher School deadline.

Step 1: Drop the course directly in my.harvard. 

Step 2: If you are enrolled in a Tufts Fletcher School course, contact the Tufts Fletcher School Registrar's Office. They will drop the course in the Tufts Fletcher School course registration system.

Step 3: If you are enrolled in Brown course, contact the Brown University Registrar's Office. They will drop the course in the Brown course registration system. 

 

Grading basis change for cross-registered courses

MIT courses graded pass/fail cannot be changed to a letter-graded course. For letter-graded MIT courses, if a change of grading basis petition was approved (see below), FAS will convert the letter grade to pass/fail once the FAS Registrar's Office receives grades from MIT.

Harvard College: Submit a change of grading basis request directly in my.harvard

Harvard Griffin GSAS: Submit a petition to change a grading status (language courses only)

Harvard College students: Submit a change of grading basis request directly in my.harvard. This form can also be used to change GSD graded courses to HCOL letter graded.   

Harvard Griffin GSAS students: Submit a Petition to Change a Grading Status (language courses only)

Language courses only: You can only change the grading basis of a language course. You cannot change the grading basis of other Brown/Tufts Fletcher School courses.

To change the grading basis of a language course, you must submit a Petition to Change the Grading Basis.

Credits

Visit the course search in my.harvard to view the cross-registration credit conversion tool. Look for Credit Conversion button below the search bar. Choose your home school and the course's school for more information.


Harvard Griffin GSAS students: Ordinarily, cross-registered courses may not represent more than one-half of your total program of study in any term. Consideration is given to students enrolled in interfaculty PhD programs. Learn more about graduate cross registration in the Harvard Griffin GSAS Policies

Harvard College students: There is no limitation on the number of credits to count toward the 128 credit requirement. 

To petition to receive concentration credit for a course, email your completed Concentration Credit Petition for Cross Registered Courses to enrollment@fas.harvard.edu by the fifth Monday of the term in which you are taking the course. If you have not yet declared your concentration you may petition for concentration credit retroactively by the fifth Monday of your fourth term in residence.

You may not cross-register into January term courses or May term courses (at Harvard Graduate School of Education), nor can you receive credit for January or May term courses.

 

Visit the course search in my.harvard to view the cross-registration credit conversion tool. Look for Credit Conversion button below the search bar. Choose your home school and the course's school for more information.

Harvard Griffin GSAS students: Ordinarily, cross-registered courses may not represent more than one-half of your total program of study in any term. Consideration is given to students enrolled in interfaculty PhD programs. Learn more about graduate cross registration in the Harvard Griffin GSAS Policies

Harvard College students: Count up to eight cross-registration credits toward the 128 credit requirement.

  • To petition to receive concentration credit for a course, email your completed Concentration Credit Petition for Cross Registered Courses to enrollment@fas.harvard.edu by the fifth Monday of the term in which you are taking the course. If you have not yet declared your concentration you may petition for concentration credit retroactively by the fifth Monday of your fourth term in residence.
  • You may not cross-register into January term courses nor can you receive credit for January term courses.

Visit the course search in my.harvard to view the cross-registration credit conversion tool. Look for Credit Conversion button below the search bar. Choose your home school and the course's school for more information.

At the Tufts University Fletcher School

  • Full-term courses will count for 4 credits
  • Half-term courses will count for 2 credits

Auditing

Audited courses will not appear on your Harvard transcript. 

Step 1: Add the course in my.harvard and contact your instructor to request permission to audit the course. 

Step 2: Once you receive permission, drop the course directly in my.harvard.

Step 3: Send your instructor's note of approval to records@mit.edu to be added as an auditor.

Audited courses will not appear on your Harvard transcript. 

Step 1: Contact your instructor to request permission. 

Step 2: Once you receive permission, you do not need to enroll in the course through my.harvard. Your instructor will need to manually add you to all course materials.

Harvard Griffin GSAS students are not permitted to audit courses at Brown University or the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Related Forms

All cross-registration forms

Need Assistance?

Cross-Registration Support

EmailFAS Registrar's Office – Enrollment Services Team

  • questions about cross-registration 

Emailmy.harvard Support

  • report technical issues related to my.harvard

VisitMIT Registrar's Office

VisitBrown University Registrar's Office

VisitTufts University Fletcher School Registrar's Office

VisitAll Harvard Registrar's Offices

  • to find contact information for schools that have cross registration with FAS