Course Registration
The Registration Process
Includes university-wide holidays and dates of note. Please be sure to bookmark the Academic Calendar, as it contains all important Institute deadlines for which you are responsible (add & drop dates, semester start and end dates, holidays, etc.)
Online Registration Process
You will receive your academic advisor assignment during Orientation. Students will sign up for office hours with their academic advisor during Orientation. To complete registration for the fall semester, students will:
Complete the online registration form, which will open in late August during orientation.
Meet with your advisor to review your course selections on Registration Day (generally the Tuesday after Labor Day) and have your advisor approve them.
Once your registration is approved by your advisor, one final submission to the Registrar's Office online is required from YOU to complete your Registration. Think of this as the digital version of walking a completed, physical form down to the Registrar's Office for filing.
Further detail on this process, including relevant links and step-by-step instructions, will be provided during Orientation.
Adding and Dropping Subjects
You can add first-half-term subjects during the first two weeks of the semester and full-term subjects during the first five weeks of the semester, so feel free to shop around for the elective courses that best fit your needs. Second-half course additions must be made by early November.
You are able to check your course registration anytime through WebSIS, MIT’s student online information/registration system.
Please note that after submitting your Registration on Registration Day, changes to your course selections are made on the Online Add/Drop forms which you can access through your WebSiS account.
Please allow several days to complete this process so that your advisor and/or instructor is able to go online and approve your request.
You will need to file a Late Add/Drop Form, and a fee will be assessed if you choose to make changes to your registration after the posted deadlines for adding and dropping classes.
WebSIS
WebSIS is the online student information system at MIT. Through this system, you can pre-register for classes, check your financial account, course registration status, and grade information. Be sure to bookmark this page.
Cross Registration
While students are able to easily cross-register into most courses in various departments at MIT, via the registration process or the Online Add/Drop form, there are specific procedures that apply to the Sloan School and Harvard University as described below:
Harvard Cross Registration dates and deadlines have not yet been published by Harvard. Each Harvard School will have different deadlines. Deadlines for cross-registration will be shared when they become available.
MIT Instructions for Cross Registering at Harvard
NOTE
You may not register as a Listener in Harvard Courses. You must take the course for a grade or as P/D/F
The procedures to be followed for Harvard cross-registration are listed below. Catalogs, course descriptions, and schedules are available online. Please note that Harvard’s academic calendar is different from MIT’s schedule. In addition, students must meet the earlier of MIT’s or Harvard’s cross-registration and add/drop/change deadlines and must abide by the rules of both MIT and the Harvard School into which you are cross-registering. Some schools at Harvard have earlier cross-registration deadlines, before or within the first week of MIT classes. You may find Harvard deadlines, once published, at: https://crossreg.harvard.edu/OASIS/CrossReg/index.html. Generally, the process for cross-registration is as follows:
Search Harvard's Course Catalog for courses (students can search by term, school and keyword) and choose the courses you wish to register for.
Students must meet the earlier of the two schools' deadlines (for example, if Harvard's deadline is Sept. 10 and MIT's is Sept. 20, you must complete the cross-registration process by Sept. 10). Cross-registration dates and deadlines will be provided to students during Orientation; 2023-2024 dates are not yet available.
Fall registration for Harvard schools can be initiated after your registration form has been submitted for MIT subjects.
After submitting your registration, go to MIT's online add/drop application. In the "Add Subjects" section, enter a search term or Harvard subject number in the “Add Harvard Subject” field. Once the dropdown display populates, select the desired subject and proceed with the usual add subject process.
Clicking the “Submit for Approval” button will automatically send the information to Harvard, where the instructor will approve. Once this approval is given, the information is sent back to MIT and your advisor will receive a notification to approve the add request in the MIT add/drop system. Once this approval is given, you will need to submit the approved Harvard add to the MIT Registrar as you would with any other add request.
To confirm that your cross-registration is complete, check that your Harvard subjects are appearing in your status of registration on WebSIS. Your registration should be updated soon after you submit your approved changes to the Registrar’s Office.
Only once all the above steps are complete will your registration be considered complete.
Harvard cross-registration is not available during IAP (January) or Summer term
While you can cross-register into any school at Harvard, below are the schools most popular with MSRED students.
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Sloan School of Management
In order to register for courses at Sloan, all students must use Sloan’s online course bidding system. This process usually begins in early May for Fall courses and in December for Spring courses. More information about this bidding process here.