Cross-Registration Out of Harvard Business School

EC students may cross-register for courses offered by another faculty of Harvard University, The Fletcher School at Tufts University, or the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Cross-registration takes place at the beginning of the term in which the course is offered. Availability may be limited at the host school, and it may not be possible to be placed in all courses of interest. Due to the intensive nature of the Required Curriculum, RC students are not permitted to cross-register out of HBS.

HBS recommends that all EC students pre-register for a full complement of HBS courses (minimum of 15 credits each term for a total of 30 credits for the year) in parallel with pursuing cross-registration, as most schools start later than HBS and may only be able to confirm cross-registration enrollment following the HBS Add/Drop process. Students are advised to attend all HBS courses until cross-registration is finalized, and to notify the Registrar’s Office when their enrollment in a cross-registered course is officially confirmed. Final deadlines for course registration changes for the 2024 - 2025 academic year are listed in Section 1.9. Students deciding to drop a cross-registered course must notify the Registrar’s Office (ectoolkit@hbs.edu) along with notifying the host school within the published deadlines.

Cross-Registration Courses Eligible for MBA Degree Credit

  • EC students may apply up to six credits of eligible cross-registration courses toward their MBA degree requirements. These courses may be taken in one term or divided between the two EC terms. Courses must be graduate-level and management-related; a graduate course type, Reading and Research, is acceptable from Harvard, but not from MIT or Fletcher.
  • A student must earn a grade that is acceptable for graduate credit at the school where the course is offered and is responsible for determining this grade standard at the host school.
  • The grade must be reported to the Registrar’s Office at HBS by the grades-due deadline for MBA courses (early January for Fall courses; early May for Spring courses).
  • The course cannot duplicate subjects available at HBS (unless the course is taken as an alternative to an oversubscribed HBS course).

Cross-Registration Courses Not Eligible for MBA Degree Credit

EC students may cross-register for enriching courses, such as language classes, audits, or specialized undergraduate courses, but these will not count toward the MBA degree requirements or appear on a student’s transcript. A student may elect to cross-register for an additional class in one or both terms above the required 30 credits.

Please note that courses that could be useful but are not directly management-related, such as language courses for students intending to go into international business, still cannot be taken for credit toward the MBA degree. A student can take up to two language courses during the EC year for no additional tuition, but these courses will not count for credit toward the MBA degree and will not appear on the transcript.

Cross-Registration Into Harvard Business School

Students from other schools who are cross-registered into HBS courses are subject to all HBS rules and policies as well as the rules and policies of their home school.

Cross-registration into MBA Program Required Curriculum (First Year) courses is not permitted.

Cross-registration into MBA Program Elective Curriculum (Second Year) courses is contingent upon meeting the following criteria:

  • Students must be in good standing at their home school.
  • Students must be enrolled in a graduate-level degree program at one of the following schools:
    • Harvard University
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
  • HBS Joint Degree students who are studying at another Harvard school and who have not yet completed the Required Curriculum are not permitted to cross-register into Elective Curriculum courses.
  • Post-Doctoral and other Fellows of Harvard University are eligible for cross-registration as auditors only.
  • Harvard, Tufts, and MIT undergraduate students are not eligible for cross-registration at HBS.
  • Undergraduate students enrolled concurrently in a bachelor and graduate degree program at Harvard University who would like to cross-register for an MBA course toward their graduate degree must first gain the approval of their Director of Graduate Studies and then must share the approval with the HBS Registrar’s Office (mbacrossreg@hbs.edu) to begin the cross-registration process.
  • Harvard University Extension School students and Harvard University TAP participants are not eligible for cross-registration at HBS.
  • Students’ partners or other family members are not eligible for cross-registration at HBS

Number of Credits Permitted Per Term

Cross-registrants are limited to the equivalent of 6 HBS credits per term in any combination of long (full-term, 3 credit) courses or short (half-term, 1.5 credit) courses. The credit value of courses taken for audit count toward this 6-credit limit.

Course Fee and Course Materials

All students are required to pay a course fee of $100 per 1.5 credit course and $200 per 3 credit course upon enrollment. The course fee paid by cross-registrants covers access to all course materials required for the course and is charged regardless of the number or type of materials used. The course fee is charged for courses taken for credit as well as those that are audited. Course materials and HBS Canvas access for an HBS course are available only to students who are formally enrolled in that course either for credit or as an auditor. Login credentials provided to enrolled cross-registrants for purposes of accessing HBS Canvas will be deactivated at the conclusion of the term in which the student is enrolled.

Dropping Courses

It is the responsibility of the cross-registrant to consult with their home school to ensure that a drop is possible and to know the HBS drop deadlines, which may differ from that of their home school. Final HBS course drop deadlines for the 2024 - 2025 academic year are:

Fall 2024:

  • Friday, September 20, 2024: Full-term and Quarter 1 half courses
  • Friday, November 1, 2024: Quarter 2 half courses

Spring 2025:

  • Friday, February 14, 2025: Full-term and Quarter 3 half courses
  • Friday, March 28, 2025: Quarter 4 half courses

Cross-registrants must drop HBS MBA courses in my.Harvard, with the exception of MIT students, who must email the Registrar’s Office at HBS (mbacrossreg@hbs.edu) in addition to dropping the course in the MIT registration system. HBS maintains official enrollment records of students cross-registered into HBS MBA courses in a separate student information system from that of cross-registrants' home schools. Any request or attempt to adjust enrollment in an HBS MBA course at any point is considered final only if approved and recorded in the HBS student information system. Changes made by a student in my.Harvard or the MIT registration system should be verified by the student with the HBS Registrar's Office.

Cross-registrants requesting to drop a course after the HBS drop deadline must obtain permission from their home school registrar as well as from the HBS Registrar’s Office. They must email mbacrossreg@hbs.edu to request a course drop after the deadline and to share their home school's written permission to do so.

Please note: If a cross-registrant drops their HBS course after having been enrolled, but before the HBS drop deadline, the course fee will be refunded. Courses dropped after the HBS deadline will incur the full course fee.

Credit Conversion and Grading Basis

Cross-registrants are strongly advised to check with their home registrar's office about how a particular HBS course may count toward credit and degree requirements at their home school. Students may also view the credit conversion information for Harvard University graduate schools. With the exception of Independent Projects, which are graded Pass/Low Pass/Fail, all HBS MBA electives are graded with the Category I, II, III, IV grading system, as outlined in Section 1.7. Students may not elect a different grading basis for HBS courses.

Disqualification from Enrollment

If a student ceases to be in good standing at their home school at any point during the term of cross-registration at HBS, then the student may be disqualified from taking the HBS course, dropped from the class roster, receive neither grade nor credit for the HBS course, and receive no refund of the course fee.

Career and Professional Development

The MBA Career & Professional Development (CPD) office does not offer placement assistance or other services to cross-registrants. This includes events held on-campus (company presentations, receptions or networking events) or off-campus (receptions at hotels or other venues). Interviews coordinated by this office are for HBS degree candidates only.