Cross-Registration Petition Process

  1. Determine Your Eligibility

    2. MBA Program Elective Curriculum

    Cross-registrants are limited to the equivalent of six credits per term in any combination of "Long" (full-term) courses (3 credits) or "Short" (half-term) courses (1.5 credits). Cross-Registration is permitted only in MBA Program Elective Curriculum (2nd Year) courses and 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:
      • - 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.

    Fellows of Harvard University are eligible for Cross-Registration as auditors only. Please visit Course Planning Resources under the Auditors and Harvard Fellows section for details.

    Harvard, Tufts, and MIT undergraduate students are not eligible for Cross-Registration at HBS.

    Harvard University Extension School students are not eligible for Cross-Registration at HBS.

  2. Research Courses of Interest

    3. Course Planning Resources

    1. Visit Course Planning Resources to learn which courses will accept Cross-Registration petitions and to explore course content and schedules.

    2. Determine which selection process (lottery or faculty selection) each eligible course will use.

    Selection Process
    Students request enrollment in HBS MBA courses via one of 2 methods:

    Lottery: Open seats will be distributed via lottery from amongst all petitions submitted for that course. Following submission of a petition for a lottery course, please be sure to also rank your course(s) via the link visible on my.Harvard under the heading, “Enrollment Event” (this will display a few hours after petition is submitted).

    Faculty Selection: In addition to submitting a petition in my.Harvard, students must email their resume and a statement of interest to the contact person or survey link listed in the "Class Notes" section of the course description in the Harvard University catalog. The course's faculty will then select the students who will be admitted, on a space available basis.

    3. Gain access to HBS Canvas to view course syllabi and other course details: see step #4 below. HBS uses a different instance of Canvas than the version used by the rest of Harvard University, so you will need to login to the HBS version in order to see HBS courses.

  3. Submit Online Petition

    4. Online Petition Process and Deadline


    Spring 2025

    Petitions will be accepted starting on January 22, 2025. The deadline is 4pm on January 28, 2025. Lottery rankings are due no later than 8am on January 29, 2025.

    Please note that while HBS will begin accepting petitions on January 22, your home school also has a date on which you will be permitted to submit them. If you experience any problems, please check with your home school for assistance. Some schools require advisor or registrar approval before the petition may be submitted. Please be sure to check with your home school if you think this may be the case for you.

    HU Graduate Students

    Submit petitions online through my.Harvard. Please note that faculty approvals may automatically appear on your online petition; this does not indicate that you are enrolled in the course.

    MIT Students

    Submit petitions through the MIT course registration portal, after which you will receive an automated email that will contain your HUID number and will include instructions on how to claim your Harvard Key. Please note that faculty approvals may automatically appear on your online petition; this does not indicate that you are enrolled in the course.

    Tufts Fletcher Students

    Visit my.Harvard and click Non-Harvard Account Form to fill out an Account Registration Form. This form must be submitted to begin the process, even if a student has submitted the same form in a prior term. After filling out this form, you will receive an automated email which will contain your HUID number and instructions on how to claim your Harvard Key.
    Once you have your Harvard Key, you may submit petitions online at my.Harvard. Please note that faculty approvals may automatically appear on your online petition; this does not indicate that you are enrolled in the course.

    Harvard Fellows

    Fellows of Harvard University are eligible for cross-registration at HBS as auditors only, and do not submit petitions in my.Harvard. See Course Planning Resources for registration instructions.

    For All Students
    Following submission of a petition, these additional steps must be taken, dependent upon the selection method for the course:

    Lottery: Open seats will be distributed via lottery from amongst all petitions submitted for that course. Following submission of a petition for a lottery course, please be sure to also rank your course(s) via the link visible on my.Harvard under the heading, “Enrollment Event” (this will display a few hours after petition is submitted). Though MIT students will submit petitions in the MIT course registration portal, lottery rankings must be done in my.harvard using your Harvard Key.

    Faculty Selection: In addition to submitting a petition in my.Harvard, students must email their resume and a statement of interest to the contact person or survey link listed in the "Class Notes" section of the course description in the Harvard University catalog. The course's faculty will then select the students who will be admitted, on a space available basis.

    Note:     In advance of submitting a petition, please take note of the HBS Academic Calendar, found on the Course Planning Resources page, as some of the dates may differ from that of your home school. Please determine in advance if you will be able to attend all HBS class meetings as attendance at all sessions is required.

  4. Request Temporary Canvas Login Credentials

    5. Complete Credentials Poll

    HBS uses a different instance of Canvas than the version used by the rest of Harvard University. You may request temporary login credentials so that you may access HBS Canvas to view course syllabi and materials, and to attend early sessions of the course by filling out this poll: https://hbs.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWnVI8VtLQa32jb
    The link to the poll becomes active on January 22, 2025.
    Note: Students hoping to audit a course (including Harvard Fellows) should not fill out this poll, but should instead fill out the Auditor Poll found under Auditors and Harvard Fellows in Course Planning Resources.

    Once you receive the credentials, do not change the password on this account even if you are asked to do so.

    You must enter your school-affiliated email address in the poll (e.g. johnharvard@harvard.edu) in order for the login information to be sent to you.

    These credentials will be deactivated soon after the term starts. If you are successfully enrolled in a course, new personalized login credentials will be sent to you to use for the remainder of the term.

  5. Cross-Registration Petition Results

    6. Enrollment results


    Enrollment results for SP25 will be available in my.Harvard on or before Friday, January 31, 2025. If you are enrolled in a course, you will receive an email with personalized login credentials. Please be sure to check your email as of this date, including your junk or spam folders.

    Students who are not enrolled will not receive an email from HBS    . Students will see "denied" or "not enrolled" listed next to the my.Harvard petitions for any course in which they were not enrolled.

    Please note that an email from a faculty member indicating enrollment does not constitute official enrollment in the course.     All formal enrollments will be processed by the HBS MBA Registrar's Office by the date listed above, and results will be displayed in the my.Harvard petition system.

    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 a course. The course fee is charged regardless of the number or type of materials used in a given course. Please note that if you drop your HBS course after having been enrolled, the course fee will be refunded for courses dropped by the HBS drop deadline. Courses dropped after the HBS deadline will incur the full course fee. Questions regarding this fee may be sent to mbacrossreg@hbs.edu.

A note for Auditors: Non-HBS students, including Harvard Fellows, interested in auditing an HBS MBA course follow a different process from that outlined above. Please see the Auditors and Harvard Fellows section on the Course Planning Resources page for detailed instructions.


-For course catalog, schedules of available courses, calendars, and information on auditing, please see Course Planning Resources.

-For HBS MBA policies and FAQ, please see Cross-Registration Policies and FAQ.

Questions? Email mbacrossreg@hbs.edu.

Last Updated
November 1, 2024