Limited-Enrollment Lottery

FALL 2024: Limited-enrollment lottery opens on Thursday, August 15 and will close on Wednesday, August 28 at 9 a.m.

SPRING 2025: Limited-enrollment lottery opens on Thursday, January 9 and will close on Thursday, January 23 at 9 a.m.

When the lottery is open, you will find the lottery preferences form in my.Harvard on your Home page. You will be able to add or delete your name to preliminary course “lists” for these courses. After the lottery is closed and run, the results of the lottery will be posted in my.Harvard later that evening, and an email will be sent to student-announce.

Enrollment Selection Process

The Limited-Enrollment (LE) Lottery will utilize a system that optimizes students’ first choices over the entire population, and will employ the same system as that of the studio lottery. In the case of oversubscribed courses, enrollments will be determined based on the numbered wait list when a student drops the course. Any prerequisites that a course may require should be clearly stated so you will know if you are eligible. Please note that you will only be allowed to select three courses via the LE lottery. You should only select a course that you plan on enrolling in if assigned a slot.

Results of the LE lottery will be posted in my.Harvard later in the evening on the day the lottery is closed, and the lists will also be distributed to instructors. Because students may successfully lottery in to more courses than they wish to attend, it is imperative that you attend the first several class meetings for those courses you wish to remain enrolled or wait-listed; otherwise, your name will be crossed off at that time and a student from the waitlist will be offered your spot, assuming they are present. Instructors should post a revised list after the first day of classes; if you decide not to enroll in a course after you attend the first class, please contact the faculty member. Note: some instructors may note that you must be continually present during their class meetings in order not to have your spot offered to the first student on the waitlist. Please be cognizant of the instructor’s class attendance policies.

If you do not participate in this lottery process and your name does not appear on a waitlist, you can still add yourself to the end of an existing waitlist once the course enrollment period begins each semester (Fall 2024 – August 29, Spring 2025 – January 24).

Prior to the LE Lottery, MDes students may participate in an MDes Advanced Course Selection process (MACS) where a small number of seats are held for specific limited enrollment courses. All open seats are then included in the standard LE lottery. Information regarding MACS is provided to eligible MDes students.