Limited-Enrollment Lottery

The online lottery for limited enrollment courses will open in my.Harvard on Wednesday, August 23 at 9 a.m., and will remain so until Thursday, August 31, when it will close at 9 a.m. You will find the lottery preferences form in my.Harvard. While the lottery is open, you will be able to add or delete your name to preliminary course “lists” for these courses.  The results of the lottery will be posted in my.Harvard later that evening. Course videos can be viewed on the Courses page by clicking on a course’s title, assuming the instructor has uploaded one.

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 (closes at 9 a.m. on Thursday, August 31) will be posted in my.Harvard during the early evening of August 31, 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 waitlisted in; otherwise, your name will be crossed off at that time and a student from the wait list 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 wait list. 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 wait list, you can still add yourself to the end of an existing wait list once the course enrollment period opens on September 1.

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.