Registration

Register for classes on WebSIS. View a full list of deadlines on MIT Registrar's Academic Calendar

Key Registration Dates

Fall 2024 
June 14Final Deadline for Pre-registration for Continuing Students ($85 late fee applied after this date)
August 26Registration opens for all students
September 3Registration Day
September 4First day of classes
September 6Fall registration deadline; February Degree Application deadline
September 18September Degree Conferral date
September 20Student holiday - no classes
October 4Add Date; Last day to choose P/D/F grading option; Cross-registration deadline
October 14Indigenous Peoples' Day - no classes
October 15Student holiday - no classes
November 11Veterans Day - no classes
November 20Drop Date; Last day to change from credit to listener status; Last day to add Independent Study
November 28Thanksgiving - no classes
November 29Institute holiday - no classes
December 2Pre-registration for IAP and spring opens
December 11Last day of classes
December 16-20Final Exams
December TBADepartment Thesis Reviews
January 5Department thesis submission deadline

 

 

Registering for Classes

Pre-registration 

Pre-registration Instructions (for Continuing Students)

Students pre-register in May for summer and fall and in December for IAP and spring. All continuing students are expected to pre-register online through WebSIS for the upcoming term(s). A student who has not completed pre-registration by the noted deadline on the Registrar’s Academic Calendar and registration by the end of the first week of the term will be assessed a late fee. Subjects selected during pre-registration are noted on the student’s online Registration Form approximately one week prior to Registration Day.

Department of Architecture subject offerings and descriptions are available to help students choose courses. The MIT Subject Listing and Schedule which is updated regularly on the Registrar’s Office website, provides information on subjects outside of the Department of Architecture.

Registration Day

Registration Instructions

Fall Registration Day is the day before classes begin and Registration Week for Spring begins the week before classes begin. Student advisor assignments are available on WebSIS, the Registrar’s student information system, under Academic Record / Status of Registration. MIT students register online and may access their registration forms the week prior to Registration Day.

The form is populated with the pre-registered subject selections entered by the pre-registration deadline. The digital registration form will need to be approved by the advisor (registration officer) prior to the registration deadline, which is the Friday following Registration Day (or Week). It is the student’s responsibility to make sure the form is properly submitted by the registration deadline to avoid a late fee. Architecture students must meet with your advisor or registration officer on Registration Day or on another appointed date prior to the registration deadline.

“Awaiting Approval” means subject selection is in progress. At this point, you or your advisor may edit your subject selections. Arrange to meet with your academic advisor (registration officer) on or before Registration Day to discuss your selections.

Once you have met and your advisor has “Approved” the selections on your online form, you will no longer be able to edit your subject selections. You will then receive an email notifying you of your need to complete the registration process by submitting, which requires additional steps only you have access to. Once you have clicked the “Submit” button, your registration is complete. If you are on a “registration hold,” you will NOT be able to submit until the hold is cleared. Fines may be assessed if your registration remains incomplete beyond the registration deadline. If you have any questions about the process or the online registration system, please or email records@mit.edu.

Limited-enrollment Waitlists

Adding yourself to a waitlist lets instructors know that you are interested in joining their limited-enrollment class, space permitting. Waitlists become available when registration opens and are viewable through the last day of classes. Instructors can begin offering enrollment from waitlists on the first day of the term. While offers can be made through Add Date, most occur during the first two weeks.

Please see the Registrar's page on Limited-enrollment waitlists which includes key points and what your role is in the process.

Adding/ Dropping Classes

After a student submits Online Registration, all further requests to add, drop, change units, and change subject registration status are made via the Online Add/Drop application. Email notifications will be sent to instructors (where appropriate) and advisors when a student requests approval for a registration change. Instructors and advisors can approve or deny the request, or request a consultation with the student to discuss the change. The student is responsible for the final submittal of all approved changes.

Students will have until 11:59pm on Add/Drop Date to submit approved changes that are due on each date (the system will not accept submittals after that time). It is strongly recommended that students request approval well ahead of the Add/Drop deadlines so that approvers have time to enter a decision (more information).

Non-Registered Students

Failure to complete registration by the end of the second week of the term will result in the loss of student status, and for international students, the loss of their visa status. As determined by the Department Committee on Graduate Students, and consistent with the policy of the MIT Registrar, a Course 4 graduate student who has not registered by the Add Date (end of fifth week) of an academic term will not be permitted to register at all in that term.

The Department will disallow access to departmental space and resources and will cancel that student's departmental employment, if any, after the fifth week of the term. No retroactive academic credit or retroactive payment will be awarded for departmental work done in the term in which the student is barred from registration.

Term of Graduation

All students, graduate and undergraduate, must file a degree application at the start of the term in which they plan to graduate. This is done online at WebSIS. Applications for advanced degrees must be submitted with working thesis titles. The deadline for finalizing the title falls near the end of term. For specifics, consult the Academic Calendar.

Undergraduates must ensure that all General Institute Requirements (GIRs) as well as departmental requirements have been satisfied by the end of the term in which they intend to graduate. The website for graduating students contains a complete checklist and calendar of deadlines. Students who have questions regarding their eligibility to graduate may contact their advisor or the degree administrator.

Petitions

Petitions are required when:

  • a student wants to add or drop a subject after the Institute deadline
  • to correct errors in registration after Add Date
  • to change an Incomplete to a letter grade after the Add Date deadline (graduate students only)
  • Complete an incomplete subject from a prior semester or year (graduate students only)
  • Request approval for retroactive actions in unusual circumstances
  • to apply for a dual degree

The petition process for graduate students and undergraduate students is different:

MArch Curriculum Adjustment Petition

English Proficiency

As prerequisite for registration, each graduate student who has indicated that English is not his or her first language must take the English Evaluation Test (EET). The test is a requirement of the Graduate School; it is a diagnostic test and is given before the fall and spring terms. The EET is a three-hour test consisting of listening, writing, and reading components, supplemented by an individual conference for each student with an English Language Studies (ELS) staff or faculty member. It is required even if the IELTS or TOEFL has been taken and passed with an acceptable score.  Results will help students, advisors, and the Department to assess what skills, if any, are needed to review in order to benefit most fully from MIT. The students and advisors will receive the results via email before Registration Day. A student receives their results as recommendations from the ELS faculty; however, these recommended courses are required by the degree program, and faculty advisors may not waive these courses for their advisees. 

Generally those who score significantly above 600 (250/computer-based; 100/internet-based) on the TOEFL require minimal work in English language writing skills. Those who score in the low 600s usually require additional help in grammar and writing skills.

Students may not defer registration in any English grammar review subject. They should take the courses within their first term or year. The most common results from the EET for Architecture students are to take the following two courses, and they must be taken in sequence:

  • 21W.219 "Foundations of Academic and Professional Writing"
    • To be completed in the first term, for a letter grade only.
  • 21W.227 "Advanced Workshop in Writing for Social Sciences & Architecture"
    • To be completed in the second term; may be taken as optional P/D/F grading, but not as Listener status.

Registration in required ELS subjects should be completed by the end of the first year. Registration in 21W.227, the advanced level writing for social scientists and architects subject, should be completed prior to Thesis registration.

Required English subjects do not count for unit credit toward any degree in the Department of Architecture; grades received in English subjects do, however, appear on the students' records. To this end the Architecture faculty have worked with the ELS faculty to allow for only 21W.227 to be completed under the optional P/D/F grading status. 

Consultation with ELS Instructors

Instructors in the English Language Studies Program will be available for consultation on Registration Day. Instructors are:

Minimum Load Requirements

All international students are required to be registered for a full-time course load, as defined by the institute as 36 units. The only allowed exceptions to this policy include the following:

  • A student in their final term, who has met all program requirements except for thesis.
  • A student is making satisfactory progress* towards their degree and is engaged in a TA or RA position for the duration of the term which is at least equal to the number of weekly hours otherwise spent on coursework. 

When an exception is requested, the student must be registered for a minimum of 24 units. Requests must be submitted to the Academic Administrators (arch@mit.edu) in advance of the term.

*Satisfactory progress toward the degree program is defined as the student completing all program requirements on or before their anticipated degree date, as set when they are admitted to the program.

Course Planning Tools

Students may find one of the following course planner apps (which have been built out over the years by enterprising students) useful in planning out their academic schedule. Faculty advisors and Academic Administrators do not have access to view your plans on these apps, so please plan on sharing with your faculty advisor when you meet to discuss your registration plans each term. The apps are most useful for undergraduate programs, but do include graduate courses as well. Please be sure to reference graduate degree requirements available here: https://architecture.mit.edu/graduate-programs 

Firehose (https://firehose.guide/) – plan for the upcoming term only in a schedule view, and filter by GIRs, number of units, undergrad or grad level, or other filters. Can be exported to Google calendar. 

Courseroad (https://courseroad.mit.edu/) – planning broken down by term and year, making it possible to build plans for your program duration. Degree program information only included for undergrad programs, but useable by grads as well. Includes filters for GIRs, HASS, CIs, undergrad or grad level, number of units, etc. 

Fireroad (https://fireroad.mit.edu/) – essentially combines the above resources to make a mobile product with the best of both worlds. Degree program information only included for undergrad programs, but useable by grads as well. Available only as an app (Apple & Android). 

MIT Course Picker (https://picker.mit.edu/) – built out of a partnership between institute DLCs. It includes both undergrad and course level courses,  integrates with CourseRoad, and can be exported to Google. Does not have a filter for the current term, but easier to view only course 4 classes. 

Cross Registration

Full-time MIT sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate students may take subjects for credit at Harvard University. No more than half (49%) of the total units for a term may be taken at other institutions. Students who cross-register should not include subjects from other institutions on their MIT Registration forms; there are separate cross-registration process for each institution with which MIT has a cross-registration program.

MIT's deadline for completing cross-registration is Add Date. It is important to be aware of the differing deadlines imposed by the other institutions because they may be earlier than the MIT deadline. The earliest deadline applies. Students’ MIT academic records will show grades for these subjects. Cross-registered subjects are dropped using the MIT add/drop application. See more detailed information about cross-registration.

Harvard Cross Registration How-to Chart

Harvard Cross Registration

Students may begin the cross-registration process at Harvard using the early add/drop forms (which establishes the registration on the Harvard side), but may fully submit them (in order for the Harvard course to show on your MIT status of registration) only after registering at MIT. The student goes to MIT's online add/drop application and uses the EARLY ADD/DROP form.  In the add 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 when the instructor will approve. Once the approval is given, the information is sent back to MIT and your advisor will receive notification to approve the add request in the MIT add/drop system. Once the approval is given, the student will need to submit the approved Harvard add to the MIT Registrar the same as for any other add request.

Full-time MIT sophomores, juniors, seniors may not cross-register for classes at the Harvard Business School, Harvard Extension School, or Harvard Law School.

Wellesley Cross Registration

MIT undergraduate students are able to cross-register at Wellesley College during the fall and spring terms only.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Cross Registration

Undergraduate students are only allowed to register for one subject per term at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. All subjects are graded pass/fail and cannot be used to fulfill Institute, department or minor requirements.

Cross-Registration Guidelines for Massachusetts College of Art and Design and can be found on the Art, Culture and Technology program's website (forms available there).

Independent Study

As you advance in your program, you may need to explore topics in greater depth on an individual basis. If there is a member of the Architecture faculty willing to supervise this course of study, prepare a proposal and submit it to that faculty member as an independent study. Students who wish to do an independent study in a different department must secure a subject number with which to register in that department. To apply for an Independent Study, please complete the Independent Study Form and obtain your advisor's signature (or they can send approval via email to Tonya Miller). Please complete the form, send to Tonya and she will give you the subject number for which you need to register.

Requirements

Students should submit a proposal to the supervisor that includes:

  • A statement of the intellectual goal of the project
  • An explanation of the relation of the proposed endeavor to the student’s overall educational goal
  • A plan for approaching the intellectual problem 
  • A statement of the expected deliverables and their evaluation 
  • A statement of the amount of time to be expended in the effort (a timetable of deliverables)

Before registering for an independent study subject, a student must obtain an appropriate subject number from the degree administrator in the department’s headquarters (Room 7-337) using an Independent Study Project Form (save to computer or device before completing form  — file is a fillable PDF). The subject must be added to the student’s registration using the online Add/Drop application.

The following information is required to complete the form:

  • Student’s name, department of major, MIT ID number and e-mail address 
  • Subject level (graduate or undergraduate) 
  • Grading system (grade or pass/fail, to be determined by the supervisor) 
  • Credit units to be earned, based on the duration and effort to be expended (generally 6, 9 or 12) 
  • A proposal 
  • Signature of project supervisor

Pay close attention to your Status of Registration posted on WebSIS after the second week. Notify the degree administrators if you find errors or have questions.

Credit for Travel/ Research/ Internships

IAP and Summer Course Work

To receive unit credit, a travel/study program must be organized and led by a member of the Department faculty and approved by the Department Head before the travel occurs. Registration is in the fall term for traveling subjects offered during the summer term, and in the spring term if traveling during IAP. The maximum number of units possible in IAP is 12. Travel/study preceding or following and part of a regular subject (studio or workshop) earns no additional unit credit.

Credit fulfilling any MArch curriculum requirement other than free elective must be approved in advance by the MArch Program Committee.

NOTE: This policy applies to group travel/study opportunities. It is not meant to afford academic credit for individual/general student travel.

Practical Experience Internship

The Department will academically support practical experience internships for professional, full-time work performed by a current MIT Architecture student, in an architectural, engineering, landscape architecture, or planning office, or directly related to an art, architecture or building technology project for Course 4 students.  More information.