One credit in a Harvard Summer School course is equal to one semester hour. Credits are listed in course descriptions.

Full-time enrollment

Eight credits constitute full-time enrollment. All study abroad programs and Institute for English Language intensive programs are full time. If you are a Harvard Extension School degree candidate enrolled in ENVR S-599 or a thesis or internship course, you are enrolled full time. I-20s are issued only to students who are enrolled full time.

Maximum enrollment

Your final enrollment cannot be more than 8 credits for undergraduate or graduate credit. If you are a student in the general program, you may enroll in an additional 4 credits for noncredit. Secondary School Program students: enrolling in classes for noncredit is not an option.  IEL intensive program students: enrolling in more than 8 credits is not an option.

General program students

During registration, you can register for up to 12 credits, including waitlisted or waiting-for-placement courses.

By May 20, you must drop any courses over the 8-credit limit or you will be dropped from one of more courses by the Registrar’s Office. Exceptions to this policy are made only when the course overload is balanced by your waitlist status in another course, or if you are a Harvard University degree candidate who has received approval for a course overload. See the maximum-enrollment guidelines on the Harvard College Academic Credit page or the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences page.

If you are enrolled in 12 credits and your account balance is not paid in full by May 20, the Registrar’s Office will drop you from a 4-credit course.

Time conflicts

You may not be enrolled in courses that meet at the same or overlapping times unless at least one of the courses is also offered online and is not a web-conference course.

If you register for courses with time conflicts, you must drop one or more of the conflicting courses by May 20 or you will be dropped from one or more courses by the Registrar’s Office. Exceptions to this policy will be made only when the time conflict is between one or more courses in which you are waitlisted.

Calculating enrollment status for enrollment certifications and loan deferments

Only courses taken for undergraduate and graduate credit are included in calculations of enrollment status for enrollment verifications and loan deferments.

Courses in which students receive grades of excluded-from-the-course (EXD), required-to-withdraw (RQ), administrative withdrawal (WA), or withdrawal (WD) are not included in those calculations.