Spring 2022

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Spring 2022 Gen Ed lottery concluded at 12:00 p.m. EST Wednesday, January 19. All students who were offered course seats via the lottery have been notified via a GREEN CHECK MARK in their Crimson Carts. The green check mark shows that a petition was approved and a student may enroll in the course.  If you see anything BUT a green check mark (so, an orange clock, a red X, or a "resubmit" button) by the course in your Crimson Cart, you were not successful in the lottery. Please see each individual course's Canvas site for more information on whether and/or how faculty members will consider new petitions for enrollment.

**Please note that if faculty are accepting petitions from the waitlist, they will do so after the course enrollment deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, January 20.**

On this page

• Spring 2022 Courses
• Choosing the Best Courses for You
• Enrollment Caps and Lotteries
• Questions and Advising

Spring 2022 Courses

An exciting range of Gen Ed courses is on offer this term.  You can explore these course offerings in a number of ways:

• Filter Spring 2022 courses by category.
• See the urgent problems and enduring questions examined in Gen Ed courses (Spring 2022 courses are marked in bold).
• Find a course by time through our visual schedule of Spring 2022 Gen Ed courses.

Choosing the Best Courses for You

We want to help you make the best choice when determining which Gen Ed courses to take. Below, please find a table of all Spring 2022 Gen Ed courses that includes some information that may help you determine which courses to take. If the course has a number under "Enrollment Cap?," that means it is a part of the Gen Ed lottery (details below). If you have further questions, please feel free to join us during our open advising hours, available in person and via Zoom. Please note that students pursuing simultaneous enrollment in a Gen Ed course and a non-Gen Ed course must attend the Gen Ed course.

Live preview sessions for some Gen Ed courses will be offered on Friday, January 14.  A full schedule is available on Gen Ed Course Preview Day.

Please see the course's Canvas site for Zoom link and more information.  Please note that you may need to add the course to your Crimson Cart in my.harvard to see the information about the preview session on Canvas.

Enrollment Caps and Lotteries

Some - but not all! - Spring 2022 courses in Gen Ed have faculty-placed enrollment caps. Some Gen Ed faculty choose to cap their course for pedagogical reasons, while others do so for staffing reasons. If a course has an enrollment cap, it will be noted in the grid above, and also in my.harvard with this note:

This course has an enrollment cap, so to be considered, you must request permission to enroll and rank your choices through my.harvard by 11:59 p.m. EST Tuesday, January 18, 2022. The Gen Ed lottery will run Wednesday, January 19 with approvals and denials sent out no later than 11:59 p.m. that day. 

Gen Ed will run a coordinated, ranked-choice lottery on Wednesday, January 19 for all capped courses that have more requests to enroll than available seats. In order to participate in the coordinated lottery, you must do the following by 11:59 p.m. EST Tuesday, January 18:

• Request a seat in the course by submitting a petition through my.harvard. Once you've put in a petition for any Gen Ed course, my.harvard will add you to the lottery event within 15 minutes. When you're entered into the lottery, you'll see a Gen Ed Lottery banner in your my.harvard account.
• Rank your choices in the my.harvard lottery banner. You don't have to choose three courses; if you're only interested in one course, request it and rank it no.1. Please remember that you MUST rank your choices; petitioning for only one course will NOT automatically rank it for you. Sometime before the end of the day January 19, you'll see a green check in your Crimson Cart if your petition has been approved in the lottery. If you weren't successful in the lottery, you'll see a red X in your Crimson Cart. 
• Register for the course(s) you were approved for in the lottery no later than the enrollment deadline (11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, January 20). Your seats in a course won't be held any longer than that.
• Note: When you create a petition in my.harvard, a blank box will pop up that allows you to type in any information you'd like. There's no need to enter anything into that box, so please feel free to leave it blank. 
   
• You can still petition for a Gen Ed and participate in the lottery with an immunization hold. Click here to see how!
   

  Click here to see a step-by-step, illustrated guide for participating in the Gen Ed lottery.
 

**PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY HARVARD COLLEGE STUDENTS MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE GEN ED LOTTERY. If you are a student in GSAS or other schools, you will be able to petition for a seat in any FAS course as of January 12. For more information on the cross-registration process for all non-FAS students, please see this information shared by the FAS Registrar.**

Send all questions about enrollment and lotteries to gened_enrollment@fas.harvard.edu. We're happy to answer!

Questions and Advising

We’re happy to talk with you! Please join us at one of our drop-in office hours during registration and the start of classes.  Advising hours will all be online to ensure access for all students. At the start of the Spring 2022 term, advising will take place via Zoom at the following times:

• Friday, January 14 - 11am-12pm
• Tuesday, January 18 - 10-11am
• Wednesday, January 19 - 1-2pm
• Thursday, January 20 - 2-3pm
• Friday, January 21 - 12-1pm
• Monday, January 24 - 1-2pm

If you're unable to make any of these times, please contact us at gened_questions@fas.harvard.edu to set up an appointment.  Please note that the Gen Ed office is closed on evenings, weekends, and holidays.

You can also submit questions on the Gen Ed Questions page.