Cross-Registration for Concentration Credit

Social Studies will give concentration credit for letter-graded focus field courses taught at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, or Harvard Divinity School. We will also generally approve focus field courses in the social sciences or history taught at MIT or offered through approved study abroad programs. As courses at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Graduate School of Design are not letter-graded and all Social Studies concentration courses must be taken for a letter grade, we do not give concentration credit for those courses.

In line with Harvard College policies encouraging students to prioritize courses offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, we will generally not give concentration credit for more than two courses taken at the professional schools. We also encourage students taking cross-registered courses at the professional schools to use them as the fifth or sixth course in their focus field, so that at least four courses in the focus field are taken in a Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

To receive concentration credit for a cross-registered course, please fill out the Concentration Credit Petition for Cross Registered Courses form on the registrar's website. Your form will need to be approved by the Director of Studies.

Students should submit their petitions to the Registrar's Office by the 5th Monday of the term in which they take the cross-registered course to receive concentration credit. However, petitions may be submitted retroactively if a student determines that a course that has already been completed fits into their focus field and if the retroactive petition is approved by the Director of Studies in consultation with the Social Studies Board of Instruction. Students in their final semester of study may not submit a petition after the 5th Monday of that final term.