Apply for a Seminar

Instructions and Information

First-year Seminars are your ideal introduction to the unique opportunities awaiting you at Harvard. Our Seminars are only available for you during your first year. You are eligible to enroll in two First-Year Seminars, one in each term.

Over the summer, you can secure your Fall Seminar, your Spring Seminar, or both your Fall and Spring Seminars. Because demand for a specific Seminar often exceeds its number of seats, we recommend that you submit at least six applications for Fall Seminars and three applications for Spring Seminars to help us match your top choices against your top offers.

You may apply for as many seminars as you’d like, and rank them in order of preference until the deadline. Faculty will review applications and rank their choices as well, and then we run an algorithm to match students with seminars. You will be notified of your seminar/s placement by email. We will then post all Seminars that still have openings on our website, and you can reach out directly to the faculty member with short explanation of why you wish to take the seminar.

Specifics

1. Our application system
   The system will be accepting applications during the summer for both fall and spring term seminars.
2. Modify my personal data.
   Please complete this section accurately to help us keep in touch with you about your applications.
3. Browse / Search for seminars to add.
   Here you may sort seminar offerings by number or title, or, you may search by schedule (e.g. “Tuesday”) or by keyword (e.g. “science” or “art”).

Applications

Once you’ve decided to apply to a particular Seminar, hit the “apply” button on the seminar description page in order to reach the section of the application asking you for a brief statement of interest. These statements are important because faculty learn from them about your interest in the Seminar. All seminars require that you complete one short brief statement; some also require that you respond to an additional question. Please read the instructions carefully, and note that some Seminars require mandatory field trips that will take place outside of regular meeting hours.