Welcome to the new year and new edition of Trivia Tuesday, a weekly column in which we examine the contrasting policies and procedures that impact the student experience at the leading business schools. Last week we discussed the auction-style course selection system used by many MBA programs to manage class enrollment. This week we’ll look at the very different systems used by Harvard, Stanford and Tuck.
Harvard’s course registration for second year students takes place during April of the first year and is done through a computerized assignment system. Each student submits a ranked list of up to 30 elective courses (though 15-20 is the norm) to the Course Services department. These lists are then entered into a computer program that allocates ten courses to each student based on student preference and classroom capacity. Of course, career objectives and course preferences sometimes shift over the summer, so spaces in over-enrolled classes may open up in the fall. Second-year students receive their tentative EC schedules in mid-August and after a several day add/drop period at the beginning of fall term, Harvard students finalize their schedules in early September.
Stanford employs a preference ranking model similar to Harvard’s system. Toward the end of each quarter, students set their schedule for the next term by submitting a ranked list of 6-7 elective courses to the Academic Committee, which then runs an algorithm that places students in classes based on a randomly assigned priority number, their course preferences, the availability of seats and considerations of scheduling. However, to enhance students’ chances of landing a spot in high-demand courses, there are two special rounds of elective selection, called Super Round and Zero Round, which take place in May of the first year, before selection of any other second-year courses takes place. Through Super Round and Round Zero, students are placed in courses with an eye to the entire year rather than any one quarter. With a wider pool of seats available and less chance of schedule conflicts, this improves a student’s likelihood of placement in desired classes.
As one of the smallest of the leading business schools, Tuck’s model for elective registration is also one of the simplest. Unlike most of its peer schools, Tuck does not use a bidding or computerized assignment system for electives. Instead, to accommodate student interest, Tuck polls students prior to course registration and may adjust the course schedule in response to student demand. The school reports that they are 99% successful in providing students with their preferred electives using this system.
These methods of course registration may remove some of the stress and strategy of auction-style enrollment. However, because students at Harvard and Stanford have their tentative schedules set by a computer, they have far less control over the shape of their day to day class schedule than their peers at auction-style schools (though this drawback is mitigated by the add/drop period, which allows students to refine their originally assigned schedules). In the end, students at all schools tend to report satisfaction with the overall course selection system in use at their program, but if you have your heart set on a particular course in business school it would be wise to be aware of the varying methods of course selection, since this could impact your odds of getting a seat in that high-profile class.
To learn more about the elective options and course selection procedures at the leading business schools be sure to vist the programs’ websites or check out the Clear Admit School Guides!
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