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emailIndependent Activities Period
All continuing students pre-register on WebSIS for non-lotteried credit subjects taken during the January Independent Activities Period starting Monday, December 1.
To appear on class lists by the beginning of IAP, students should pre-register by December 31.
The pre-registration system will stay open so that students may update the information in WebSIS to reflect adds and drops they have made until 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 15, when IAP pre-registration will be closed so that grade sheets can be prepared.
Eligibility
Full-time regular students in either the fall or spring terms may take IAP subjects for no additional charge. Students do not have to take subjects to retain their student status between fall and spring terms.
Students who are not paying full tuition in either the fall or spring term are subject to additional tuition charges and should consult the Registrar's Office, 5-119.
Special students should consult the MIT Catalogue for information on their eligibility.
Who Can Pre-Register on WebSIS?
Full-time regular students in the fall term can pre-register through WebSIS for IAP subjects.
New graduate students and undergraduate transfer students who have been admitted for spring term, as well as returning students who will be registered full-time in the spring, are eligible to take IAP subjects, but should contact Peter Hayes, Assistant Registrar, so that they may pre-register for IAP.
What pre-Registration is on WebSIS?
Students must pre-register on-line for all credit subjects except lotteried subjects. Subjects requiring pre-registration include:
Subjects listed in the IAP Guide, available on-line or in a printed version distributed on campus.
Subjects continuing from fall term, such as 8.01L and 18.02A. Freshmen should pay special attention to the credit restrictions for IAP for these subjects, particularly if they wish to take the Second IAP Program.
Special topics, thesis, and UROP subjects. Students who are graduating in February and are continuing their thesis over IAP must pre-register for thesis on WebSIS.
WebSIS pre-registration is only for credit subjects. For other IAP activities, follow the directions in the IAP Guide.
Some IAP credit subjects conduct lotteries. Students wishing to take lotteried credit subjects do not pre-register for these subjects on WebSIS. Instead, students must follow the instructions published by each subject's organizers in the IAP Guide.
Students must contact the subject's organizers and enter the subject's lottery
by the published deadlines. The subject's organizers will notify students of
the outcome of the lottery. Students who get space in a lotteried subject will
be registered automatically by the department (this applies to lotteried subjects during IAP
only).
Students who wish to drop lotteried subjects should immediately inform the instructors so that wait-listed students can take their places.
Physical Education Lottery
Students choose Physical Education classes for IAP by entering the Physical Education lottery at WebSIS starting
on Tuesday, December 2, and ending Wednesday, December 10. Lottery results
will be available the next day.
IAP is different from spring and fall terms. Generally students are not required to participate in IAP, and they have historically had few restrictions on adding and dropping subjects during IAP. The IAP pre-registration process is designed to preserve the traditional nature of IAP while providing instructors with class lists before subjects begin.
No Registration Process
Advisors are encouraged to discuss IAP plans with their advisees, but advisors do not sign paper registration forms as they do in the spring and fall.
Students do not file Add/Drop Forms with signatures from their advisors and instructors. They may use WebSIS pre-registration to change subject selection up to January 15. Because of the varied dates for IAP subjects, there is no single add or drop date. Once subjects have begun, students should check with instructors about adding and dropping.
Students may not drop subjects after submitting the final assignment or examination.
Students are responsible for making sure that their subject selection is accurate on WebSIS by January 15 so that instructors will get accurate grade sheets. If the grade sheet is not accurate, instructors may add or drop students as appropriate.
For subjects like 8.01L and 18.02A that begin in the fall term and extend into IAP, students receive T notations on their internal grade reports at the end of the fall term. Neither the fall-term subjects nor the T notations appear on the students' external transcripts. At the end of IAP, when students complete the subjects, the subjects and their final grades will be added to their internal grade reports and appear on their external transcripts.
Similarly, for subjects that begin in IAP and continue into the spring, students will receive internal T notations at the end of IAP, with the subjects and their final grades appearing on their internal grade reports and external transcripts at the end of the spring term.
For students who repeat 18.01 in IAP, the subject and grades appear on internal grade reports. They also appear on external transcripts, except for freshmen who perform at the D or F level.
As part of the Wellesley-MIT Exchange, MIT students may take credit subjects offered as part of Wellesley's Wintersession (January 5-26). Students should remember that the 12-unit credit limit during IAP includes any subjects taken at Wellesley. Wintersession subjects and directions for cross-registering at Wellesley are available at the Student Services Center, 11-120.
Aside from Wellesley, there is no cross-registration with other schools during IAP.
There is a strictly enforced 12-unit credit limit for all students during IAP. The Committee on Academic Performance and the IAP Policy Committee have approved the following guidelines for counting units of subjects extending into and beyond Independent Activities Period:
Subject (begun in fall)
Units applied toward IAP
Available units for IAP
8.01L
6 units
6 units
18.02A
6 units
6 units
18.023A
6 units
6 units<