Registration
New students do not need to pre-register for classes. While you have the ability to do so, it is not required and you will not be charged a fee if you don't.
You may review registration dates and deadlines on the academic calendar (MIT and WHOI).
When registration opens, you'll meet with your advisor to finalize your academic plans for the term, and you'll use the Student Portal on WebSiS to add classes to your online registration. When you've added all the courses you need to, select "Save". Your advisor or registration officer (depending upon their access to MIT's systems) will automatically receive notification that your registration is ready for approval.
Once your advisor or registration officer has approved your subject selections, you must log into WebSiS again and select "Submit" (instead of "Save") in order for your registration to be considered complete. Think of this last step as digitally walking your registration to the Registrar's Office.
You may view your official subject registration on WebSIS beginning on the first day of classes and reference the Understanding your Schedule page to learn about choosing or switching sections.
Directions for online registration can be found at: https://mit.whoi.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/07/Student_Registration_Manual-1_122264.pdf
Adding and Dropping Courses
Students wishing to add or drop subjects from their registration should use the Add/Drop/Change Form in WebSiS.
The student initiates the change; it is then approved by an advisor or administrator. Once the approval is made, just like with the registration process, the student must log into WebSiS again to submit the change to the Registrar's Office. Unless this last step is taken, the process will not be complete, and the change will not occur.
The deadline to add is in the fifth week of the term; the drop deadline is during the twelfth week of the term. Students should make sure to allow time for for the approver of the change to submit their decision.
Spring and Fall terms: 36-48 units
Summer session: 24 units
Graduate Administrators, WHOI & MIT Registrars, Academic and Research Advisors
As an interdepartmental program that is offered jointly between two institutions, the MIT-WHOI Joint Program has a number of moving pieces and people to keep track of them all. You've read and heard about a number of these individuals, and here we share more information about what their role is, and what that means for you.
First, if you have questions or need clarification, please reach Tricia Gebbie (tgebbie@whoi.edu) or Tricia Nesti (tnesti@mit.edu).
Graduate Administrators
A Graduate Administrator (Grad Admin) is the key staff member in a given MIT department responsible for a broad array of services and resources for students. As Joint Program students, you will always have three: Tricia Nesti (tnesti@mit.edu) as your MIT-side-of-the-JP Grad Admin, Tricia Gebbie (tgebbie@whoi.edu), the WHOI Registrar as your WHOI-side-of-the-JP Grad Admin, and one of the following six individuals at MIT, who is the designated Grad Admin in the MIT department with which you are affiliated (your "home department" at MIT):
Course 1 - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) - Sarah Smith (cee-apo@mit.edu)
Course 2 - Mechanical Engineering (MechE) - Saana McDaniel (saana@mit.edu)
Course 6 - Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) - Meredith Bittrich (bittrich@mit.edu)
Course 7 - Biology - Janice Chang (jdchang@mit.edu)
Course 12 - Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) - Ann Greaney-Williams (agreaney@mit.edu)
Course 16 - Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) - Rachael Draper & Erinn Taylor Barroso (rdraper@mit.edu ; erinntb@mit.edu)
When reaching a Grad Admin who is not "one of the Tricia's", please copy Tricia Gebbie or Tricia Nesti, so that we all remain on the same page and can assist you as quickly and efficiently as possible.
WHOI & MIT Registrars
The Registrar at WHOI, Tricia Gebbie, is a single person who, among many other responsibilities, schedules classes, and reviews and approves registrations. The Registrar at MIT is a large office, home to a wide range of information, including: registration, student records, class information, the academic calendar, etc. Joint Program students register through MIT systems and follow MIT's academic calendar. If there is a holiday MIT observes that WHOI does not, classes will not run, but you will want to confirm with your advisor what expectations they have of you for the day (presence in lab, etc.)
Both the WHOI Registrar Tricia Gebbie and the MIT Registrar's Office (and Program Administrator Tricia Nesti) can be helpful in answering questions you may have about registration, classes, and assist in locating information you may be having trouble finding on the Registrar's website.
Academic and Research Advisors
The faculty in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program come from both MIT and WHOI. As noted above, all registration processes take place via MIT systems, and so anyone using these systems (students, faculty, staff) must have an MIT Kerberos account. When communicating with faculty in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program at any point, you should always use the email address (@mit.edu or @whoi.edu) of the individual's home institution. For example, if emailing a WHOI faculty member, email them at their WHOI email address.
Those of you with an MIT advisor will see that individual listed when you log into WebSiS to complete registration or add/drop processes.
However, not all WHOI faculty have an MIT account, and as a result, cannot be listed via WebSiS as the student's advisor.
In the School of Engineering, an MIT faculty member must be listed as the advisor. For those of you whose home department is in Engineering (CEE, MechE, EECS, AeroAstro), you are likely to see an MIT faculty member listed. Unless this individual is the person you were admitted to work with, you do not need to meet with them about your courses or progress.
Those of you in the School of Science may see your WHOI advisor listed, or may see a WHOI Registrar Tricia Gebbie listed.
In either case, for those of you advised by WHOI faculty, you will meet with your WHOI advisor about courses to take and/or your progress, and Tricia Gebbie will review and approve your registration or add/drop form once your advisor makes her aware that it can be approved. WHOI APO and WHOI advisors have this process down to a fairly exact science all its own, but we share this information here for your awareness, as it can be otherwise confusing.
You can learn more about the relationship between, and roles and responsibilities of, students and advisors here: https://oge.mit.edu/gpp/roles-relationships/student-and-faculty/.
For further questions about registration:
Visit the MIT Registrar's Office: https://registrar.mit.edu/ or their Contact Us page for the best email address for your inquiry.
Contact WHOI Registrar Tricia Gebbie: tgebbie@whoi.edu or MIT-WHOI JP Program Administrator: tnesti@mit.edu
Visit the JP Registration Instructions Website