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Regular version of the site

How to Enroll in a Minor

A distinctive feature of a minor is that you can select ANY MINORS as your preferred ones, unless a minor does not coincide with your field of study.

What you need to know before selecting your minor (for bachelors and specialists):

  • Students select their minor at the end of the 1st year of study, roughly at the end of May - at the beginning of April.
  • Minors are selected via SmartWay system (to log into the system use your MyHSE Services Account or student e-mail login and password). If you have forgotten your login or password, please contact your programme office. If you encounter any technical difficulties, please contact Support Service.
  • Before the selection campaign please look through the catalogue of minors for the current study year.
  • Minor selection campaign has two rounds. During the first round students select five preferred minors in their account in SmartWay system. You can change selected minors and priority order. Students who do not have a minor by the end of the first round, should take part in the second round.
  • Make sure to regularly check your student email.
  • Monitor the number of students who have signed up for your selected minor. If less than 30 students have signed up for a given minor at the end of the first round,  or less than 60 students have signed up at the end of the second round, it will be removed from the list of available minors.
  • Check your HSE email regularly. If your selected MINOR is cancelled, you will receive a notification via your HSE email informing you that you must select a different minor.
  • If you miss minor selection campaign, please contact your programme office to add to your individual curriculum a minor where vacant places are left after the campaign. Otherwise, a minor will be selected by your academic supervisor. For information about vacant places students/managers may contact Degree and MicroDegree Centre.

Timeline (timeline for 2023 will be updated!)

  • March 20-21

    Students look through the list of minors in the system, check their personal data (rating)

  • 14:30 March 22 - 18:00 March 24

    First selection round

  • 14:30 March 30 - 14:30 April 3

    Second selection round

  • April 4-5

    Campaign review

How to change your selected minor:

You may transfer from one minor to another only during stated periods:

  • 1st year students: until May 20 (please contact Degree and MicroDegree Centre; do not forget to mention what minor you want to transfer to).
  • 1st semester: August 25 - September
  • 2nd semester: before January 25 (for 2nd year students), before January 26 (for 3rd year students)

The list of minors you can transfer is here.

For these minors, the transfer is agreed by the head of the minor:

What to do:

  1.  Look through the catalogue of minors for the current study year and select one you are interested in. Please note that if the minor's title in the list is red, it won't be open this year.
  2.  Look through minor's web-page: read syllabus, check whether there are additional conditions for the transfer, whether selected minor is suitable for your programme. You may also ask students who already attend this minor for more information. Look through the transfer procedure for the minors you are interested in - there may be special requirements or deadlines.
  3.  If not stated othervise on the minor's web-page, to transfer please contact Degree and MicroDegree Centre (please name up to 3 minors that are in the list of minors available for transfer). If on a minor's web-page it is stated that approval is required for transfer, please contact a competent person specified on the page.
  4. In a few days check whether new courses appeared in your LMS and schedule. If you spotted an error or have any questions please contact Degree and MicroDegree Centre.

Special situations:

  • Students who return to studies after an exceptional leave of absence can continue attending the same (or similar) minor they had before. Please contact your programme office to find a suitable minor.
  • Students who return to studies after an exceptional leave of absence and do not want to continue attending the same (or similar) minor they had before, should see "How to change your selected minor" section.

How students are distributed between minors:

Algoritm on distribution between minors is stated in Regulations on Planning and Organizing Electives and Optional Courses under Core Degree Programmes at National Research University Higher School of Economics

Stage 1. A preliminary overall rating is created

At the preliminary stage, several characteristics are calculated for each 1st-year undergraduate student who will participate in the process of selecting minors:

  • The sum of credit and rating scores of the first two modules of the academic year (S);
  • Grade point average (GPA)

After that, all students of a given academic programme are ranked. Each student’s percentile is calculated according to the parameter S (= place according to the parameter S among the students of the program - 1) / (Number of students in the programme) × 100%) among all students of his course (P0). If several students have the same S sum, they all receive the same highest percentile for that particular group. For students who come after this group of students, the percentile is calculated based on the number of students in the group with a higher S sum.

Next, a preliminary overall rating of HSE students is compiled, in which they are ranked according to the parameter P0. Each student’s place in this ranking is calculated (let us denote it by Rprel). If several students have the same P0 score, they are ranked according to their GPA. If several students have the same P0 and GPA values, they all receive the same highest place for this group of students, Rprel.

You can view your values ​​of S, GPA, P0 and Rprel, and you may therefore take these values into account when making decisions.

Stage 2. Students select their top choice minors 

From the moment the enrollment period begins, each student has the opportunity to declare their FIVE top choice minors in descending order of preference. Students who do not apply for a minor by the deadline are put on the waiting list. 

Stage 3. Overall Student Ratings are Created 

At the beginning of the enrollment period, students who had the same place Rprel in the preliminary general ranking are ranked among themselves according to the time they submitted their MINOR preferences (the earlier, the better). Thus, an overall student rating is created, in which all students are strictly ordered. Let us denote the student's place in this ranking by R.

Stage 4. Students are Assigned to Minors

With the help of a computer programme, an algorithm automatically assigns students to minors. Students’ preferences are considered in descending order of place in the overall ranking of students R. Each student application is considered in the following manner: if there are openings in a student’s top-choice minor, the student is enrolled in that minor. If the student’s first-choice minor is full, the second-choice minor is considered, and so on. If all 5 of the student’s most preferred minors are already full, the student is put on the waiting list.

At the end of the first enrollment period, the initial minor assignment list is posted.

For students who are on the waiting list, or who for some reason did not participate in the first enrollment period, there is a second enrollment period. Minors that have filled after the first enrollment period are closed to students in the second enrollment period. Otherwise, the algorithm repeats the steps outlined above.

At the end of the second enrollment period, the final minor assignment list for all enrolled students is posted.

Students who have not been enrolled in a minor are enrolled manually by the staff of their HSE academic programme office.

Calculation example

Suppose that 9 students select minors: 5 of them study in Programme A, 4 in Programme B. Suppose that their exam grades for modules 1-2 are as follows:
 

Programme А

Student surname

Sum of credit and ranking grades (S)

GPA (GPA)

Alekseev

288

9,67

Alexandrov

271

9,17

Antonova

266

9

Arkhipova

290

9,67

Akhmatov

276

9,5

 

Programme B

Student surname

Sum of credit and ranking grades (S)

GPA (GPA)

Borisova

292

9,8

Berezin

276

9,4

Bulatov

286

9,6

Baranova

264

9


At the first step of the minor allocation procedure, a preliminary overall student rating is created. First, each student’s percentile is calculated within their programme.
 

Programme А

Student surname

Sum of credit and ranking grades (S)

GPA (GPA)

Percentile P0

Alekseev

280

9,67

20%

Alexandrov

272

9,17

60%

Antonova

266

9

80%

Arkhipova

284

9,67

0%

Аkhmatov

276

9,5

40%

 

Programme B

Student surname

Sum of credit and ranking grades (S)

GPA (GPA)

Percentile P0

Borisova

292

9,8

0%

Berezin

276

9,4

50%

Bulatov

286

9,6

25%

Baranova

264

9,2

75%


Now a preliminary overall rating can be created:
 

Preliminary Overall Rating

Student surname

Percentile P0

GPA (GPA)

Place Rprel

Borisova

0%

9,8

1

Arkhipova

0%

9,67

2

Alekseev

20%

9,67

3

Bulatov

25%

9,6

4

Akhmatov

40%

9,5

5

Berezin

50%

9,4

6

Alexandrov

60%

9,17

7

Baranova

75%

9,2

8

Antonova

80%

9

9

 

Note that Borisova is higher than Arkhipova. Though they have the same percentile value, Borisova has a higher GPA. It turned out that all students are strictly ordered, so the time at which they submitted their minor preferences will not play any role. Therefore, the preliminary overall rating will coincide with the final overall rating.

Next, the student’s minor preferences are considered. Suppose there are 5 minors available (M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5), and each minor has 3 openings. The students’ preferences are as follows:

Place R

Student Surname

Minor Preferences

1st-choice

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

1

Borisova

М2

М3

М4

М5

М1

2

Arkhipova

М2

М3

М4

М1

М5

3

Alekseev

М3

М5

М1

М2

М4

4

Bulatov

М2

М4

М1

М5

М3

5

Akhmatov

М2

М1

М4

М5

М3

6

Berezin

Did not submit preferences

7

Alexandrov

М2

М4

М5

М3

М1

8

Baranova

М2

М1

М3

М4

М5

9

Antonova

М5

М4

М3

М2

М1

The automatic minor assignment algorithm now begins. Moving from student to student in descending order of R:

  • Borisova is enrolled in her top choice, M2.
  • Arkhipova is enrolled in her top choice, M2.
  • Alekseev is enrolled in his top choice, M3.
  • Bulatov is enrolled in his top choice, M2.
  • Akhmatov is unable to enroll in M2, because it is full. He is enrolled in his second choice, M1.
  • Berezin is put on the waiting list.
  • Alexandrov is unable to enroll in M2, because it is full. He is enrolled in his second choice, M4.
  • Baranova is unable to enroll in M2. She is enrolled in her second choice, M1.
  • Antonova is enrolled in her first choice, M5.

All students except Berezin were assigned to minors. Berezin submitted his preferences in the second enrollment period (minor M2 is now no longer listed as an available minor):

Place R

Student surname

Minor preferences

1st-choice

2nd

3rd

4th

1

Berezin

М1

М4

М5

М3


Once the period closes, Berezin is enrolled in the M1 minor. The final minor assignments are as follows:
 

Minor

М1

М2

М3

М4

М5

Akhmatov

Arkhipova

Alekseev

Alexandrov

Antonova

Baranova

Borisova

 

 

 

Berezin

Bulatov

 

 

 


 

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