The HBS MBA Program is a fully immersive, in-person, two year educational experience and your class attendance and participation are critical components of HBS Learning Model. You and your classmates will learn the most when you are physically present in the classroom, able to engage in person with classmates and faculty members.

While full class attendance is expected throughout the two years, the MBA Program recognizes there will be times when a student will need to miss class in order to tend to personal matters. All students are required to read and adhere to this policy, which provides details related to all matters concerning HBS class attendance:

A pattern of behavior illustrating a failure to follow this policy, including failing to give proper notice of an absence or misrepresenting the reason for an absence, could rise to the level of a violation of HBS Community Values and the HBS Honor Code and may result in disciplinary sanctions.

All MBA students are required to be in residence in the Boston area during the academic term, and attend all classes in person unless they have reported an absence per this policy.

All students are required to notify their instructor(s) in advance of any absences when they will not be physically present in the classroom using the Student Absence Notification tool.

When reporting, students are required to select the reason that is most consistent with why they will not be present in class on that particular day. If a match does not exist, students should select “Other.”

In case of an emergency absence when it is not possible to report the absence in advance of class, students should contact attendance@hbs.edu and proceed with entering the absence in the system as soon as possible.

Excused Absences

There are several reasons a student can be excused from class. Excused Absences have no impact on a grade when used in moderation. See Impact of Absences below for more information.

Reasons for excused absences are:

• Birth or adoption of a student's child.
• Court summons or jury duty that cannot be postponed.
• Death in the close and immediate family.
• Funeral.
• Illness or medical needs of a child for whom the student is a primary caretaker.
• Observance of high religious days or due to religious beliefs.
• Personal illness (see below for details).
• Recruiting (see below for details).
• Required military service.
• Serious illness in the close and immediate family.
• Wedding day of student or immediate family member.

Excused Personal Illness

Students are encouraged to stay home from class when they are not feeling well. Personal illness absences are designed to excuse a student from class in these instances and include absences due to:

• Isolation due to COVID.
• Symptom of illness causing a student to stay home in order to keep others healthy.
• Health emergencies.
• Mental health.
• Appointments with health care providers that could not be scheduled at another time.

Students with frequent excused absences will be notified and required to provide documentation regarding the extra time needed outside of the classroom. See Impact of Absences below for more information.

Excused Recruiting Absences

When there is a recruiting need that cannot be accommodated outside of class or on an Open Day, students may take Excused Recruiting Absences, which are valid for most recruiting activities related to securing a job offer including informational interviews, formal interviews, conferences, sell days, or fundraising for a startup.

Students are eligible to miss up to three class sessions for Excused Recruiting Absences in Term 1 of the RC year, no more than 1 per course (some restrictions apply, see below). Thereafter, in Terms 2, 3, and 4 they will be permitted to miss up to six class sessions for Excused Recruiting Absences per term, no more than two per course (some restrictions apply, see below). All students must report the absence in advance including a brief statement regarding the reason the recruiting activity could not occur outside of class time or on an Open Day.

When the provided allotment of Excused Recruiting Absences has been used in a course or a term, students should report any additional recruiting absences as Unexcused Recruiting Absences.

Important Notes for Students

• Students may take no more than 1 excused recruiting absence (meaning 1 class session) in joint degree seminars, SIPs, the RC course Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF), EC short courses, or EC intensive courses that meet once a week.
• Excused Recruiting Absences allowances do not carry over term to term.
• Excused Recruiting Absences are not permitted for midterm and final exam sessions (see Absence from Exams).
• Excused Recruiting Absences are not permitted for the following sessions due to their unique format:
  • RC: START, FIELD Global Immersion (FGI)
  • EC: Kickoff, IFCs, and Bridges

Please see the MBA Recruiting Policies for more information, and reach out to MBA Career & Professional Development for help navigating the recruiting process.

Unexcused Absences

Unexcused Absences occur when a student is unable to be physically present in the classroom for a reason other than Excused Absence reason listed above.

Reasons for Unexcused Absences include:

• Conference.
• Legal matters other than court summons or jury duty.
• Other, to be used for any reason not expressly noted in this policy (e.g. board meetings).
• Recruiting in excess of the allotted number of Excused Recruiting Absences per class and per term (see above).
• Travel disruption (e.g. cancelled flight).
• Vacation/travel.
• Wedding day, other than a student’s own or in the immediate family.

The MBA Program’s policy on remote attendance is meant to preserve the immersive HBS learning experience while providing reasonable flexibility to students.

Students with an Unexcused Absence are not permitted to attend class remotely under any circumstances.

Remote attendance is possible in only two cases:

• Passive remote attendance is allowed for students who have reported an Excused Absence in advance of class. These students are required to have their camera and microphone turned off at all times, they are not permitted to participate, and they will not receive credit for attending class that day.
• Full remote attendance may be approved by the MBA Program for a very limited number of reasons, such as a positive Covid test or an extraordinary emergency causing a student to be unable to attend class for multiple days in a row. It will only be permitted with prior approval. A student who is approved for full remote attendance will be required to login remotely with their camera and microphone turned on for the full duration of each class session, they will be expected to fully participate at all times, and they will receive credit for attending class.
  • For more information regarding approval for full remote attendance, please contact sas@hbs.edu.
  • Students who are COVID+ seeking remote approval may fill out a Remote Approval for Positive COVID Results and Required Isolation form.

Remote attendance and participation may not be available for all class sessions, such as those taking place in Batten Hall and certain simulations/exercises.

Two or more consecutive days of Excused or Unexcused absences require special action by a student.

• If a student will be absent for two or more days due to an emergency, medical condition, or a disability, they should contact MBA Student & Academic Services as soon as possible to best balance their circumstances with the School's academic requirements.
• For two or more absences unrelated to an emergency, medical condition, or a disability, students should contact attendance@hbs.edu.
• In some cases, students may be asked for documentation in support of their need to miss consecutive days of class.

All absences should be reported via the Student Absence Notification Tool.

It is important to remember that while an absence may be excused, frequent excused absences can impact class participation, the ability to master content, and thus—as an indirect consequence—a student's grades. Unexcused absences are typically factored into grade calculations by faculty and could impact a student’s standing in the MBA Program.

The impact of absences may include:

• A lower course grade.
• A designation of a Category III or a Category IV for an egregious amount of absences, especially unexcused absences, unreported absences, or a combination of the two, when the total number of classes missed in a single course exceeds approximately 10%.
• A designation of No Credit for a course.
• Review by the Academic Performance Committee.
• Ineligibility for academic honors, the Dean's Award, some fellowships, and other privileges and forms of recognition and support at HBS.

HBS is a largely residential campus and MBA classes usually take place as scheduled, regardless of adverse conditions, even if other parts of the University are closed. If classes are in session, MBA students are expected to attend class as usual or report an absence from class per this class attendance policy.

Examples of emergencies that could disrupt classes include (but are not limited to):

• Severe weather conditions in which the Governor of Massachusetts declares a state of emergency (hurricane, tornado, severe snowstorm).
• Loss of power (electricity, heat, etc.) in classroom buildings.
• Disruption in the use of classroom facilities due to fire, bomb threat, or other emergency situations.

If such an event disrupts classes for a given day or time period, the MBA Program may announce a Modified Attendance Policy, a Modified Schedule, or both.

HBS Alert is a mass notification system for the HBS community that will contact all members of the community via phone, email, and text message in times of serious emergency or crisis on campus, and/or incidents affecting campus operations. Anyone with an HBS email address is already enrolled in HBS Alert. Students should be sure to update their Classcard to include any phone numbers and email addresses at which they wish to be notified.

Modified Attendance Policy

The Modified Attendance Policy will be announced by the School in advance of taking effect. It is declared, in most cases, when travel conditions for students who live off-campus are deemed potentially unsafe.

The Modified Attendance Policy does not apply to students who live in HBS dorms, Soldier’s Field Park, One Western Ave., or within reasonable walking distance, or to students who are travelling and are unable to return to the Boston area (e.g. flights are cancelled or delayed). In such instances, students are expected to be physically present in the classroom or to properly report their absence (e.g. Travel Disruption).

Students who live off-campus are advised to use their judgment about whether it is safe to travel to campus. Off-campus students who judge it unsafe to travel to campus may opt to attend class remotely or be absent from class. Absences for off-campus students due to a Modified Attendance Policy are excused, providing they are properly reported. When declared, a Modified Attendance Policy option will appear in the drop-down menu for off-campus students to use when reporting their absences. Off-campus students who may be tardy should communicate directly with their faculty member.

Modified Schedule

If a modified schedule is announced (e.g., delayed start of classes, moving a class or classes to the next day, early end of classes, etc.), students will be notified through one or a combination of the following:

• Email from the MBA Program.
• "Alert" on myHBS (which will appear at the top of the dashboard).

MBA Registrar Services, attendance@hbs.edu.

MBA Career and Professional Development, 617-495-6232, mbacareers@hbs.edu.