Frequently asked questions about Graduating Students Issues. If you have a question that you would like to be added to this list, let us know your suggestion by filling out the online form.

Graduating Students Issues
• I am not graduating this year. Will I have access to my HMS email account and other services? (online storage space, web hosting, etc.)
• Can I maintain my HMS email account if I transition to an on-quad HMS faculty or non-casual FT/PT staff role?
• Can I maintain my MyCourses/eCommons account if I transition to an on-quad HMS faculty or non-casual FT/PT staff role?
• If I do not officially transition to a faculty role until or after July 31st, can I prevent my MyCourses/eCommons account from being disabled beginning from the transition period through the official start date of my on-quad faculty role?
• I am graduating at the Dental School, but will be a HSDM Resident this coming school year. Can I keep my email account and other services?
• I am graduating this year, but will begin a new program at a non-HMS/HSDM school at Harvard. Can I keep my email account and other services?
• Can I maintain my HMS email account if I transition to a faculty role (such as an intern, resident, or post-doc) at an HMS-affiliated hospital?
• How can I obtain a post.harvard.edu "email forwarding" account?
• Is it possible to download my existing mail to my personal computer before my HMS email account is disabled?
• Whom do I contact with questions about my HMS accounts?

Graduating Students Issues

I am not graduating this year. Will I have access to my HMS email account and other services? (online storage, website, etc.)

If your student status in the Registrar's Office correctly states that you will not be graduating this year, your HMS email account and other services will not be deactivated. Call the appropriate Registrar's office to see what your status is.

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Can I maintain my HMS email account if I transition to an on-quad HMS faculty or non-casual FT/PT staff role?

Yes, if you are transitioning to a new role at HMS that is your primary employment such as an on-quad faculty or non-casual FT/PT staff position, your account will not change, and you will maintain your HMS email account.

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Can I maintain my MyCourses/eCommons account if I transition to an on-quad HMS faculty or non-casual FT/PT staff role by July 31st?

Yes, your eCommons/MyCourses account will carry over with your new role for either on-quad or off-quad locations. No change is necessary.

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If I do not officially transition to a faculty role until or after July 31st, can I prevent my MyCourses/eCommons account from being disabled for the transition?

Yes, if you are transitioning to an on-quad HMS faculty or non-casual FT/PT staff role in the near future, you may request a delay in terminating your MyCourses/eCommons account for an additional 60 days. Please contact the Student Computing Support Desk via email support@student.hms.harvard.edu prior to July 31st.

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I am graduating at the Dental School, but will be a HSDM Resident this coming school year. Can I keep my email account and other services?

Yes, if you are transitioning to a Harvard Dental School residency program this year after graduation, then your HMS/HSDM email account and services will remain active. Please check with the HSDM Registrar's office to see if all of your information is correctly entered into their system. For the HSDM Registrar's Office call (617) 432-1443.

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I am graduating this year, but will begin a new program at a non-HMS/HSDM school at Harvard. Can I keep my email account and other services??

No. A suggestion would be to begin forwarding your emails from your HMS/HSDM email account to your new email account if it is already set up for you. Otherwise, you will need to forward it to another email account such as yahoo or gmail or save your emails to a local hard drive. See information below on how to save your emails to your local computer.

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Can I maintain my HMS email account if I transition to a faculty role, but my primary employment is at an HMS-affiliated hospital?

No, the HMS email account policy requires that an off-quad appointed faculty member employed by an affiliated institution obtain and use an employer-supplied email address such as @bidmc, @caregroup, @partners, etc. and therefore do not qualify for an HMS email account.

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How can I obtain a post.harvard.edu "email forwarding" account?

Email accounts for all June HMS/HSDM/DMS/HST graduates will be deactivated on July 31st. A recommended course of action is as follows:

1. Obtain a new email account (such as @yahoo, @hotmail, or at your new place of work).
2. Sign up for email forwarding for life ASAP (*See details below.) - This will give you an email address of yourname@post.harvard.edu
3. Update your Post.Harvard Forwarding account to point to this new email account.
4. Inform all your friends, family and other contacts of your new email address at yourname@post.harvard.edu before July 31st.
5. Forward any mail that you want to save to your new email account. See more information on Email Forwarding for Life! program below.

Questions regarding your Post.Harvard forwarding account can be submitted online at http://www.aad.harvard.edu/help/html/feedback_help.html. Additional questions regarding the deactivation of your HMS e-mail account can be directed to Student Computing Support at support@student.hms.harvard.edu

Email Forwarding for Life!
Graduating students can check if they are eligible to register for Post.Harvard at https://post.harvard.edu/olc/pub/HAA/register/register.cgi. Continue following the remaining steps at the Post.Harvard site to complete your registration.

If you experience any problems with registration or logging into your account, please email the staff of Post.Harvard at haa_alumnihelp@harvard.edu or call 617-496-0559. You can also view their help section at http://post.harvard.edu/harvard/help/html/helpmain.html

NOTE: Post.Harvard e-mail forwarding is not an email account, and it will not replace your current e-mail Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your Harvard (FAS/HMS) e-mail account. Messages sent to your Post.Harvard address are forwarded to an e-mail account that you provide.

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Is it possible to download my existing mail to my personal computer before my HMS email account is disabled?

Yes, if you have graduated and would like to save your emails from your HMS Exchange account, you need to do the following:

1. You need a desktop email client such as MS Outlook or MS Entourage on your home computer.
2. Configure your desktop email client settings to use sIMAP which allows you to see a reflection of your emails and subfolders on the HMS Exchange server. See http://studentcomputing.med.harvard.edu/config_email_clients.asp for configuration settings of desktop email clients using sIMAP.
3. Once you set up your HMS_IMAP account via your desktop email client, then just drag and drop your emails from your HMS account onto your local Inbox. Most desktop email clients will show a local Inbox folder that allows for saving emails onto your computer's hard drive.

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Whom do I contact with questions about my HMS accounts?

You can contact the Student Computing Support Desk at:

Email: support@student.hms.harvard.edu

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