HARVARD GRIFFIN GSAS · GRADUATE STUDY GUIDE
Harvard Griffin GSAS runs Harvard’s PhD programs and a small group of master’s degrees across the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and engineering. Each program sets its own rules, so start here, then check your program’s page.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE SCHOOL
Each program’s own admissions committee reads your application and makes the decision. Harvard’s central office runs the application, but your program page sets the deadline, tests, writing sample, and statements.
PHD PROGRAMS
Every PhD student’s funding for the first five years covers tuition, health insurance fees, and basic living costs. Some science programs fund six.
MASTER’S DEGREES
Stand-alone master’s degrees include three regional studies AMs, and the Data Science and Computational Science and Engineering programs in engineering.
YOUR PROGRAM
Some programs, such as Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, admit students to work with a specific professor, so contact them before you apply.
Unlike PhD students, master’s students outside engineering pay full tuition in every term, and only a few programs offer limited scholarships. Plan your funding before you apply.
In History, for example: You take at least eight courses, including two research seminars, and show reading knowledge of two foreign languages (or one, at a higher level, for U.S. history). An oral exam in four fields comes late in your second year, and a dissertation proposal within two terms after it.
In Molecular and Cellular Biology: You rotate through three labs in eight-week blocks, choose your lab by the end of your first year, and pass a qualifying exam by the end of the fall of your second year. The program expects you to finish in your fifth year.
Funding in the humanities and social sciences: Full support typically covers your first four years and a dissertation completion year, plus summer research funding. Most programs add a further year of tuition and fees, but you find your own living support that year.
Regional Studies–East Asia: A two-year AM of 16 courses, with a thesis of 60 to 80 pages and fourth-year proficiency in a modern East Asian language.
Computational Science and Engineering: A one-year SM of 32 credits, or an ME that adds a year of research and a thesis you present orally.
Data Science: An SM of 48 credits, and the only one of these engineering SMs with a thesis option.
English: You can show proficiency with an undergraduate degree taught in English, TOEFL iBT 5 with Speaking 4.5 (95 and 23 for tests taken before January 21, 2026), or IELTS 7 with Speaking 6.5. A graduate degree taught in English doesn’t count, and some programs set higher minimums.
Scores: Official TOEFL or IELTS reports must be sent by your deadline; TOEFL MyBest reports aren’t accepted.
Degrees: A three- or four-year undergraduate degree from a recognized institution is accepted.
Transcripts: Upload unofficial transcripts; those from outside the U.S. must be in English or come with a certified translation. Translations must be literal and complete.
Visas and status: You don’t need visa documents to apply, and immigration status doesn’t affect admission or aid decisions. If you’re admitted, GSAS notes that studying at Harvard depends on U.S. visa and border decisions.
UNDERSTAND WHAT PROGRAMS LOOK FOR
GSAS judges applicants on their potential to contribute to their field through scholarship, in academia or beyond. Your statement, letters, and record show your preparation, your questions, and your fit with the program.
YOUR PREPARATION
Programs list the background they expect. Harvard’s Economics PhD, for example, expects at least calculus and linear algebra, and most successful applicants have taken real analysis.
Letrado’s adviceRead your program’s academic background section closely, and fill any gap before you apply with a course you can point to.
YOUR QUESTIONS
The statement of purpose covers your research interests, preparation, motivation, and career goals, in up to 1,000 words unless your program says otherwise.
Letrado’s adviceName the questions you want to pursue and the work that led you to them. Specific questions show more than broad enthusiasm.
YOUR FIT
Some programs ask you to name faculty whose work fits yours, and some admit students to work with a particular professor.
Letrado’s adviceRead recent work by two or three faculty members and explain the connection honestly. Check whether they’re taking students.
WHAT GSAS DESCRIBES
Interviews vary by program, and GSAS suggests asking your program’s contact about them. Several life sciences PhDs invite applicants to interview from late December to early January.
Decisions normally arrive by March 15 in the Applicant Portal. After you submit, you can’t edit or add to your application, apart from your contact details.
For offers with funding, GSAS follows the Council of Graduate Schools’ April 15 resolution, so you have until April 15 to decide. Last cycle’s reply deadline was April 15, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. EDT.
HARVARD GRIFFIN GSAS
GSAS doesn’t publish admission statistics.
Some programs are paused for fall 2027, including the PhDs in Philosophy, Middle Eastern Studies, and Inner Asian and Altaic Studies. Your program page shows a fall 2027 notice if anything has changed.
WHAT PROGRAMS SAY
Organismic and Evolutionary Biology admits students to work with a specific professor. Before you apply, it asks you to write to faculty with a personal note, your CV, and a description of your research, and it calls these contacts critical.
Economics, by contrast, arranges meetings with faculty after admission and doesn’t encourage visits before then.
WHAT GSAS SAYS
GSAS expects every written part of your application, including your CV, to be “your own work,” not that of another person or generative AI.
Using either one “to develop your work” is forbidden, though help that suggests “minor edits” or identifies “grammatical errors” is allowed.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
The application for 2027–28 is open. Each program sets its own deadline, all at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and decisions normally arrive by March 15.
Many PhDs and the engineering master’s
Dec 1, 2026Engineering PhDs and more
Dec 15, 2026Some humanities and regional AMs
Jan 5, 2027Check your own program page for its deadline. Every part of the application, including all three letters, is due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on that date.
The online application and a $105 fee, paid by credit card. The application tells you immediately whether you qualify for a fee waiver.
Unofficial transcripts from every institution you attended. Official copies are needed only after you’re admitted and accept.
From faculty or others who can judge your potential, including at least one from a faculty member at your most recent degree’s institution unless you’ve been out of school for more than five years.
A statement of purpose for every program, plus a personal statement or writing sample where your program asks for one.
Each program marks the GRE as required, optional, or not accepted. GRE scores must be from January 5, 2022, or later, and English tests from January 5, 2025, or later.
Several programs: Up to three different programs a year, each with its own documents and fee. Engineering allows one PhD and one master’s application in the same year.
Engineering and computer science: Apply through Engineering and Applied Sciences and choose your area of study. PhD applicants also complete a supplemental form.
Life sciences: The 13 Harvard Integrated Life Sciences programs each have their own requirements and committee, and none of them requires the GRE.
Combined degrees: JD/PhD applicants apply separately to GSAS and Harvard Law School. MS/MBA applicants apply through Harvard Business School.
Program prompts: Some programs set their own questions. Molecular and Cellular Biology asks three, of up to 200, 500, and 300 words, including your most significant scientific discovery and three faculty you’d like to work with.
Portfolios: Music asks all applicants for samples of scholarly work. Composition applicants add three compositions as links to recordings, and creative practice and critical inquiry applicants add 20 to 30 minutes of original work.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Up to 1,000 wordsFor the statement of purpose, unless your program sets a different length. A personal statement, where required, is up to 500 words.
The written parts must be your own work. GSAS forbids using another person or generative AI to develop them, though help suggesting minor edits or spotting grammar errors is allowed.
Letrado’s adviceBuild the statement around two or three research questions you can explain in plain words, then check it against your program’s own prompts and length.
GSAS calls this statement very important to programs’ decisions. Cover what you want to study, how your work so far prepared you, and your motivation and goals. Programs may add their own prompts.
Describe the experiences that led you to graduate study and how you would contribute to the program. It should add to your statement of purpose, not repeat it. You don’t need to share sensitive details, and you should leave out anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing.
Lengths vary: History samples usually run 20 to 25 pages, English asks for two samples of up to 5,000 words, and many science programs don’t ask for one.
Share your statement and remind them of the work you did together. Letters must be uploaded through the portal by your deadline.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Every PhD student has guaranteed funding for the first five years. Master’s students pay full tuition, and only a few programs offer limited scholarships.
PHD STUDENTS
covering tuition, health insurance fees, and basic living expenses, with six years in some science programs.
MASTER’S STUDENTS
in every full-time term outside engineering, with limited scholarships in some programs, such as two of the regional studies AMs.
LOANS
Educational loans are generally open to domestic and international students; work-study is for U.S. citizens and eligible noncitizens.
Where aid is available, it’s considered as part of your admission application. To borrow, you ask GSAS’s financial aid office for a separate application packet.
GSAS funding and aid (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED 2026–27 TUITION · FULL RATE
$59,048Outside engineering, master’s students pay the full rate for every full-time term; PhD tuition is usually covered by grants. The engineering master’s programs cost $67,504 in the first year. By our sum, a year of full tuition, fees, and health insurance, plus nine months’ living costs on campus, comes to $97,841.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 costs when GSAS publishes them.
Cost of attendance, 2026–27 (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s adviceIf you’re choosing between a funded PhD and a self-funded master’s, compare the total cost with what each degree leads to.
The Fellowships & Writing Center helps students find internal and outside awards, which usually have deadlines a year before the funding begins.
Fellowships at GSAS (opens in a new tab)CLIENT JOURNEYS
These journeys come from applicants to master’s programs in economics, computer science, and learning design: showing which work was yours, proving technical growth, and comparing very different degree formats.
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AI illustrationWHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
Bring your questions to a free 45-minute introduction with your proposed mentor. Afterward, we’ll email a personalized plan with recommended next steps.
