Admissions

Source: https://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/admissions Parent: https://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/declaring-concentration-or-secondary-field-0

Applications to our Ph.D. program are due by December 1st, 2025. Please submit your application via the online tool [http://gsas.harvard.edu/apply]. Complete applications include:

1) A Statement of Purpose & Personal Statement

2) A Writing Sample no longer than 20 pages, not including references and appendixes

3) Three Letters of Recommendation

4) Transcripts

5) CV

6) Applicants who are non-native English speakers and who received their undergraduate degree from a non-English speaking institution must take the Internet based test (iBT) of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

7) Payment of application fees. *Individual departments do not determine if an applicant receives a fee waiver. Please complete the corresponding section on the application to see if you qualify for a waiver.

8) GRE (optional)

Harvard does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, national origin, political beliefs, veteran status, or disability unrelated to job or course of study requirements. We hope you’ll consider applying.

Immigration status does not factor into decisions about admissions and financial aid. For more information, see Undocumented at Harvard.

AAAS is not a “admit-to-faculty” program; this means that admissions decisions for our program are made by the faculty as a whole and by a rotating Admissions Committee, rather than by any individual faculty member.  Because the number of students admitted to our program is much smaller than the number of active faculty advisors, there is no guarantee, in any given year, that our Admissions Committee will decide to admit a student to work with a particular faculty member.  It is therefore a good idea for applicants to identify multiple potential members of a dissertation committee by familiarizing themselves with their online profiles and publications.   

For reasons of equity, applicants are strongly discouraged from reaching out to individual faculty members for advice or meetings during the application process; faculty may not offer comments on application materials.  Faculty members may be in touch with applicants for a meeting in the process of evaluating applications.

In the meantime, if you have any specific questions about the AAAS grad program, you can reach out to our Graduate Program Coordinator, Keirsten Melbourne (keirsten_melbourne@fas.harvard.edu).