Harvard Graduate School

October 3, 2022
By AdmissionSight

Harvard Graduate School

Comprised of a total of twelve Graduate and Professional Schools, the Harvard Graduate School is an exceptional and collaborative community of faculty, students, and alumni dedicated to improving lives and expanding opportunities through the in-depth study and efficient practice of education.

The Harvard Graduate School cultivates innovative leaders and entrepreneurs, investigates the most important questions in education, and disseminates exciting ideas and best practices to the rest of the world through its various programs, which include master’s degree programs, doctoral degree programs, and professional education programs.

Everything The foundational tenet of the Harvard Graduate School is the conviction that education is the most important challenge of our time and that education policy and practice that are informed by research have the potential to foster a society that is both more prosperous.

Students walking in the school campus.

The staff, students, and alumni of the Harvard Graduate School perform ground-breaking research on a wide variety of topics, including the moral development of children, international education policy, organizational leadership, early childhood education, and learning design, to name just a few. In addition to this, they engage in methods that are supported by research in order to assist students, schools and organizations, and educational systems in fostering educational improvement.

The following is a list of all 12 Graduate and Professional Schools that are housed inside Harvard University:

Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Students who have graduated from an undergraduate program at Harvard and are interested in continuing their education should apply to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) because the programs offered by GSAS are highly complementary to those offered by the undergraduate division of the university.

Harvard Extension School

The Harvard Extension School is a somewhat exceptional institution in that it does not require students to submit an application or be accepted into Harvard in order to participate in the school’s educational offerings. The Extension School is a school that mostly operates online and provides degree programs for both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Students at Harvard Extension have access to a wide variety of online classes; however, the school also provides in-person education, and graduation from the school often necessitates attendance in on-campus classes at least partially. This can take the shape of complete semesters spent on Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or an intensive study period that lasts for three weeks, making it possible for the vast majority of people to easily incorporate the classes into their schedules.

Harvard Business School

Them at Harvard Business School (HBS) can earn their Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degrees through a residential two-year program that also helps students develop the skills necessary to become successful business leaders. The program has an emphasis on practical application in order to provide students with an experience that is representative of what they would encounter after graduation.

Harvard School of Dental Medicine

The Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) program is the Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s (HDSM) most prominent academic offering for degree completion. Students who have already graduated with a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree (DMD) are eligible to submit applications for advanced dental education programs, including orthodontics, oral medicine, pediatric dentistry, and dental public health. Accreditation is awarded to those programs, and successful completion of them is required to obtain a license to practice dentistry in any of the fifty states.

Harvard Graduate School of Design

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is an institution that educates students in fields such as architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture. People who desire to contribute to the design of the buildings, cities, and communities of the future should congregate at this location.

Harvard Divinity School

Students at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), also known simply as Harvard Divinity School, receive an education that focuses on the intersection of religion and community leadership. Because it is non-sectarian, students of any religious belief are welcome to attend, and they will be able to acquire useful skills that they can put to use in their own religious groups as a result of their attendance.

Harvard Graduate School of Education

The mission of the Graduate School of Education (GSE) is to educate future teachers and school administrators. It is able to confer both master’s degrees and doctoral degrees in the field of education. Students have the opportunity to narrow their focus on a topic of their choosing, such as early childhood education, higher education, literacy, or global education.

Female student holding a book near a shelf.

Harvard Kennedy School

Students at Harvard University who are interested in government, politics, and public policy can enroll in the graduate program known as the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Students have the option of pursuing either a master’s or doctoral degree, with possible areas of focus including health policy, public policy, public administration, and international development.

Harvard Law School

The Harvard Law School (HLS) is widely regarded as one of the best legal education institutions in the entire globe. In addition to other law-related graduate programs, it offers the Juris Doctor (JD) degree.

Male lawyer working in a table.

Harvard Medical School

The Harvard Medical School, also known simply as HMS, is widely regarded as one of the best medical schools in the entire world. At the institution, students have the opportunity to pursue education leading to either a master’s or doctoral degree.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The mission of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) is to educate future leaders in the field of global health and investigate strategies to enhance people’s health all around the world.

Harvard Radcliffe Institute

The Harvard Radcliffe Institute is dedicated to interdisciplinary study and investigation as its primary mission. It does not concentrate on any one particular subject or field of study. Instead, it provides assistance to academics who have an interest in researching a wide range of issues and makes it possible for work to be done that bridges many fields of study.

The Radcliffe Institute is the only one of Harvard’s colleges that do not award degrees to its students. Instead, it gives students attending Harvard’s undergraduate and graduate schools the chance to participate in research fellowships or join academic discussion groups that will assist them in advancing their education in a particular field through unique methods.

Harvard Graduate School Requirements

What are the current Harvard Graduate School requirements for admission? About a dozen graduate schools are under Harvard’s administration, and each one has its own area of concentration as well as its own set of prerequisites for admission. There are certain similarities between them, despite the fact that each has its own unique use.

Online Application Form

The Harvard Graduate School only accepts applications submitted via its online portal.

Statement of Purpose and Résumé

You are not permitted to have any part or all of your personal statement written by a third party in any capacity. Your statement must be your own unique work. It is required to be typed, have double spacing, and not exceed 1,500 words in length. The personal statement that is to be submitted by international applicants must be written in English; the employment of translators is not authorized.

Please be aware that the admissions committee’s evaluation of your application for graduate studies at HGSE will take into account not only the subject matter but also the quality of your writing.

Three letters of recommendation (submitted through the online application system)

Applicants are needed to use the online application system to submit three recommendations from previous employers. Please be aware that once you have submitted recommenders into the portion of your application designated for Recommendations, we are unable to facilitate any changes to those recommenders. Before you add people as recommenders for your application, you should give some careful consideration to who you would like to have written those recommendations for you.

You are not allowed to participate in any way, shape, or form in the process of creating or producing your recommendation letter. It is not appropriate to write a letter to your recommender and provide them with a first draft of the letter.

Female student typing in a table.

Your recommender may request a resume or a summary of your accomplishments to utilize as contextual information, but you should not offer any further documents beyond these examples. It is important that you keep in mind that, as part of the application, you will be expected to provide an electronic signature on a statement verifying that you were not involved in the process of creating or submitting your recommendation letter.

Standardized test score(s)

Send in your test results, including those from the GRE and the English Language Tests if you have them. Your degree program requires that you complete these. Candidates for graduate school may be required to present test scores that are deemed satisfactory before their applications can be considered for admission to degree programs.

This prerequisite might be applicable to applicants who are not applying right after they graduate from college as well as applicants who are pursuing master’s degrees. You are required to show a sufficient level of English language proficiency, and if English is not your first language, you may be asked to give scores from an English language proficiency exam such as the TOEFL or the IELTS.

Transcript(s) from each postsecondary institution attended (uploaded with the online application)

Within the application, within the part labeled “Academics,” you will find that you are needed to upload transcripts from each postsecondary institution that you have attended indicating all undergraduate and graduate work (including those that did not count toward a degree).

You have the ability to upload unofficial copies or student copies at this point in the application process. The courses that were finished, the grades that were received, the amount of time spent studying, and the degree or diploma that was earned, if appropriate, should all be included on the transcript. The following list provides additional conditions that must be met for foreign transcripts.

In the event that you are accepted, please bear in mind that in order for us to verify your credentials, you will be required to submit official transcripts (and translations, if appropriate). In the event that there is a disparity between the version that was uploaded and the official original transcript and/or the official translation, the Harvard Graduate School maintains the right to rescind an admissions offer at its discretion.

$85 application fee (paid via credit card with the online application)

Requests for a fee waiver in writing that are accompanied by verification of need will be reviewed and may be granted. It has been brought to our attention that fee waivers are subject to the discretion of the Admissions Office. The form to request a fee waiver can be found within the application that is submitted online.

Writing sample (where required)

If the position requires you to write, provide a sample of your work that demonstrates that you can meet or exceed the expectations of the industry in which you want to work. In order to get admission into certain degree programs, applicants are required to submit a sample of their previous written work along with their application.

You are needed to submit all of the necessary documents, such as your academic transcripts and letters of recommendation, via the online submission system. When you submit your application and include the contact information for your three recommenders, we will send each of them an email including instructions on how to connect to our system. They will then have the opportunity to fill out the Recommendation Form and upload a letter of recommendation at that time.

What is a Good GRE Score?

How do you define a good score on the GRE? Taking standardized tests can be unpleasant for some people because the results of these tests can have a significant influence on the rest of their lives. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is absolutely necessary because it plays a role in determining which graduate programs you could potentially be accepted into.

If you don’t perform well on the GRE, you might have to settle for a program that you aren’t as enthused about as an option if you want to get into the school that you want to attend. This is the case if you don’t do well on the GRE.

Students answering a test on a classroom.

The bulk of standardized examinations, including the GRE, do not use the letter grading scale or the scale that runs from 0% to 100% like it is typically done by students. Instead, these examinations use a scale that ranges from 0 to 200. As a consequence of this, it could be challenging to evaluate whether or not your score is adequate.

Because of the one-of-a-kind grading system utilized by the GRE, it might be challenging to decide what sort of result is regarded as suitable for the examination. On a typical test, achieving a score of 130, in addition to any additional credit that was achieved, would be regarded as outstanding performance. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) requires candidates to achieve a minimum score of 130.

You are in luck because the ETS occasionally provides data that includes average test scores in addition to scoring percentiles. You may use these statistics to judge how well you are doing on the test by comparing your score to the average score and the percentiles.

Between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019, inclusive, about 1.64 million individuals took the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). On average, students achieve the following results on the GRE:

  • Verbal Reasoning: 150.37
  • The overall score for numerical reasoning is 153.39.
  • Analytical Capability in Written Expression: 3.58

If you get a score that is higher than these numbers, you can be reasonably certain that you have outperformed the average score on the GRE. You can have this degree of confidence if you earn a score that is higher than these values.

You will have the opportunity to make a request for your GRE scores to be transmitted to the academic institutions of your choosing when you sit for the exam. Make sure you choose Harvard University Graduate School because each admissions office at Harvard has its own unique ETS school code. The First Name, Last Name, and Date of Birth that appear on your test score report must be identical to the information that you provide in the GSAS Applicant Portal in order for your scores to be properly matched to your applicant record. Before the application deadline, score reports for the GRE need to be sent to GSAS.

The GRE examinations need to be completed within five years of the anticipated date of your matriculation. You are required to submit test scores that were taken no earlier than September 1, 2018, if you are seeking admission for the fall semester of 2023.

It is necessary for applicants to submit an official score report from Educational Testing Service (ETS) to the Harvard Graduate School. You have the option of uploading personal score reports to your application if you have any from tests that you have taken within the valid time (as mentioned above). This is in addition to the option of requesting that your results be delivered. In addition, the GRE Subject Tests are necessary for admission to certain degree programs.

Want to learn more about getting into Harvard Graduate School? You’ve come to the right place. At AdmissionSight, we have over 10 years of experience guiding students through the competitive admissions process, including our athletic recruitment program.

AdmissionSight can help you put your best foot forward when applying to college this fall. Contact us today for more information on our services.

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