About PhD Program,
Welcome to the website of the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program! We believe that physician-scientist training here at Harvard and MIT provides a remarkable opportunity to engage in compassionate medical care and breakthrough research alongside an astoundingly vibrant faculty and student body. The MD-PhD Program is singularly focused on creating an integrated, nurturing and community-oriented environment so you can flourish – personally and professionally – during your time with us. What makes our program special? In my view, it’s the unparalleled depth and breadth of clinical and research opportunities balanced by a profoundly caring, invested, and brilliant community of students, colleagues and mentors.
Our mission is to train the next generation of premier and diverse physician-scientist leaders, who represent a rich spectrum of clinical disciplines and research areas from basic and translational sciences to bioengineering to the social sciences.
PhD Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
Basic Science students explore PhD programs in their first year at HMS and apply formally in the fall of their second year of medical school. Those students admitted to the MD-PhD Program prior to matriculation and who plan to pursue a PhD in the Basic Sciences are guaranteed acceptance into a Harvard Division of Medical Sciences PhD program (Biological and Biomedical Sciences; Biomedical Informatics; Immunology; Program in Neuroscience; Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology; Virology), and may apply competitively to MIT or other Harvard PhD programs.
MD-PhD students who plan to pursue a PhD in the Social Sciences apply to their PhD program concurrently with their HMS MD application, and if accepted, defer matriculation to the PhD program for two years, first completing two years of medical school. Admitted MD-PhD students who plan to pursue a PhD in the Social Sciences are accepted to their graduate program of interest upon MD acceptance.
Those students who wish to join the MD-PhD Program after matriculating to HMS via the MD-PhD Navigator Program apply competitively to all PhD programs.
PhD Funding Coverage,
The Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program at Harvard Medical School (HMS) has been sponsored in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through its Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) since 1974. All MD-PhD student applicants to our program compete on equal footing for MSTP support, regardless of scientific interest. That is, we provide full and equal MSTP support to our basic and social science MD-PhD students. And, for those students who matriculate to Harvard Medical School without MSTP funding but decide to pursue both degrees, we have an “open tent” policy that welcomes you into our community, with formal MD-PhD matriculation upon acceptance to a Harvard or MIT graduate program. We also do our very best to help you garner at least partial support for your MD-PhD training; in recent years, full support has been available to fund the third and fourth years of medical school for our affiliated students. The bottom line is this: we do not distinguish between those students who do and don’t have MSTP support when it comes to providing our MD-PhD students with administrative and advisory support, and our robust menu of academic and social activities.
Application Requirement,
For a detailed admissions timeline, including details on AMCAS’s Choose Your Medical School Tool, please visit the Harvard Medical School Admissions’ page “When to Apply.”
- Apply via the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS)
- Complete and submit AMCAS Application:
- Designate “Combined MD-PhD Program”
- Select Harvard Medical School
- Complete the two additional AMCAS MD-PhD essay questions. AMCAS MD-PhD essay questions are standard for all MD-PhD Programs.
- On the Harvard Medical School Secondary Application:
- Select appropriate categories for curriculum choices at Harvard Medical School: Pathways and/or HST and“I am applying for the MD-PhD Program.” There is no disincentive to applying to all three.
- Complete several questions that are pertinent to MD-PhD applicants only. These questions concern:
- A Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program-specific short essay question;
- The PhD program type you anticipate applying to: Basic and Translational Sciences orSocial Sciences;
- Your research interests/areas;
- The research supervisors submitting letters of recommendation on your behalf;
- MD-PhD applicants are expected to have letters of recommendation from research mentors.
- All letters of recommendation should be sent directly to AMCAS.
- Your Manuscripts/Publications:
- Please list the paper reference (author list, title, journal, date), and indicate its current status using the appropriate letter below (a-f):
- Published
- Accepted
- Under Revision
- Under Initial Review
- Submitted
- Manuscript in Preparation
- For a, provide the citation and article link (do not upload the publication).
- For b-e, provide the journal’s email correspondence that documents the stage of your submission (do not upload the manuscript).
- The journal’s email documentation is an email provided by a journal verifying the status of a manuscript/paper (ex. out for review, under revision, accepted in principle, in press, etc.). We recommend consulting with your PI to obtain this documentation.
- If you are unable to provide the journal’s official email documentation, please substitute a letter from your PI supporting your manuscript/publication status.
- For f, provide signed documentation from your PI confirming your manuscript(s) in preparation. This can be accomplished by using the upload link in the MD-PhD section of the secondary application or via the Admissions Portal after submitting your application.
- For each manuscript in a-f, please also indicate whether the work was conducted as an undergraduate or as a post-baccalaureate using the codes UG or PB, respectively.
- Do not upload publications, manuscripts, journal articles, or senior theses.
- If you have more than one document to upload, please combine into one PDF and then upload. Should this documentation exceed the file size, we recommend compressing the PDF file prior to uploading.
- Application statuses for selected awards (e.g. Rhodes, Fulbright, Marshall)
- Social Science Applicants ONLY:
- Statement of Purpose
- Supplemental Application Materials: PhD program dependent. Additional information can be found on our PhD Programs of Study page.
Application Deadline,
Oct 15, 2025
Application Fee,
A non-refundable application filing fee of $100 must accompany the completed supplemental application at the time of submission.
