Graduate Study Admissions FAQs

You are eligible for admission to graduate programs at Harvard if you have either 1) completed a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. college or university accredited by a regional accrediting association; or 2) completed an international degree that is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree from a college or university of recognized standing. Students who are unsure of the U.S. equivalency of their degree(s) should consult a reputable credential evaluation service.

It is possible to complete all of the degree requirements within five years, however, some students take longer to conduct research and/or write-up their dissertation. Review our sample timeline.

Sociology faculty members have individual profile pages that highlight their research interests and selected publications.

The department requires a minimum of one semester of Teaching Fellowship for the degree. The majority of students serve as Teaching Fellows for 4 to 6 semesters. SOC 3305 (Teaching Practicum) is a required course that prepares graduate students for classroom instruction.

Ordinarily the Department of Sociology does not grant credit for work done elsewhere.

No, there is not a terminal MA program in Sociology at Harvard. Enrolled doctoral students may be eligible for the Sociology AM after completing eight graduate courses and an approved Master’s thesis.

No. Applicants to the Ph.D. program are not required to have an M.A. before applying to the Ph.D. program.

No. Applicants are not required to have a Sociology degree, although a background in the social sciences and statistics can be extremely helpful. It is important, however, that applicants who come from another academic background understand the field of sociology and how it applies to their areas of interest. The Department of Sociology does not have specific course requirements for admission to its doctoral program.

Please refer to the other pages on our website and the Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions website for more information. If you are unable to locate the information you are looking for, contact the Sociology Graduate Program Coordinator.

Yes. The GRE is required of all applicants to the graduate program in Sociology. Per University policy, GRE scores are valid for 5 years from the date of the test.

It is highly recommended that applicants to the PhD program take the GRE no later than mid-November in the year of application. This ensures that your scores will be reported to Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions and the Sociology Department by the application deadline. We will not accept GRE scores for tests taken after the application deadline.

Applicants need to make arrangements with ETS to send their scores to Harvard University using the University code 3451. Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions downloads the scores on a weekly basis. Departments and Programs access the scores electronically for the applicant file. No Department code is necessary, as the scores are sent directly to Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions, not the department.

Please note that Harvard Griffin GSAS does not accept scores from the TOEFL ITP Plus examination. This is because the TOEFL ITP Plus does not provide a robust assessment of the candidate’s proficiency in spoken English, which is one of the most critical components of our English proficiency requirement. Applicants unable to take the TOEFL IBT, IELTS or IELTS indicator exams may apply without these scores, and if programs recommend these applicants for admission, their admission will be provisional until they provide scores from one of the accepted tests that demonstrate the required level of English proficiency.

No. Applicants are required to take the GRE General Exam.

There is not a minimum score required for evaluation of your application by the admissions committee. Scores are reviewed in the context of the applicant’s entire file. Applications and test scores are reviewed and ranked by the Sociology Department’s Admissions Committee on a case-by-case basis.

If you have a four-year degree from an English-speaking institution, you may not have to take the TOEFL. Harvard Griffin GSAS requires that incoming PhD students who are non-native English speakers and who received their undergraduate degree from a non-English speaking institution meet a minimum level of oral English language proficiency. For all queries regarding the TOEFL requirement, contact Harvard Griffin GSAS Admissions at admiss@fas.harvard.edu.

Please note that Harvard Griffin GSAS does not accept scores from the TOEFL ITP Plus examination. This is because the TOEFL ITP Plus does not provide a robust assessment of the candidate’s proficiency in spoken English, which is one of the most critical components of our English proficiency requirement. Applicants unable to take the TOEFL IBT, IELTS or IELTS indicator exams may apply without these scores, and if programs recommend these applicants for admission, their admission will be provisional until they provide scores from one of the accepted tests that demonstrate the required level of English proficiency.

The writing sample (preferably a social sciences paper written for a class or for publication) is an important component of your application. Samples should be no longer than 20 pages.

All letters of recommendation must be submitted electronically. Your recommenders must submit their letters through the recommender portal: Harvard Griffin GSAS does not accept letters submitted via email, mail, or a dossier service.

Please visit the Harvard International Office website.

Transcripts are evaluated considering the institution, courses taken and at what level, and Grade Point Average. Graduate Record Exam scores (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical), letters of recommendation, personal statement, and statement of purpose are all considered. Harvard faculty place considerable emphasis on research training. Students who are admitted have often been involved in independent research, either academically or professionally.

In the interest of treating all applicants equally, the Sociology Department at Harvard University has a policy of not scheduling meetings between faculty and prospective doctoral students until admissions decisions have been made.

Applicants who wish to tour the campus to learn more about the University should contact the Information Center.

The Contemporary Ethnography and Inequality Workshop advances ethnographic work addressing social, economic, and political inequality. The workshop circulates, appraises, and critically evaluates research presented by leading scholars as well as works-in-progress by graduate students rigorously pursuing ethnographic inquiry and methods. The workshop is open to faculty and students from across the University, from nearby Boston and Cambridge universities, and throughout the country and globe, through our zoom workshop events. While regular attendance is the norm, visitors are welcome. Our workshop is supported by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Sociology, the Department of Anthropology, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. We meet approximately twice a month on Thursdays from noon to 1:30 PM EST.

The Contemporary Studies of Race & Ethnicity (CSRE) workshop's purpose is to provide a forum to disseminate knowledge and facilitate dialogue among graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars working on or interested in research about contemporary studies related to race & ethnicity. Though the Sociology department hosts the workshop, we seek to bring scholars together across disciplines to explore topics such as ethno-racial hierarchies, racial attitudes, and intergroup relations, as well as the role of race in institutions, politics, and everyday life. The workshop will foster both a learning and collaborative space in which participants can circulate and garner feedback on works in progress, including dissertation chapters, proposals, journal article submissions, conference papers, and practice job talks.

Professors Robert Sampson and Joscha Legewie are organizing the “Urban Theory and Data Lab” to support research by students and postdocs examining the urban condition in the 21st century. The emphasis is on the active discussion of theoretical and empirical research that is in progress, in addition to occasional discussion sessions on selected readings to be determined by the group.

Enrollment requires permission of the instructors. Select Thursdays from 3:45 to 5:45 pm.

The Social Demography Seminar at the Center for Population and Development Studies provides a lively forum for scholars from across the university to discuss in-progress social scientific and population research. Social demography includes work that uses demographic methods to describe and explain the distribution of social goods across populations. The Social Demography Seminar thus welcomes presentations on a wide variety of topics such as family, gender, race/ethnicity, population health--including mortality, morbidity, and functional health--inequality, im/migration, fertility, and the institutional arrangements that shape and respond to population processes. The long-term goal is to build a broad and multidisciplinary community of social demographers at Harvard.

The long-standing interdisciplinary research workshop on Work, Organizations, and Markets (WOM) brings together faculty and graduate students from several Harvard departments and programs in the social sciences that study organizational phenomena, especially the Sociology Department and the GSAS Joint Program in Organizational Behavior. Its subject matter includes all three levels of analysis of concern in organizational research: individual behavior and interaction in organizational settings; the structure and action of organizations as collectivities; and the characteristics of groups, networks, or populations of organizations. Participants seek both to understand why organizations are as they are, and to understand determinants of organizational effectiveness. The workshop aims to (a) provide a supportive environment for doctoral students to present and get feedback on their work, and (b) build a community of peers whose research covers topics in macro-OB / sociology. It welcomes research at all stages of development, from preliminary research proposals to first-pass data analyses to more polished job talks.

The Seminar on Social Exclusion and Inclusion at the Center for European Studies invites speakers from both sides of the Atlantic to present research on a broad range of issues pertaining to the dynamics of exclusion and inclusion in Europe. This year, among other topics, we will discuss the relationship between urban space and politics, and look at beauty standards and exclusion in the modeling industry across Europe. The seminar is open to participants from across the university as well as from other institutions. In the Fall, we will meet once a month on Friday, from 2:15 to 4:00 pm.