Harvard Medical School

Describe your reasons and motivations for pursuing a graduate degree in your chosen program of study at Harvard. What experiences led you to your research ambitions? Concisely state your past work in your intended field of study and in related fields. Briefly indicate your career objectives. Your statement should not exceed 1,000 words. Health Policy applicants should indicate the concentration(s) and policy area(s) of interest. For other Social Science PhD Programs, please refer to Program Details for any additional instructions pertaining to this essay.

The interview season for the 2025-2026 cycle will be held virtually and is anticipated to run from mid-September through January 2026. Please indicate any significant (three or more weeks) restriction on your availability for interviews during this period. If none, please leave this section blank. (1000 characters)

On average how many hours per week did you devote to employment during the academic year?

Marital Status

Marital Status: Married Single Number and ages of siblings: Number and ages of dependents:

Please indicate any significant (three or more weeks) restriction on your availability for interviews during this period. If none, please leave this section blank.

Please list publications, indicating for each whether it is published, submitted/under review, or in preparation. Limited to 1,000 characters (including spaces).

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity not addressed elsewhere in the application that may illuminate how you could contribute to the medical school and that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, diverse ideological perspectives, or other aspects of your personal or family background that help place your prior academic achievements in context or provide further insight into your motivation for a career in medicine or the view points you might bring to the medical school community. (4000 characters)

For HST applicants (4000 characters) Instructions: The HST MD program draws on the combined resources of Harvard and MIT to provide a distinct preclinical education tailored to preparing students for careers as transformative physicians who will shape the future practice of medicine. Our students come from the full spectrum of disciplines including biological, physical, engineering and social sciences. HST classes are small, commonly include graduate students and have an emphasis on quantitative and analytic approaches. The unique HST pre-clinical curriculum prepares students well for the HMS clinical education while also emphasizing disease mechanisms and preparing students to solve critical unmet needs in medicine and healthcare (ranging from novel diagnostics and therapeutics to applications of ‘big data’ and systems engineering). Please focus on how your interests, experiences and aspirations have prepared you for HST (rather than identifying specific HST faculty or research opportunities).

Please focus on how your interests, experiences and aspirations have prepared you for HST (rather than identifying specific HST faculty or research opportunities). ( 4000 character maximum )

The Committee on Admissions understands that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted applicants in various ways. If you wish to inform the Committee as to how these events have affected you and have not already done so elsewhere in your application, please use this space to do so. (This is an optional essay; the Committee on Admissions will make no judgment based on your decision to provide a statement or not.) (4000 characters)

Briefly list your research interests/areas; use keywords only. This information is not binding. (100 characters)

Are your parents/guardians Harvard Medical School alumni (MD or MD-PhD) or faculty members?

If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters maximum) summarize your activities since graduation.

If you are re-applying, briefly summarize your activities since your previous application. (4000 characters)