Information for Prospective Students

Students are admitted for the purposes of obtaining the PhD degree. Admitted students may earn a master’s during their time in the program, but no students are admitted for the purposes of gaining the master’s degree only.

The application deadline is December 15th at 5 PM EST. The application closes promptly, and no extensions are provided.

1. Complete Application Form

2. Transcripts

3. Three letters of recommendation (in English; if not in English, a certified translation will be required of all admitted students prior to registration)

4. Statement of purpose (written in English)

5. Personal Statement

6. A writing sample of your best scholarly work in your chosen language of study; not to exceed 15-20 double spaced pages. If applying to the Joint Track, submit examples of shorter work in each language.

7. Current TOEFL or IELTS score if this requirement applies to you (valid for two years)*

8. CV

Note: We no longer require or accept GRE scores.

Prospective applicants in Romance Languages and Literatures often ask about criteria for admissions decisions. The committees assess scholarly promise based on each student's dossier as a whole, including the Statement of Purpose, writing sample, and recommendations. 

The required minimum scores are 80 for the TOEFL and 6.5 for the IELTS. A master’s degree or other graduate degree is not accepted as proof of English proficiency. 

The Graduate School provides generous and competitive financial support to its Ph.D. students. Many funded opportunities are available for travel abroad, such as research and/or teaching fellowships and exchanges sponsored by Harvard and outside institutions.

Test score reports

If you have personal score reports available, please scan, upload, and attach these to your application. If you do not yet have your official scores by the application deadline, please self-report them on the form; ETS transmits scores to us regularly.

A Master’s degree is not required to apply to the PhD Program. Admitted students with prior master’s degrees may be eligible to transfer credits for courses taken as a part of the master’s program, to be counted in fulfillment of the PhD requirements.

Final admission and waitlist offers will be announced in the last week of February.

The deadline to officially reply to the admission offer is April 15th. 

Typically, the program is completed within 6 to 7 years. The Timetable for Obtaining the PhD provides an overview of a standard progress to degree.

The first two years of graduate study are spent on coursework. Normally, students take 16 four-credit courses during the first two years, with the possibility of credit given for work done as a part of a master’s program. Specific course requirements can be found in GSAS Policies. A First-Year Presentation is given at the conclusion of the second semester of the first year, and the General Exam is taken at the beginning of the second semester of the third year. This is followed by a Prospectus and the completion of the Dissertation. 

Admitted students receive a standard funding package which guarantees full financial support—including tuition, health fees, and basic living expenses—for a minimum of five years (typically the first four years and the completion year). This includes a combination of tuition grants, stipends, teaching fellowships, research assistantships, and other academic appointments. Additional details can be found on the GSAS website.