Doctoral Degrees

A doctoral degree requires the satisfactory completion of an approved program of advanced study and original research of high quality.

Please note that the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Science (ScD) degrees are awarded interchangeably by all departments in the School of Engineering and the School of Science, except in the fields of biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, medical engineering, and medical physics. This means that, excepting the departments outlined above, the coursework and expectations to earn a Doctor of Philosophy and for a Doctor of Science degree from these schools are generally the same. Doctoral students may choose which degree they wish to complete.

Applicants interested in graduate education should apply to the department or graduate program conducting research in the area of interest. Some departments require a doctoral candidate to take a “minor” program outside of the student’s principal field of study; if you wish to apply to one of these departments, please consider additional fields you may like to pursue.

Below is a list of programs and departments that offer doctoral-level degrees.

ProgramApplication OpensApplication Deadline
Aeronautics and Astronautics September 1 December 1
Architecture September 15 January 7
Biological Engineering September 15 December 15
Biology October 1 December 1
Brain and Cognitive Sciences September 1 December 1
Chemical Engineering September 15 December 1
Chemistry September 15 December 1
Civil and Environmental Engineering September 15 December 1
Computational and Systems Biology October 1 December 1
Computational Science and Engineering PhD September 15 December 1
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences September 1 December 15
Economics September 15 December 15
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science September 16 December 1
Health Sciences and Technology (Joint Harvard-MIT Program) August 1 December 1
History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society September 10 December 10
Institute for Data, Systems, and Society September 15 December 15
Linguistics September 15 December 15
Materials Science and Engineering September 1 December 1
Mathematics September 14 December 15
Mechanical Engineering September 15 December 15
Media Arts and Sciences September 15 December 15
Microbiology October 1 December 1
MIT Sloan PhD Program September December 1
MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography / Applied Ocean Science and Engineering July 1, October 1 October 1, December 15
Nuclear Science and Engineering September 15 December 15
Operations Research Center September 1 December 15
Philosophy September 15 January 2
Physics September 15 December 15
Political Science October 9 December 15
Program in Polymers and Soft Matter September 15 December 1, December 15
Transportation September 15 December 1
Urban Studies and Planning September 5 December 15