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.
| Program | Application Opens | Application 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) | September 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 |
