See Also
Admission
To be admitted to the program:
- Complete the 3 preadmission courses.
- Meet all other admission criteria.
- Submit your application materials.
1. Complete the 3 preadmission courses.
Earn a B or higher in 3 required graduate-credit courses as described below. These courses count as 12 program credits towards the degree once you are admitted.
Required preadmission courses include the proseminar and 2 additional courses from field I (life sciences). If applying to the bioinformatics concentration, the 2 additional courses must be BIOS E-40 and E-215 (see Choosing Courses).
Note: if you earn a grade below B in a proseminar, you are only allowed to enroll in it once more for admission. If you delay application to the program more than 2 years after completing the proseminar, you must retake the course.
2. Meet all other admission criteria.
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Possess a regionally accredited bachelor’s degree (or its foreign equivalent) in an area of physical, life, or computer science. If you have a science degree, but no previous coursework in biology, it is strongly recommended that you complete BIOS E-1a and E-1b before attempting graduate-level biology classes that would count toward the degree.
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Have postgraduate research experience.
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Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 in any degree courses already completed at Harvard Extension School or Summer School.
Be able to demonstrate English language proficiency.
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Be in good academic and financial standing with Harvard University, with no disciplinary or administrative procedures pending.
If applying to the life sciences, bioinformatics, or bioengineering and nanotechnologies concentration, you should be able to demonstrate at least 1 year of scientific research experience.
If applying to the management principles concentration, you should have 2 years of scientific research experience. (Candidates in this concentration often have hopes of breaking into the business side of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. This requires a solid understanding of research first, which can only be acquired by working as a researcher.)
The type of experience that qualifies includes laboratory, clinical, and computational research. A letter of recommendation from the research supervisor must accompany your application. Questions about this requirement should be sent to the program director, Cheryl Vaughan, via e-mail at cheryl_vaughan@harvard.edu.
If you already hold a graduate degree, you may earn the biotechnology graduate degree, provided the existing degree is in a different field.
To ensure timely degree completion, we recommend that you take the statistics waiver exam (only available if you have completed statistics courses in the past), while completing the 3 required courses for admission. It is helpful to know early whether you have to take a statistics course to complete the program.
3. Submit your application materials.
To be admitted to the program, you must submit the application materials. See How to Apply.
International students
The Extension School does not issue I-20s. But you may be able to earn the degree through online courses and Harvard Summer School on-campus courses. See Online Course Options.
Financial aid
Before you apply and are admitted, you can work with Student Financial Services to secure private funding to cover the cost of the first 3 courses required for admission. Learn about financial aid for nonadmitted students.
Once you apply and are admitted, you may be eligible for a number of loan and grant programs. Learn about financial aid for admitted candidates.