All about the Harvard Graduate School of Design acceptance rate

About Harvard Graduate School of Design

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the design institute of Harvard University, a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It provides masters and doctoral degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, real estate, design engineering, and design studies. The GSD has over 13,000 alumni, including many well-known architects, urban planners, and landscape architects. The school is famous as a global academic leader in the field of design. Founded in 1893, The GSD has the world’s oldest landscape architecture program. Founded in 1900, the oldest urban planning program in North America is available at GSD. Here, we will discuss Harvard Graduate School of Design’s acceptance rate and more.

Harvard Graduate School of Design | A brief overview

In 1874, Harvard University began teaching architecture. Established in 1936, the Harvard Graduate School of Design brings together the three major design professions (architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture).

Joseph F. Hudnut was the first dean of the American Institute of Architects. Walter Gropius joined the GSD faculty as chair of the Department of Architecture in 1937, bringing with him modern designers such as Marcel Breuer to help revamp the curriculum.

Josep Lluis Sert established the country’s first Urban Design program in 1960. The current iconic home of GSD, George Gund Hall, opened in 1972 and Australian architect and GSD graduate John Andrews designed it. The Design Robotics Group, a unit that investigates new material systems and fabrication technologies in the context of architectural design and construction, is a more recent research initiative.

Admissions at GSD

Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent. It is preferable to have two or more years of professional experience in real estate or related fields (urban planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, etc.). On September 9th and November 1st, virtual ‘Open Houses’ are held to describe the program and answer questions.

Students can submit admissions applications for the MRE program via the admissions webpage. It’s worth noting that no GRE or other standardized test is required. Applicants usually get the notification of their decisions in March. If the institute accepts an applicant but is unable to attend the program, they must reapply the following year.

Harvard University entry requirements for PG

• Bachelor’s degree
• GRE or GMAT (if applicable)
• Financial proof
• Resume
• Specific graduate school or program requirements.
• International applicants are not required to submit English proficiency test results, but they may do so if they desire to. If English is not their first language, or if they do not hold a bachelor’s degree from a school where English is the primary language of instruction, then they have to submit the test scores.
• Some graduate applicants who did not have English as their language of instruction for their graduation might need to submit TOEFL or IELTS (80 or 7.5, respectively) test results.

Acceptance rate

According to Peterson’s, the acceptance rate for GSD is 17%. Every year 2055 students apply. Among them, 350 are accepted and 254 successfully enroll in a program.

Steps to follow before applying

Examine the academic program descriptions and prerequisites, paying special attention to the previous degree required to apply.

You may apply to the same GSD degree program a maximum of three times. The institute would not consider further applications to the same program if an applicant has been denied admission for the third time.

If you want to apply to multiple programs at the same time (but only enroll in one), you must submit a separate application and supporting materials for each one. On the application, please indicate your first choice.

If you want to pursue two master’s degrees at the GSD at the same time, you must submit a separate application fee and form for each program, and you must acquire admission to each degree program separately.

If you want to pursue degrees from the GSD and another Harvard University graduate school at the same time, you must apply to and get admission to each school separately.

If you want to pursue a Ph.D., you must apply through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Please keep in mind that the GSD does not accept transfer credits for work completed at another institution if a student is studying at another graduate school.

Application guidelines

• Collect Your Transcripts
• Three letters of recommendation are required.
• Send your GRE scores to the GSD.
• Send your TOEFL scores to the GSD.
• Make changes to your resume
• Write your essay
• Make your portfolio (if required)
• Gather your Prerequisite Information
• Payment of the Application Fee
• Apply for Financial Assistance

After you submit your application

You cannot make changes, additions, or other edits to the application and/or portfolio once you submit the application. The GSD owns the application materials, including the portfolio, and you cannot they cannot return or forward it to another party.

All decisions will be made public in the first week of March. You will receive an email informing you about your Applicant Status Page update. You should visit the institute’s official website for detailed information.

Key takeaways

• The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate design school of Harvard University. It offers masters and doctoral degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and so on.
• Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent and it is preferable to have two or more years of professional experience in real estate or related fields. The institute also holds virtual ‘Open Houses’ to describe the program and answer questions.
• The acceptance rate for GSD is 17% according to Peterson’s website. Every year 2055 students apply. Among them, the university accepts 350 students, and 254 successfully enroll in a program.

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FAQs

Q1. How can I get admission to Harvard University from India?

Ans- The admissions process for graduate courses is extremely competitive for getting admission to Harvard. Above-average GRE and GMAT test scores may help applicants gain admission to Harvard for these purposes. The average GRE score required is around 160, which is in the 90th percentile or higher. The typical GMAT score required is around 730.

Q2. Is it easier for international students to get into Harvard?

Ans- There is no separate admissions process for international students at Harvard. This means they have to submit the same materials as everyone else and the process might be easy or difficult.

Q3. What is the application fee for GSD?

Ans- Each application is subject to a $90 non-refundable fee. Applicants can determine their eligibility for a fee waiver by answering a series of questions in the application’s ‘application fee section’ on the university’s official website.