Student Life

Read below to get a sense of what its like to be a student in our program.

Timeline-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is only meant to give a general picture to prospective applicants. Certainly, many students diverge from the sequence described below for a number of reasons, including in particular, participation in a combined-degree program such as the MD/PhD, or a coordinated-degree program such as the JD/PhD.

Coursework. On average, students in our program take 4 1/2 - 5 years to complete their PhD in Health Policy. In general, students spend the first two years completing their coursework requirements. In the first year, all students take a two-semester Health Policy Seminar, known as "Core." Also in the first year, most students take a microeconomics course and two courses in probability and statistics. In the second year, most students will pursue courses that fulfill the requirements of their chosen concentration. After the second year, students take two comprehensive exams. The first is a general exam on the topic of Health Policy. The second is a concentration exam, focused on materials from the student's particular concentration. Students are required to pass both exams before embarking upon their dissertation research.

Research. In the third year, students begin their research. Often students have already done some preliminary exploration during the summers following their first two years in order to identify a topic of interest. The dissertation itself can be organized as one long monograph or as three separate publishable papers. At some point during the third year, students will establish a dissertation committee of at least three faculty members (two of whom must be on the Committee on Higher Degrees in Health Policy). The next milestone is the dissertation research proposal defense near the end of the third year. After the dissertation committee approves a proposal, the student begins work toward completing the research goals described in the proposal. This can take between one and four years, depending on the nature of the work proposed. For example, students who collect their own data as part of their dissertation work often require more time to complete their degree. Most students choose to write three publishable papers and attempt to get them published in peer-reviewed journals while they are in the program or shortly after they graduate. When the dissertation is complete, it must be defended in front of the dissertation committee. If the committee approves it, the student can graduate!

Funding-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In general, students enter the program with two years of funding guaranteed. In the second year, students apply for funding for their third year, and repeat the process again to obtain funding for the subsequent years. A number of training grants are available to students working in particular areas.

Teaching-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Students have the opportunity to work as teaching fellows, but are not required to do so.

Core Course-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for a copy of the syllabus from the required 2009-10 Core Course in Health Policy.

Seminars-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Students have the opportunity to attend many seminar series related to Health Policy throughout the university. These include the Health Law Policy Workshop at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School; the Pharmaceutical Policy Research Seminar at the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and others.

Program Dinners -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twice per semester, the program has special dinner events in the evening. The guest speaker for these dinners is usually a notable figure in the field of health policy. Past guests of honor have included Alain Enthoven, Victor Fuchs, Mark McClellan, and Julio Frenk.

Travel-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Often students travel to conferences to present their research and meet others in their field.

Housing-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Living in the Boston area can be expensive, but their are many options available. Harvard has several graduate dormitories available to first-year graduate students. The Harvard housing office also manages several apartment buildings in Cambridge. Finding off-campus in non-Harvard housing is often aided by using a real estate broker, but apartments can be found without a broker using websites such as Craigslist.org .