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For further questions

The Ph.D. Programs in Social Policy do not conduct admissions interviews, nor is it expected that prospective students will contact potential mentors at the application stage. Nonetheless, interested applicants are welcome to contact the program office if they would like further information. The program currently has just one staff member available to do this — Pamela Metz, Director of the Program— who often makes time to discuss the program in greater detail, in person or by telephone, with prospective applicants. To arrange an appointment, please contact our main office by e-mail or telephone:

For visitors to campus

Although interviews are not part of the Ph.D. admissions process, prospective applicants may inquire about campus visits. For those who do decide to visit, we encourage visits on a Monday during the term, when our Malcolm Wiener Inequality & Social Policy Seminar Series is in session. This is a weekly seminar, open to the public, featuring current academic research from economists, political scientists, and sociologists in the domain of inequality and social policy. The seminar meets most Mondays at noon and provides a good opportunity to see a bit of the Social Policy program in action.

Interested visitors should consult the seminar schedule on the Inequality & Social Policy web site for specific meeting dates and locations. Please note that the seminar meets only when classes are in session during the term. The University is closed on all public holidays. Maps and directions to the Kennedy School may be found here.

No reservation is required to attend the seminar, but if you are visiting, we encourage you to let us know in advance that you will be coming and to set up an appointment in conjunction with your visit, if that is something you would like to do.

The Kennedy School of Government does not offer tours, but visitors are welcome to walk around the campus during business hours. The Harvard Information Office provides tours of Harvard University.

Apart from the Malcolm Wiener Inequality & Social Policy Seminar Series, we are not able to provide opportunities for prospective students at the application stage to attend Ph.D. classes in the program. Virtually all doctoral classes are very small graduate seminars, and it is not possible to admit guests without altering the seminar dynamics.

Once admissions decisions are made in mid-March, however, we do organize admissions visits for all admitted applicants. These visits provide extensive opportunities for prospective students to meet with program faculty members and other doctoral students, to attend classes, and to explore the full range of Harvard's resources.

Contacting program faculty or Ph.D. students

Individual faculty members set their own policies regarding communication with prospective applicants. Because interviews are not used in the admissions process, the Social Policy office does not put applicants in touch with faculty members prior to admissions decisions. Indeed, admissions committee members often maintain a policy of not meeting or corresponding in advance with applicants in order to ensure the fairness of the admissions review.

While other faculty members may be more receptive to inquiries and will try to respond when possible, prospective applicants should keep in mind that faculty members typically receive many, many such e-mails each semester. Given teaching and advising responsibilities to current students, it simply may not be feasible for them to respond to individual queries. Once admissions decisions are made, admitted applicants will be invited for a campus visit, which will provide extensive opportunities for prospective students to meet with faculty and current graduate students in their areas of interest. We hope that prospective students can understand both the volume of outside inquiries faculty members face and the program's commitment to an equitable and impartial evaluation of each applicant on the basis of the formal application materials.

For similar reasons, we try to respect the privacy of our Social Policy Ph.D. students and do not give out individual contact information. We receive many inquiries from prospective applicants, and we feel it would not be fair to our current graduate students to make further demands on their time while they are in the midst of their own studies.

Again, the program does organize admissions visits for newly admitted prospective students in March or April, once admissions decisions have been made. We hope the combination of informational resources that we provide on this web site, as well as opportunities to ask questions of the program staff, will meet prospective applicants' needs. A great deal of information is equally available to all applicants, and we have tried to provide links to further resources should prospective students wish to pursue specific interests further.

For potential applicants who may wish some additional guidance in assessing their fit for the program and the research interests of faculty members with whom they might like to work, Pamela Metz, Director of the Program, is available to discuss these sorts of questions. We encourage you to contact us (information listed at the top of this page) to set up an appointment to talk by telephone or in person.

Photos © 2005 Pamela Metz.