Harvard

Harvard Medical School Boston, MA · Private · MD

Average MCAT: 521.07
Average GPA: 3.96
Class size: 165 (7,734 applicants)
Tuition: $76,828 (per year)
Out-of-state applicants: Welcome

Deadlines

AMCAS deadline: Oct. 15, 2026
Secondary deadline: Oct. 22, 2026

Essays

Since graduation (4,000 characters)

If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters maximum) summarize your activities since graduation.

Additional perspective (4,000 characters)

If there is an important aspect of your experience not addressed elsewhere in the application that may illuminate how you could contribute to the medical school and that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, ideological perspectives, or other experiences that help place your prior academic achievements in context or provide further insight into your motivation for a career in medicine or the perspective you might bring to the medical school community.

Interview availability (1,000 characters)

The interview season for the 2026–2027 cycle will be held virtually and is anticipated to run from mid-September through January 2027. Please indicate any significant (three or more weeks) restriction on your availability for interviews during this period. If none, please leave this section blank.

Reapplicant update (4,000 characters)

If you are re-applying, briefly summarize your activities since your previous application.

HST essay (HST applicants only) (4,000 characters)

The HST MD program draws on the combined resources of Harvard and MIT to provide a distinct preclinical education tailored to preparing students for careers as transformative physicians who will shape the future practice of medicine. Our students come from the full spectrum of disciplines including biological, physical, engineering and social sciences. HST classes are small, commonly include graduate students and have an emphasis on quantitative and analytic approaches. The unique HST pre-clinical curriculum prepares students well for the HMS clinical education while also emphasizing disease mechanisms and preparing students to solve critical unmet needs in medicine and healthcare (ranging from novel diagnostics and therapeutics to applications of ‘big data’ and systems engineering). Please focus on how your interests, experiences and aspirations have prepared you for HST (rather than identifying specific HST faculty or research opportunities).

Editor's notes

Harvard's deadline is effectively Oct. 22, not Oct. 15. That's when the secondary, your MCAT score and every letter have to be in, and nothing is accepted after. Since HMS doesn't use rolling admissions and says timing won't affect your interview chances, a clean file in early October loses you nothing against one in July.
Decide on HST honestly. It's 30 seats, run with MIT, and it expects upper-level math and calculus-based physics. Applying to both tracks doesn't hurt you, but the HST essay only works if your record shows quantitative work you've actually done.
The secondary is short and almost all optional, so AMCAS does the heavy lifting. That puts the weight on your personal statement and activities. Use the additional-perspective box only if it adds context your grades and activities don't.
You get two tries. HMS considers applicants in at most two cycles and rejects a third. If your first application is thin, strengthen it before you spend one of them.