<p>Hi</p>
<p>I hope to do a PHD in Harvard- what is the minimal amount of time it would take to complete a course in Social Science?</p>
<p>I have not applied yet, but I have been contacting a professor there who has agreed to support my application and is interested in supervising my PHD thesis. Is this fact significant for my chances of getting in at all? Because apart from this fact, I do not have particularly outstanding undergraduate credentials.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>A social science PhD will take, on average, six years. Depending on the dissertation topic, some people can finish as early as five and some take as long as ten.</p>
<p>Having a professor who is willing to work with you as an advisor is a great first step. Still, it is not a guarantee if the credentials aren’t there. If the admissions office feel you can’t handle a graduate program, chances are they’re right.</p>
<p>I’ll bet you $50 that this Harvard professor is lying about his interest in you. </p>
<p>Many professors either choose to be nice and say “yeah, it’s a great idea.” or just don’t respond at all as to keep themselves de-attached until they read ALL the applications requesting to work with them. You NEVER know who else is going to be applying.</p>
<p>A few, very few will keep in good contact if they’re truly interested in your project idea. And those will get you in (well, almost at least).</p>
<p>If the e-mail’s vague, it take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>And why Harvard? And you’re vague with this “social science” thing… it sounds like you’re just throwing around the idea of graduate school.</p>
<p>that’s a very random assumption. I was purposely vague about this “social science” thing because I felt whichever subject I was doing was irrelevant to my question and I prefer to keep my identity private on internet forums like this.</p>
<p>I highly doubt anyone is going to be able to guess your name and address because you name the graduate degree you want to get.</p>
<p>i highly doubt that too, but since that is irrelevant I might as well stay private.</p>
<p>Then no one can answer your question properly as each department has different systems, much less like undergraduate admissions.</p>
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<p>I would alter that a bit to say “at least” six years. Many take longer.</p>
<p>I think agc0319 is just trying to be honest with you. If your undergraduate credentials are not particularly outstanding then I think that it is a long shot to be admitted to Harvard. The professor you spoke with may just have not felt like being forthcoming. But what do I know?</p>
<p>Yes, a PhD from Harvard or anywhere else will take at least six years. The people I know who were successful in graduate school were the ones who parked themselves there. They weren’t in any hurry and they weren’t thinking about the other things they could be doing with their time. They have made some sort of mental commitment early on, that this is where they would be until they were finished.</p>
<p>yes I appreciated agc0319’s opinions, i was only pointing out to others that to say I was only playing around the idea of graduate school was an assumption. however, i also appreciate their information. I am not from the US so have only heard vague stories about how their PHD’s take “much longer” than european ones. thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Yes, if memory serves in Europe you lose your funding after 4 years so you have to finish in that time. Here how long funding is available is more variable. That has it’s pluses and minuses, it’s good to be able to stay in school longer if your research is still moving forward but it’s bad because research can drag on.</p>