Congratulations! You’ve made the wonderful decision to join the HDS community this fall. This is an exciting step towards reaching your academic and personal goals. As you begin to prepare for this transition to graduate study, here are some things to keep in mind.
Housing/Relocating
Unless you are already located in the Cambridge area, you will mostly likely need to relocate closer to HDS. Most students secure housing between May-June and begin searching once they’ve made the decision to attend HDS. You can explore on- and off-campus housing options as early as you’d like. In addition to publicly-available services like Craigslist, Padmapper, Apartments.com, Zillow, Hotpads, and Trulia—several Harvard-specific resources are available below to aid your search.
· Harvard Housing Off Campus Listings (this includes both off-campus and HUH sublet listings)
· 83 Brattle Street (Harvard-Affiliated apartments available for summer and into the academic year)
Be sure to check out our housing blog post and the Conducting Your Housing Search webinar by the Office of Student Life for more details! If you still haven’t secured housing by mid-late summer, don’t worry, there will still be ample housing available, but the earlier you start looking, the less stressed you’ll be as we approach the start of the academic year.
Course Selection
You are probably eager to look through the fall course offerings and make your selections. The official list of fall courses will most likely be released closer to the start of the academic year. However, in the meantime, feel free to look at course offerings and syllabi from previous semesters (when these resources become available to you in the summer). This will give you an idea of the workload, professor teaching styles, and available topics. You will also have a chance to meet with a faculty advisor before submitting your course selections in the fall. In the meantime, it might be helpful to make a list of courses you are considering.
Internship/Part-time work opportunities
If you are interested in working part-time as you pursue your HDS degree, you are not alone. Most HDS students hold part-time internship or job positions and work between 10-15 hours a week. If you are interested in securing a position, keep an eye on the Career Services newsletter and website or get in touch with a member of the Career Services team for information on job postings and other resources. Incoming students should pay attention to their HDS email as opportunities are often sent in other newsletters as well. You can also utilize the Student Employment Office webpage to search for part-time positions.
Other deadlines
Information about other deadlines from financial aid, university health services, or your HDS academic program will likely be communicated to you via email so be sure to read through any emails you receive over the summer. Also, if you haven’t already, consider joining the incoming student Slack workspace since students will often post reminders about deadlines on that platform. There are current students moderating the group who can answer any questions that arise. If you do not yet have access to the Slack workspace, please reach out to the Office of Student Life.
HDS Admissions Blog 