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Harvard FAS Slashes Ph.D. Admissions for Two Years With Science Down Over 75%

Departments face near-term allocation decisions under ongoing budget strain.

Overview

  • Arts & Humanities Ph.D. seats are cut by about 60% over the next two admissions cycles, while aggregate Social Science reductions remain unclear despite multiple departments reporting 50% to 70% drops.
  • Some programs face severe curbs: German is projected to admit no new Ph.D. students, History plans five per year down from 13, and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology will enroll roughly three.
  • Molecular and Cellular Biology expects about four new students and Chemistry and Chemical Biology four to five, and departments reduced to a single seat are barred from admitting under the current guidance.
  • FAS allowed departments to distribute their limited slots across the two years, with allocation plans due Friday and the school indicating that numbers could still shift next week.
  • Leaders cite funding uncertainty, a higher endowment tax estimated to cost roughly $300 million a year, and a $113 million FY2025 operating loss as drivers despite a judge-ordered restoration of frozen federal grants in September, with hiring freezes and halted projects still in effect.