Harvard is more than the Graduate School of Design. There are 12 additional graduate and professional schools, along with the College, that together weave a rich tapestry of relevant courses and resources. Like all Harvard students, MRE students enjoy cross-registration privileges that enable them to take eligible courses at the Harvard Business School, the Kennedy School, the Law School, the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College, and other Harvard graduate schools. Students may also cross-register in eligible classes at MIT.

The professional schools are supplemented by centers and institutes that sponsor conferences, guest speakers, research, and fellowships. The Joint Center for Housing Studies , co-administered by the GSD and the Kennedy School, publishes the heavily cited annual “State of the Nation’s Housing” report and enjoys long-standing relationships with some of the world’s largest housing developers, owners, and managers. Working from its specially designed and constructed HouseZero building, the GSD’s own Center for Green Buildings and Cities produces research on how existing buildings can dramatically reduce their energy footprints. Other Harvard centers and initiatives such as The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability , the Center for the Environment (part of the Salata Institute), the Taubman Center for State and Local Government , and the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative sponsor many public programs with particular relevance to real estate study and practice.

The MRE program provides robust career assistance that starts with networking and continues with connecting. A dedicated MRE faculty member has the task of overseeing career help from faculty, alumni, and friends of the program. Most MRE faculty members are well-known practitioners who enjoy strong relationships with real estate organizations and individuals worldwide. Leading real estate practitioners regularly visit the program, give presentations, and meet privately with students over meals and other informal settings. A student-run Harvard GSD Real Estate Club co-sponsors with its Harvard Business and Law School counterparts an annual spring real estate conference. The Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board and the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization tap into Harvard’s vast alumni base of real estate professionals. The Practicum, while not designed to generate job offers, nevertheless does from time to time and furthermore connects students with other industry players.

MRE graduates are prepared to assume a wide variety of positions in private for-profit, private not-for-profit, and public entities engaged in real estate endeavors around the world. Typical employers include developers, asset managers, private equity firms, project and construction managers, community development corporations, family offices, affordable housing developers and managers, governments and quasi-public agencies, real estate advisory and consulting firms, and anchor institutions such as universities and medical institutions. Some MRE graduates choose to set off on their own entrepreneurial path. Others return to the organizations where they worked prior to matriculation, but with opportunities for promotion and new directions. After graduating, the range of employment categories is broad and has included: Acquisitions, Asset Management, Development, Planning and Design, Private Equity/Investment Banking, Real Estate Advisory, and Technology.

The MRE program is a designated STEM program. Accordingly, international students holding F-1 visas may be eligible for a 24-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension on top of their initial OPT of 12 months, for a total of 36 months following graduation. Each F-1 student must petition United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve the 24-month STEM extension, and Harvard does not represent or warrant that USCIS will grant any individual petition.

In the fall of 2020, Dean Sarah Whiting initiated a process to investigate the possibility of introducing a master’s degree in real estate at the Graduate School of Design. She asked Urban Planning and Design Professor Jerold Kayden, who subsequently became the degree’s Founding Director, to prepare, in consultation with faculty, students, alumni, and scholars and practitioners, a proposal that would describe the degree’s mission, curriculum, faculty, student backgrounds, and other relevant features. That degree proposal was submitted to and approved by the GSD’s voting faculty in the spring of 2021, advanced to the President and Provost of Harvard during the summer, and ultimately approved by the Harvard Corporation in December of 2021. Applications to the program commenced in the fall of 2022. The inaugural class matriculated in the fall of 2023 and graduated in the summer of 2024. The program is now hosting its third cohort of students. Between alumni and current students, the total number of MRE students is around 115.

The MAUD/MLAUD program introduces post-professional students, already trained in architecture or landscape architecture, to the critical concepts, strategies, and technical skills associated with contemporary Urban Design research and practice. Through studio and coursework, students are challenged to imagine new formal and organizational strategies for the delivery of housing, infrastructure, and a democratic public realm by taking on issues of inequality, climate change, the environment, and public health. Through history and theory lecture courses, seminars, and research projects, students engage a range of critical frameworks and conceptual models for understanding the complex socio-spatial dynamics of urban design practices and the technological, institutional, and political contexts in which they operate over time and across cultures and geographies.

Since the emergence of Urban Design as a modern practice in the 19th century and its establishment as a distinct field of study at Harvard in 1960, the scope and ambition of Urban Design has significantly expanded. As cities grow and diversify, so does the landscape of urban and peri-urban conditions. Globally, the expansion and transformation of metropolitan regions have introduced new scales and urban archetypes, producing an even wider range of local characteristics, cultural identities, and community needs requiring attention and resolution. This increase in formal, social, economic, and environmental complexity has further complicated the field of urban design, shifting the geography and focus from rigid specialization in primarily western contexts to trans-disciplinary and internationally varied processes that embrace complexity and anticipate change.

During their two years of study, students develop the necessary literacies to critically engage with, interrogate the character, and transform the form of complex built environments. In addition to diverse course offerings, numerous research opportunities with faculty further enrich a dynamic and exciting learning environment for exploring and advancing meaningful responses to the challenges of our time.

Four terms of full-time study in residence are required for award of the degree. Under special circumstances, students may receive permission to reduce their course loads and extend their studies over a longer period. Concurrent and joint degree candidates must consult the rules governing concurrent and joint degrees for information on residency requirements.

Please note that the MAUD/MLAUD program is designated as a STEM program. Accordingly, international students holding F-1 visas may be eligible for a 24-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension on top of their initial OPT of 12 months, for a total of 36 months, following graduation.  Each F-1 student must petition United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve the 24-month STEM extension, and Harvard does not represent or warrant that USCIS will grant any individual petition.

Prospective JD/MUP students must apply, and be separately admitted, to both HLS and the GSD, each of which will independently review and admit applicants. Questions relating to the admissions process at each school should be addressed directly to JD Admissions at HLS  and to the Admissions Office at the GSD.

Prospective JD/MUP students may apply to HLS and/or the GSD, concurrently in advance of admission to either school, or during the first year at either school. Students interested in applying to either school for matriculation the following September should note the HLS deadline is early February while the GSD deadline is in early January. All HLS applicants are required to submit a GRE or LSAT score, in accordance with application guidelines. All GSD applicants are required to submit a GRE score. Once admitted, students should follow the notification procedures at each school regarding acceptance of admission and plans to matriculate.

Students admitted to both schools should email Kristi Jobson, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer at HLS, and Sean Conlon, GSD Registrar, if they intend to enroll in the joint degree program.

The joint degree program is currently limited to six entering students each year. If more than six eligible students seek to start the program in any given year, then the Faculty Committee will rank order the list of students, permitting enrollment of the top six.

Students in the joint degree program have four academic years to complete both degrees and are expected to spend five semesters and two winter terms in residence at HLS and three terms in residence at the GSD, for a total of eight fall or spring semesters/terms and two HLS winter terms.

In the first two years of the joint degree program, students are required to enroll for one full year of study at HLS and for one full year of study at the GSD; either can come first. In the third and fourth years of the program, joint degree students will enroll in, and take courses at, both schools. Students must take the majority (at least 12 units of the required 40) of their coursework at the GSD during one of those terms. See below for more information about the coursework at each school.

Students in the joint degree program will have a primary faculty advisor at both HLS and the GSD. Faculty advisors will supervise a student’s academic work and assist in determining the most appropriate sequencing for each student’s course of study, keeping in mind the requirements for both degrees.

For more information, visit the Harvard Law School website .

Prospective MUP/MPA or MPA/ID students must apply, and be separately admitted, to the GSD and HKS, each of which will independently review and admit applicants.

Prospective MUP/MPA or MPA/ID students may choose to apply to the GSD and HKS at the same time in advance of admission to both schools, or to the GSD or HKS during their first year at the school to which they have already matriculated. Students interested in applying to either school should be careful to observe the application deadlines for each school.

Students admitted to both schools at the same time must inform both schools of their enrollment decision no later than the deadline set by each school, and they must indicate their intention to pursue the joint degree program and at which school they plan to begin their studies. Students admitted to the GSD or HKS during their first year at the other school must inform both schools no later than the deadline by which they must accept admission that they intend to pursue the joint degree program.

Students in the joint degree programs have three academic years to complete both degrees and are required to spend three terms in residence at the GSD and three terms in residence at HKS, for a total of six terms. During the third year of the joint degree students are in-residence in both schools simultaneously. In three years, students must satisfy all curricular course requirements for both the MUP and MPA or MPA/ID programs.

In the first two years of the joint degree programs, students are required to enroll for one full year of study at the GSD and for one full year of study at HKS. Either can come first. In the third year of the program, joint degree students will be considered simultaneously enrolled in both schools.

For more information, please refer to the Joint MUP/MPA Degree Plan (PDF).

Prospective MUP/MPP students must apply, and be separately admitted, to the GSD and HKS, each of which will independently review and admit applicants.

Prospective MUP/MPP students may choose to apply to the GSD and HKS at the same time in advance of admission to both schools, or to the GSD or HKS during their first year at the school to which they have already matriculated. Students interested in applying to either school should be careful to observe the application deadlines for each school.

Students admitted to both schools at the same time must inform both schools of their enrollment decision no later than the deadline set by each school, and they must indicate their intention to pursue the joint degree program and at which school they plan to begin their studies. Students admitted to the GSD or HKS during their first year at the other school must inform both schools no later than the deadline by which they must accept admission that they intend to pursue the joint degree program.

Students in the joint degree programs have three academic years to complete both degrees and are required to spend three terms in residence at the GSD and three terms in residence at HKS, for a total of six terms. During the third year of the joint degree students are in-residence in both schools simultaneously. In three years, students must satisfy all curricular course requirements for both the MUP and MPP programs.

In the first two years of the joint degree programs, students are required to enroll for one full year of study at the GSD and for one full year of study at HKS. Either can come first. In the third year of the program, joint degree students will be considered simultaneously enrolled in both schools.

For more information, please refer to the Joint MUP/MPP Degree Plan (PDF).

Drawing on the strengths of the department, school, and university, GSD planning students learn how to understand, analyze, and influence the variety of forces—social, economic, cultural, legal, political, ecological, and aesthetic, among others—shaping the built environment. Four key areas of concern animate the learning environment: how planning can manage change in complex environments; dealing with multiple scales and systems; engaging ethically with problems now and in the future; and planning as an active practice where implementation matters.

A two-year enrollment of roughly 80 students and a core, interdisciplinary faculty of scholars and practitioners generate an intimate, engaged educational atmosphere in which students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for leadership positions in their future professional careers.

The planning program administers joint degree programs with the Law School, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Planning students often cross-register in courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Kennedy School, and the schools of business, law, education, engineering, and public health. Students in the urban planning program also take courses offered by the GSD’s other degree programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, design studies, and design engineering. They can cross-register in courses offered by the neighboring Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Loeb Fellowship program is a terrific resource for students, bringing mid-career professionals, many of them in planning and related areas, to the GSD for a year. Each year, the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy , collaborating with the American Planning Association and Harvard, convenes planning directors from the 30 largest cities in the U.S. to discuss emerging issues. Urban planning students interact with the directors informally and in a classroom setting.

Studio, thesis, and class projects link students to communities in the Boston area and beyond. The school’s Community Service Fellowship Program (CSFP) provides both summer internships in the U.S. and small overseas travel grants. Various Harvard units provide summer and winter opportunities relevant to urban planning students, including the Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellowship , Edward M. Gramlich Fellowship in Community and Economic Development , and Presidential Public Service Fellowships . There is also funding for research travel (e.g., thesis data collection) or independent internships in Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and elsewhere.

Four terms of full-time study in residence are normally required for award of the degree. Under special circumstances, students may receive permission to reduce their course loads and extend their studies over a longer period of time. Concurrent and joint degree candidates must consult the rules governing concurrent and joint degrees for information on residency requirements.

Please note that the MUP program is designated as a STEM program. Accordingly, international students holding F-1 visas may be eligible for a 24-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension on top of their initial OPT of 12 months, for a total of 36 months, following graduation. Each F-1 student must petition United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve the 24-month STEM extension, and Harvard does not represent or warrant that USCIS will grant any individual petition.

The Master of Urban Planning (MUP) program, combined with practical experience and the AICP exam, leads to professional certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners. Harvard has not determined whether the program meets the educational requirements for professional licensure in any state other than Massachusetts.

Organizations both big and small worldwide are interested in GSD students and alumni. Urban planning training brings a wealth of knowledge and transferable skills outside of traditional practice to many industries, including but not limited to consulting, planning, government, higher education, non-profits, and other public and private institutions in the United States and internationally.