However, many students find that five years is a more reasonable time to expect, and six years is not unusual. In unusual circumstances, the Department may grant permission for an enrolled student to temporarily register for a part-time schedule. It is required that students be in residence for at least two years in the program, and the vast majority of students are in residence for the entire program. There is no correspondence program or other long-distance program. The only way to take Harvard Arts and Sciences courses, unless you are enrolled in another Harvard graduate program or MIT, is to be admitted as a Special Student , which allows you to take between one and four courses a semester.
Foreign nationals have to take a full-time load in order to get a student visa.
Students are issued a transcript, but no degree or certificate, for their work in the Special Student program. Applications are reviewed by the Graduate School and then by a subset of the Psychology Department admissions committee. Admitted applicants should be aware that the Department does not have the resources to provide the same support, academic and otherwise, to Special Students as it does to Ph.D. students. Special Students are not assigned advisers, office space, research space, research funds, financial aid, library keys, or computer lab accounts. However, applicants should consider the Special Student year an opportunity to take courses, rather than a way to get an early start on the Ph.D. program.