Courses are selected primarily from MCB department offerings. In addition, students are free to enroll in courses offered by the Department of Chemistry or Harvard Medical School. Students select courses in consultation with a small group of faculty members, the MCB Graduate Committee. No coursework is required after the first year of study. During the first year, students spend about half of their time carrying out experimental research in the laboratories of faculty members.
Some students carry out an additional rotation during the summer preceding their first year.
During the laboratory rotations, students are able to interact with individual faculty members and explore possible subjects for future thesis research. There is no foreign language requirement for the PhD degree. AM Conferred as a nonterminal degree only. Teaching Each student is required to serve as a teaching fellow for two terms, usually one term in each of the second and third years. In one of these terms, the student must teach in one of the major undergraduate courses taught by the MCB faculty.