Degree Programs
The Graduate School of Design is home to several degree programs, including the world’s oldest landscape architecture program and North America’s longest-standing urban planning program. Keep in mind that you can combine almost any two master’s programs to earn concurrent degrees.
We also offer a number of non-degree programs: The Loeb Fellowship, Executive Education, and Design Discovery.
If you’re not sure what program is right for you, we’d love to learn more about your background and discuss your options. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
-
Master's (Professional) Master of Architecture I
The program leading to the Master of Architecture is an accredited professional degree intended for individuals who have completed the bachelor's degree with a major other than one of the design professions or with a pre-professional undergraduate major in one of the design professions.
-
Master's (Professional) Master in Landscape Architecture I AP
Individuals who hold an accredited professional degree in architecture, or a pre-professional undergraduate degree in landscape architecture or architecture, and a strong design portfolio, may be granted advanced standing of up to two terms, completing the MLA I in two years.
-
Master's (Professional) Master in Landscape Architecture I
The program leading to the Master in Landscape Architecture as an accredited professional degree is intended for individuals who have completed a bachelor’s degree with a major other than one of the design professions.
-
Master's (Professional) Master in Urban Planning
Accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board and open to students with an undergraduate degree, the two-year professional Master in Urban Planning degree program emphasizes planning to develop, preserve, and enhance the built environment. 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.
-
Master's (Professional) Master in Real Estate
The Master in Real Estate (MRE) is a 12-month degree program for individuals seeking to acquire or sharpen traditional real estate skills while learning how real estate can advance beneficial spatial, social, and environmental outcomes in cities and metropolitan areas worldwide.
-
Master's (Post-Professional) Master of Architecture II
The program leading to the Master of Architecture II is a post-professional degree intended for individuals who have completed a five-year undergraduate professional program in architecture or its equivalent.
-
Master's (Post-Professional) Master in Landscape Architecture II
The two-year, post‐professional Master in Landscape Architecture degree program is for those who hold an undergraduate professional landscape architecture degree or its equivalent.
-
Master's (Post-Professional) Master in Design Studies (MDes)
Design necessarily engages the most urgent and complex conditions of our time, and the Master in Design Studies (MDes) post professional program empowers students to address those conditions head on.
-
Master's (Post-Professional) Master of Architecture in Urban Design / Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design
The program leading to the Master of Architecture in Urban Design and the Master of Landscape in Urban Design is intended for individuals who have completed a professional program in Architecture or Landscape Architecture and who have a strong interest in engaging the practice and theory of contemporary urbanism.
-
Doctoral Doctor of Design Program (DDes)
The Doctor of Design program is a leading doctoral degree program for highly creative and motivated professionals who wish to conduct rigorous, intensive design research. The three-year program is geared towards applied research that advances design related knowledge in a broad range of scales from product design to buildings and landscapes to urban design and regional planning.
-
Doctoral Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The Doctor of Philosophy is intended for persons who wish to enter teaching and advanced research careers in the History and Theory of Architecture, Architectural Technology, Landscape Architecture and Urban Form from Antiquity to the Present; or The Analysis and Development of Buildings, Cities, Landscapes, and Regions with an emphasis on social, economic, technological, ecological and infrastructural systems.
-
Joint/Collaborative Master in Urban Planning and Master in Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) offer a joint degree program in public policy and urban planning.
-
Joint/Collaborative Master in Urban Planning and Master in Public Administration
Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) offer a joint degree program in public administration and urban planning.
-
Joint/Collaborative Master in Urban Planning and Juris Doctor
Harvard Law School and the Graduate School of Design offer a joint degree program in law and urban planning permitting students to pursue a Juris Doctor (JD) degree at HLS and a Master in Urban Planning (MUP) degree at the GSD.
-
Joint/Collaborative Master in Urban Planning and Master in Public Health
This joint degree program is designed to support students seeking a transdisciplinary education in urban planning and public health, and prepare them for leadership positions at the intersection of these fields.
-
Joint/Collaborative Master in Design Engineering
The Master in Design Engineering (MDE) program prepares the next generation of leaders to create transformative solutions that positively improve society. The integrated fields of design and engineering are uniquely positioned to address the world’s toughest challenges.
-
Undergraduate Undergraduate Architecture Studies
The study of architecture integrates technical and humanistic methods of inquiry with written and visual modes of representation, in traditional classroom venues and “making”-based studios designed especially for Harvard College undergraduate students within this track.