From the SEAS PhD Timeline page (https://www.seas.harvard.edu/academics/graduate/phd-timeline):
Degree Application
- Check out FAS deadlines
- Complete the degree application via my.harvard by the Registrar's deadline
Defense
- Book a room for your final defense by emailing classes@seas.harvard.edu.
- If you schedule your own room (e.g., external to SEAS) you must still email classes@seas well in advance in order for your required documentation to be ready, else your defense cannot take place. You must also get agreement from your full committee to hold your defense in a non-SEAS room.
Dissertation Submission and Commencement
- Find out the rules for formatting and submitting your thesis to FAS.
- The best way to share your dissertation with others is by linking to the DASH copy. DASH uses persistent URLs and provides you with download statistics, and the DASH copy of your PDF will not include the signed Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC). If you choose to post or share your PDF in some other way, you should remove the DAC page so that readers do not have access to the scanned signatures.
- Get ready for commencement by updating your email and other contact information via myharvard.edu.
We sincerely hope that you do not attempt to write your thesis in Word. Please learn LaTeX. It is a crucial tool for writing scientific papers. Many publishers have LaTeX templates that automatically format the page layout, fonts, headings, etc. for you. Bibliographies, references, figures, equations become much simpler to deal with. There is an unofficial thesis template for Harvard, which can be accessed here: https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/thesis/harvard-phd
