If you follow empirical economics at all you know the name. Applications for the Opportunity Insights Predoctoral Fellowship 2027 are open now at Harvard.
Raj Chetty is one of the most cited economists of his generation. His research on economic mobility, neighborhood effects and inequality has shaped policy debates across the United States and beyond.
His work does not sit in journals waiting to be discovered. It gets cited in Congressional hearings, White House briefings and front-page newspaper stories.
Opportunity Insights, the Harvard based research institute Chetty co-founded with Professors John Friedman and Nathan Hendren, is now hiring Predoctoral Fellows for its Fall 2026 round.
At a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Program | Opportunity Insights Predoctoral Fellowship |
| Institution | Harvard University |
| Research locations | Harvard University or Brown University |
| Duration | Typically two years |
| Minimum qualification | Bachelor’s or master’s or bachelor’s expected by July 2027 |
| Application deadline | 1 October 2026 11:59 p.m. ET |
What Opportunity Insights Does
Founded in 2018 Opportunity Insights is a nonpartisan research and policy institute built around one central question. What determines whether someone born into poverty can rise out of it?
That question sounds simple. The research is anything but.
OI’s work applies quasi-experimental methods to large-scale administrative data to identify causal relationships. Past projects have examined upward mobility trends across American cities, racial disparities in economic outcomes, the effects of neighborhoods on children’s long term trajectories, social capital and its influence on economic opportunity, credit access and the role of colleges and workforce training in changing life outcomes.
The institute runs several major public-facing tools including the Opportunity Atlas, the Social Capital Atlas and the Economic Tracker. These are living databases used by policymakers, journalists and researchers around the world.
Fellows work inside this environment. Not as observers. As full members of the research team.
Why This Fellowship Matters
A strong predoctoral year does not just prepare you for a PhD program. It transforms your application.
Students who come out of environments like OI arrive at doctoral admissions with something most applicants cannot show. Evidence that they can function inside a serious research environment, handle complex datasets independently, contribute to publishable work and navigate the gap between classroom economics and actual empirical research.
Most previous fellows have gone on to leading PhD programs in economics and related social sciences.
For candidates considering an economics doctorate this fellowship is a direct pathway. It is backed by faculty letters from researchers whose names carry genuine weight in doctoral admissions committees.
What Fellows Do Day to Day
The work is technical and substantive.
Fellows analyze large complex administrative datasets, develop and implement statistical models, contribute to empirical research papers, build research presentations and visualizations and participate in seminars and research meetings at Harvard and Brown.
Some fellows co-author academic papers with faculty and collaborators. All fellows work within a team-oriented research lab alongside professors, graduate students and other predoctoral researchers.
Core technical areas include:
- Large-scale data analysis and cleaning
- Statistical modeling and econometric methods
- Programming in Stata, SAS, R and or Python
- Research presentation and visualization
- Academic writing and paper editing
- Policy translation and research communication
Programming experience matters but it is not a dealbreaker for strong candidates who demonstrate they can learn quickly. OI explicitly encourages applicants with varying levels of coding experience to apply.
Who Should Apply
An economics major is not required. That is worth saying clearly because it surprises people.
OI has selected fellows from undergraduate and graduate programs across disciplines from industry positions and from research assistant roles in various fields. What matters more than your major is your quantitative ability, your research experience and your genuine interest in the kind of empirical work OI produces.
Strong applicants typically have:
- A bachelor’s or master’s degree or a bachelor’s expected by July 2027
- Solid quantitative skills and comfort with empirical methods
- Some economics background and genuine interest in the field
- Research experience strongly preferred
- Programming skills in Stata, SAS, R and Python are preferred but not mandatory
If you have been a research assistant worked with large datasets or contributed to academic projects in any quantitative social science field this fellowship is worth your attention.
One Rule Most Applicants Miss
You may only apply once during the 2026-2027 academic year.
If you apply in the Fall 2026 hiring round and are not selected, you cannot reapply until the 2027 2028 academic year. There is no second chance within the same cycle.
This makes the quality of your application more important than its speed of it. Do not rush a submission. Take the time to get the application right, especially the writing sample which is one of the clearest signals of how you think and communicate.
How to Apply?
Applying to the Opportunity Insights Predoctoral Fellowship requires completing two separate applications:
- A formal application through Harvard University’s job site
- The Opportunity Insights online application form including a resume, transcripts and a writing sample
Completing only one of these is not sufficient. Both must be submitted. An incomplete application, however strong, will not be considered.
Check that both submissions have gone through before the 1 October deadline.
Apply For Opportunity Insights Predoctoral Fellowship
The Information Session Worth Attending
Before submitting anything consider attending the virtual information session on 15 September 2026 at 3:00 p.m. ET.
The session covers the fellowship program in detail and includes a live Q and A. After the main webinar, informal breakout room discussions with current predoctoral fellows begin at 4:00 p.m. ET.
That breakout room is the more valuable part. Current fellows can speak honestly about what the work actually involves, what they wish they had known before applying and what made their own applications competitive. That kind of first hand perspective is worth more than any program description.
Timeline and Selection Process
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Information session | 15 September 2026 3:00 p.m. ET |
| Application deadline | 1 October 2026 11:59 p.m. ET |
| First round interviews | To be confirmed |
| Final round interviews | To be confirmed |
| Decisions communicated | Before end of November 2026 |
| Fellowship start date | Around 1 July 2027 |
Selection involves a first-round interview, a final-round interview and possibly additional skills assessments. OI aims to communicate decisions before the end of November 2026.
Candidates with competing offers who need expedited consideration can contact the recruitment team directly at hiring@opportunityinsights.org.