In 1933, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but did not do well enough to continue. MIT readmitted him in 1935, and by 1936 he had received the Bachelor of Science degree. Only one year later, MIT awarded him the doctorate. This was very unusual at the time, because most MIT students earned only a Bachelor of Science degree after four years. Woodward's studies were about the synthesis of the female sex hormone estrone, a natural type of estrogen. He held a Junior Fellowship at Harvard University from 1937 to 1938, and stayed at Harvard for the rest of his life. In the 1960s, Woodward was named Donner Professor of Science, a post which allowed him to spend all his time on research.