Lilac13

Sorry I didn't mean to down vote your post. I was just scrolling through the forum on my phone and accidentally swiped over the down arrow and there's no way to undo it.

Welcome! From what I understand, most people applying to education graduate programs don't have an undergraduate background in education and thus don't really have letters of recommendation from undergraduate professors in the field of education. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have strong letters from these people, but having a strong letter from someone who can speak to your academic and research skills regardless of the discipline (probably some caveats here) is what matters. What is your undergraduate major? My letters of recommendation came from professors in clinical psychology and public policy. What makes you say you are a strong applicant (I am not doubting your capabilities- I am just curious)? While knowing what you want to research is definitely important for PhD applications, there are also other factors to be considered (as I am sure you know). Do you have a strong GPA? Do you have strong GRE scores? The reason I ask this is because if you don't, exemplary performance in a masters program may increase your chances of getting into a PhD program. I didn't have the most competitive undergraduate GPA, but got a 3.9 in my masters program and was told that it really helped my application. You mentioned that the masters program is in Higher Ed, would you also be getting a PhD in Higher Ed? This is just my opinion, but I don't really think it makes since to pay for a masters in Higher Ed and then move on to a PhD program in Higher Ed. I say this because most PhD programs offer a masters en route to your PhD and many PhD programs offer partial to full funding. If the terminal masters program that you are referring to was paid for, I think that would make a difference in the decision. I think depending on the specifics of your situation, you could go either way. Just my two cents.

Big Red

lobster bisque

I will be there for a PhD in Educational Policy.

Even though I have already accepted an offer to another program, I decided to give Vanderbilt a call recently because I had not heard anything at all about my application (I am ready to wrap this process up). I was told that two rounds of rejections have already gone out and that one or two rounds of acceptances have gone out (I can't recall if the person in admissions said one or two). The admissions officer told me this means I am in a "holding pattern". The accepted applicants have until April 15th to accept or reject their offer and if necessary the committee will reconvene after April 15th to decide if they want to make any more offers (was told that this probably won't be likely). I interpret this as being on a wait list and likely not making it off of the wait list. Hopefully this information is helpful for those of you still waiting. I applied to the Leadership, Policy, and Organizations PhD program, so I am not sure if this information is applicable to other departments.

fruit snacks

I always wonder how trustworthy their rankings are. I just have so many questions....Who do they survey? What is their sample size? Is the sample representative? What types of questions are they asking survey respondents? Anyone have any insight as to how they come up with these ratings?