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?

That is an awesome strategy. You have quite a few choices, so I am excited to see what you come up with!

I just want to be sure that everyone knows that the above post is not me giving advice, I am just sharing what went in to MY decision process. In no way am I saying what works for me, will work for any of you. The intent of starting the thread was to create a common place for those of us in the process of making decisions in the education arena. Happy Decision Making!

Top Chef

I could have posted this in the general Decisions forum, but I didn't want this thread to be filled with responses from other disciplines (not that their responses don't matter, but because I think it would be more helpful to discuss this among people entering the same field and programs). As we all know, decisions have started rolling in. I know there's still a little over six weeks before the April 15th date, but I figured why not start a thread for the decision process. While I am sure everyone has not received all of their decisions, I am quite certain we have all started to think about where we will decide to start the next chapter of our lives. With that being said, what factors are you considering in your decision making process? Have you already decided where you will attend school? I'll start....I applied to four doctoral programs. I originally only wanted to apply to one program, but was advised to consider a few other options. I reached out to POIs at the four schools, but only heard back from and had in-depth conversations with POIs from two of the schools. It just so happens that those were the two schools I was accepted to. I was rejected from the other two. My first acceptance was from my top choice, Stanford. I am happy to say, I recently accepted my offer from SGSE. The biggest factors that went into my decision were (these are not in rank order): My fit with my adviser- research interests, personality, and mentoring style. I was able to gauge this from meeting with him several times and talking to a number of the students he advises. Flexibility to tailor my studies to meet my needs and interests. I believe in an interdisciplinary approach to tackling my the issues I am interested in researching. SGSE requires students to earn a masters or a minor outside of the school of education. I've heard taking courses and earning degrees from other departments is not easy to do at some universities. Guaranteed funding (tuition, stipend, and support for health insurance) - I didn't want to stress about whether or not I would be funded year to year and where the funding would could from. I've heard environments where funding is not guaranteed can often times be quite competitive and not necessarily in a good way. Location- I am married to someone who works in technology, so it was important that we live in an area where he has a variety of career opportunities.

A school you have been accepted to sends you a letter saying "We have received your enrollment confirmation. Thank you for confirming your intention to enroll at XYZ University" and you are completely clueless because you NEVER accepted or rejected their offer.

Congrats to the both of you!!

Thank you!!! I am thrilled Good luck to those of you waiting on decisions this week!! I will keep my fingers crossed for you!!

Congratulations!! I applied to SHIPS and was accepted. I am extremely excited!I am also attending visit day.

Sorry. Here's to hoping for good news soon!

Congratulations! That is awesome news!