ASzofer

Trying to get a head start on this application situation and I'm wondering if anyone else is considering applying for the HDSP PhD program at Northwestern this year? I'd love to know what the average requirements are, and whether I should be retaking the GRE. Here is a bit about my background. BS in Adolescent Education/English - Miami University of Ohio (3.9 GPA); 6 years teaching experience; Harvard MEd in Education Policy and Management (3.75 GPA); currently one year working in policy at an urban education research institute. GRE: Q 153 V 159 AWA 6.0 I'm afraid to retake the GRE because even though my Q and V scores are low, my AWA has nowhere to go but down. I know when I was applying to HGSE, that AWA score meant more than the others. Would love to talk this over with someone before I take the dive.

Merrysoprano, WHERE WERE YOU??? Haha Sunshinegrl and I were trying to stalk you out in the groups but had no success.

In Cambridge finally. Anyone getting a drink somewhere tonight?

I am confused by the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. It only starts forgiving once you've already paid the loans off for 10 years. So you've already paid almost all of them off. And who knows what job you may have in ten years. Grrrrrrr loans. Grrrr school. Someone just give me 40K.

Well I received no grants. Probably because some of my information was not in time. Lots O loans it looks like.

They sent the international students' out via email last week, which means ours are likely in the mail. One person who lives in Boston said she received hers on Friday. So any moment....

I'd prefer gradcafe lunch over hearing the same information over again personally. I thought I'd explore Cambridge, housing, etc. on that Sat rather than take them up on OneHarvard.

Wish I could do Sunday but the hotel was way too expensive to stay an extra day so I'm leaving Saturday evening.

Nope. Not yet. Just that I did not get a merit scholarship, but I think there were only about two of those. Congrats to whoever received them! Would be nice if it was one of our gradcafe compatriots!

Wow I left the country for a few days and missed quite a bit! Had my admitted students reception in Chicago Thursday and it was great. As far as the people talking about it not being worth the money, I feel like very few people go into ed for monetary value. It's worth the money to get the best education you can to go on to make the biggest difference. At least that's how I feel. It's one year. Not like three years of law school or even more for med with way more debt. Anyway, the people I talked to at admitted students weekend all had great jobs and said everyone in my program was gainfully employed by the end of summer so that was encouraging. I never anticipate making bank, but we should be able to pay off some loans. In other news, I did not get a merit scholarship (not surprising). I just got back from the Dominican and am not psyched about the LAN of late march snow right now.

When did you guys get this spam letter? I'm pretty sure it's not retrievable at this point for me.

I do know, btw, dnanthro, that for Vanderbilt some people knew right away about scholarships and mine did not come until a month and half later, but I still got one. So I wouldn't rule it out.

Oh no. I always delete my spam folder after very half-heartedly checking. I mean I'm going to HSGE anyway, but I feel like getting money from Columbia would make me think I'm more likely to get money to HSGE, which I won't know for a week or so I think.

Was very excited to come home this morning (stayed at my parents' and ripped a contact so I had to drive all the way home with one eye before work today... not so fun) to see a large envelope from Harvard. I mean, I knew I was in, but the package made it more real. Plus, it came with a car sticker so the world is much closer to right. I put that baby on right away. Now if only I'd get that financial aid letter.... come on aid..... you know you want to give me aid.... Getting closer to Open House!! I'm very giddy. Going to the Chicago reception tomorrow night and am looking forward to that as well. I feel bad for my jobs. Harvard has taken control of my brain.

wjdavis, I don't think so. You'll be fine if you do that. I think they make the $300 just to prevent everyone from doing that, but it's not like they will come after you. I accepted to two undergraduates to buy me time to decide. ay761, I don't necessarily know that a thesis is such an important prereq to a PhD anymore. A lot of people enter PhD programs without even having a masters based on their experiences. One of my good friends is getting her PhD at UT Austin for an Autism Research program and she opted out of a thesis during her masters program at U of I. She said that when she was getting her masters a lot of her professors said that she would need the thesis, but she did the program and the research and still had to write a major paper and had no issues getting into her top PhD program. I know that my program at Vanderbilt didn't have a thesis either. There was the practicum experience and the corresponding paper. I think all schools go about it differently and that is probably true for what they are looking for in PhD candidates as well. If the thesis is important to you, you should probably go with the program at Vanderbilt, but I think you'll be fine either way. For me, as of now, I think I'd maybe like to go to something like Harvard's doctor of educational leadership program, which weighs your professional and leadership experience more than a thesis so it's more important for me that I get a career for a while after the program to build my resume further. From what I saw at Vanderbilt, a decent amount of people went to the East Coast. A lot of people stayed around Tennessee too. I think it really just depends where you want to end up. I know for my program you had the option of doing practicum wherever you wanted so you could make connections in another city.