aaron.dewald

Wow... you guys are awesome. I'll post something more substantive later this evening, but just wanted to thank everyone (thus far) for their responses.. It's encouraging, anyway. More to come.

Wow. Stories and belowthree. I appreciate the quick feedback! I'm so glad I found this forum! +1 Like you, Stories, my thoughts of PhD came last semester - year 1 of the MED. I had put some time into an Educational Psychology course and really, really enjoyed it. I wound up doing well in the class and thought... I could see myself doing this! I started peeking around at PhD requirements last month and started to get serious about it at the beginning of this month. Belowthree... I appreciate your timeline as well. It's nice to see how other people take approaches to this. It helps me (and I hope others who eventually stumble upon this) solidify and understand the game plan. I asked the shoot high vs realistic question because I'm in an interesting position. Currently, I work at the U of Utah College of Law as the Director of the Technology Initiative. Been there just over 3 years. I don't have a JD and I'm not a law student (I am always asked). The cool thing is a lot of what I'm learning in my M.Ed. program directly relates to my 'real-life' work and vice-versa. I was a web programmer before hand so I'm interested in the learning psychology behind the tools we develop and create for faculty and staff. Have the technical background... working on the administrative stuff, now I just need the psychology and theory behind everything! Anyway, U employees get a nice 50% discount on tuition. Makes the M.Ed. easy to swallow. I also know a lot of people on campus and have a ton of connections here. My 'aim high' remark was aimed more or less at Stanford. Right in the heart of Silicon Valley, and a top 2 education school to boot. They have a Learning Sciences and Technology Design program that I'm really interested in. I keep thinking, what a perfect place to study. Seems like a popular thing to do, so here is my academic background: BS, Information Systems (2001) North Dakota State University (GPA 3.3) --also ran Track and Field there... fun times Hopefully have an M.Ed. Instructional Design / Educational Technology (2010) University of Utah (GPA: 4.0.. so far) As I mentioned, I've been working in a fairly decent capacity at the Law school for just over 3 years. Real-world experience has to count for something... right? I think I can get 3 pretty good LoR from admins at the law school, and probably one in my MED program. For some reason, I don't think it's enough. I should probably retake my GRE (540V, 630Q.. last year).. and I'm going to fret about the personal statement for the next three months. Anyway, I really appreciate your thoughts... really nice to have a sort of 'support group' through this whole process! Oh, one more thing. Does it make sense to try to set up times to visit campus, meet professors, etc... or is that something that doesn't usually fly? I thought I read somewhere that one should email the professors they are interested in working with, but for some reason, it seems sort of .... pestering .... I dunno. Thanks again!

All, Brand spankin' new member to the grad cafe forums. Nice to meet everyone and read feedback. As I understand, the busy season is over. Congrats to everyone that made it into what they were looking for. I have a general question. I'm starting my second year (of two) towards an M.Ed. in Instructional Design/Educational Technology at the University of Utah. Sometime during last semester, I decided I'd like to continue on and pursue a Ph.D. in a related field. When I applied for admission into the M.Ed. program, I did it in haste and somehow made it into the program last second. Actually, after the last second, but I was lucky If I could, I'd like to ask a few questions to the collective group: 1) When did you 'know' you wanted to get a Ph.D. Not a "since I was a kid" answer, but when did you decide it was worth the time, effort, stress, and ... time? 2) When did you start the application process. Part of me feels like I'm waaay to early... the other part feels like I should have started looking last year (for the 09-10 program) 3) Do you shoot big and cross your fingers, or do you shoot realistic? 4) Should I be published in any way, or should I concentrate on grades, LoR's, and statements? I was hoping someone could give me a sketch of a map of what to think, what to expect. I would like to think I have a decent academic/professional background... but I really. have. no. idea. where. to. start. To paraphrase someone else on the forum, "I'm reading the posts here and I am already nervous - and I haven't even applied!" Thanks in advance for your feedback and thoughts.