babycakes

I was offered 16k and I turned down Columbia; if you're going into the classroom you really don't really benefit from the 75k or so you sink for the 50k degree plus about ~25k living expenses. A lot of people find that they love what they do, or worst case scenario are "stuck" in their situation and it's not like the kids or your coworkers will give a damn where you got your degree from. 
 
If you are absolutely dedicated to high ed later, I'd say Columbia but you have to go out on a limb to kiss up and make an impression on a few professors within the one year you're there because there's many accusations of the school being a "diploma mill" and classes being taught by graduate students (little to no benefit to you). 

I feel like at 23 we're in social limbo (It's actually a line to a Blink182 song). You're not like irresponsible college student shit faced drunk on weeknights; they want you to have a job and your own place, but at the same time no one at works takes you that seriously because you're fresh meat. I am literally told everyday I look like a teenager by both teachers and students. And it's like... geez, thanks. 
 
And not like I was doing all of that crazy stuff as an undergrad, I was always ridiculously serious and responsible due to my circumstances (immigrant family, I pretty much wore the pants in the house). But I cannot seem to interact with adults that are 35+ in a manner that does not make me seem like a child. 
 
And when I speak to "adults" who are my colleagues I feel childish because they want to talk about their kids or their back pain and I'm like nopeeee. My only talking points is 1. I'm one hell of a baker, and 2. I am into working out / dieting so we can talk about spin class and calorie counting or something like that.
 
I might get over it soon; I'm slowly learning how to figure out how to stand on my own two feet about this and do realize it's a matter of self-confidence advocating your own agenda / brand instead of regressing and being apologetic. I get a lot less nervous talking to adults now than I did earlier, HOWEVER, I am in the education profession where people are much more nicer overall. HAHAHA 

I officially made my decision this morning. So instead of Columbia, I'm going with JHU! 
 
I did get a 16k offer around the 19th, but as OCD mentioned the Yelp reviews were a major deterrent. My SO who is an AP at a top-ranked public HS also indicated the negative vibes of Columbia as not being student-focused. He was a comparative lit major before he became an educator and he knew the reputation Columbia had in English, but understood that they didn't give a rats ass about student education but were more about recruiting renowned faculty (which wouldn't make a difference if you're being taught by graduate students if the Yelp reviews are true!) I even made a Reddit thread and the students who went/are also saying the diploma mill / low morale statements. This sucks, because it was originally my #1, but career-wise I think JHU would be the best for me.  
 
My personal reasoning  is that it's better to be in a smaller, student-focused program with an advisor who doesn't treat their advisees as inconveniences than to simply get the "ivy league" stamp on your degree. These stronger relationships will earn me better LORs that can vouch for my viability as a PhD candidate and someone working upstairs. I just didn't want to be Columbia Graduate #5244. 

I officially made my decision this morning. So instead of Columbia, I'm going with JHU! 
 
I did get a 16k offer around the 19th, but as OCD mentioned the Yelp reviews were a major deterrent. My SO who is an AP at a top-ranked public HS also indicated the negative vibes of Columbia as not being student-focused. He was a comparative lit major before he became an educator and he knew the reputation Columbia had in English, but understood that they didn't give a rats ass about student education but were more about recruiting renowned faculty (which wouldn't make a difference if you're being taught by graduate students if the Yelp reviews are true!) I even made a Reddit thread and the students who went/are also saying the diploma mill / low morale statements. This sucks, because it was originally my #1, but career-wise I think JHU would be the best for me.  
 
My personal reasoning  is that it's better to be in a smaller, student-focused program with an advisor who doesn't treat their advisees as inconveniences than to simply get the "ivy league" stamp on your degree. These stronger relationships will earn me better LORs that can vouch for my viability as a PhD candidate and someone working upstairs. I just didn't want to be Columbia Graduate #5244. 

I officially made my decision this morning. So instead of Columbia, I'm going with JHU! 
 
I did get a 16k offer around the 19th, but as OCD mentioned the Yelp reviews were a major deterrent. My SO who is an AP at a top-ranked public HS also indicated the negative vibes of Columbia as not being student-focused. He was a comparative lit major before he became an educator and he knew the reputation Columbia had in English, but understood that they didn't give a rats ass about student education but were more about recruiting renowned faculty (which wouldn't make a difference if you're being taught by graduate students if the Yelp reviews are true!) I even made a Reddit thread and the students who went/are also saying the diploma mill / low morale statements. This sucks, because it was originally my #1, but career-wise I think JHU would be the best for me.  
 
My personal reasoning  is that it's better to be in a smaller, student-focused program with an advisor who doesn't treat their advisees as inconveniences than to simply get the "ivy league" stamp on your degree. These stronger relationships will earn me better LORs that can vouch for my viability as a PhD candidate and someone working upstairs. I just didn't want to be Columbia Graduate #5244. 

Just to clarify, what you're saying is basically that you don't think you're good enough to get in, but now that you've gotten in you are too good to go there?

Ummm what kind of logic is this?

Honestly - I'm grappling with this issue right now and it's probably the price tag that is going to influence me most as a couple schools' departments are attempting to drum up more funding.  The SCHOOL isn't going to make your career, you are.  The more important question is, for $125,000 at which school will you be most comfortable acquiring that much debt (i.e. are the professors receptive to mentorship, are the students going to contribute to meaningful dialogue on the topics you're interested in, are there opportunities with the organizations you are hoping to work with, etc.)
 
I'll probably turn down my offer from Harvard because every other school has given me significantly more funding - and it's probably the best school for what I want to do.

I agree that this is totally not the only option to get the education you want. I would apply next year to a wide range of programs that are known to offer funding or apply for outside scholarship and try to go on that. It's definitely worth waiting another year and to not take this debt. You'll probably start at a fairly low salary after the masters and have to pay half of your income in loans. $1k a month for most of your life is a TON of money.

The remaining federal loan debt will be forgiven, not private. If you need to take out over $100,000 in loans, I can pretty much guarantee you a significant portion of that will have to be private. And the federal debt forgiveness will only apply if you actually find a federal job that qualifies, and if you stay in that job for 10 years without being let go or decide to leave. For some perspective, at 6.8% interest, your loan payment will be around $980 a month for 30 years. If you decide to pay it back in 10 years, that'll be $1,700 a month. It's all well and good to say you're not in it for the money so you don't care about how much it costs, but will you still be thinking that in 20 years when you'll still be paying nearly all of your disposable income on student loans? And will you be able to find a spouse that will be willing to take on that responsibility as well?
 
You seem pretty set on these programs, but the only responsible advice I can give you is to either try to negotiate to get some scholarships or apply to cheaper/better funded programs next year. Taking on over $100,000 in loans for a Masters is not a responsible thing to do. 

You'd be adding $125,000 in debt for a Masters? I think you should evaluate if your future career earnings would even make that worth while.

Just wanted to come back and say today I received an acceptance from Duke. What a rollercoaster of a day! Congrats to everyone who has received acceptances!

Do. not. live. in. the. Bronx. 

Do. not. live. in. the. Bronx. 

Do. not. live. in. the. Bronx. 

Do. not. live. in. the. Bronx. 

I was accepted by the School Counseling Fellow program...  I'm now waiting for Columbia too,  you prefer JHU?

So I was wondering what money people expect to make after finishing a degree from one of the schools above. I know this will vary widely from field to field and geographical locations etc..so let's not get into that debate.
 
Basically, let's keep it to this, and I'll fill mine in to start:
 
What is your intended major: Masters in Private School Leadership.
What jobs does it open for you immediately after graduation: Dean of Students, Assistant Principal, College Admission Counselor, Assistant Head of School for (insert department name here).
Do you expect to work in the pvt or public sector: I will only be eligible to work for a private or charter school.
What is THE job you want to go for right out of college: Work as an assistant to the principal or head of school or a department head at a boarding school on the East Coast (ideally one that has an equestrian program).
What salary do you expect your dream job to have: I have NO idea but I would expect to start anywhere in the $55,000-$65,000 range if I have a Masters from a competitive school with ~ten years of experience in the industry.

Let me ask you, just what is your "vision for education?" Is it sending a bunch of rich Americans overseas to teach all the poor people how to educate their children, even in their oh so deplorable conditions? Does it have to do with further managerializing and bureaucratizing education with your "crucial" financial skills? Is it further driving the field away from any semblance of soul or philosophical seriousness by conceptualizing it as an "investment" and teaching others to do the same, presumably so that they can compete in the ubiquitous "competitive global economy?" What a shocker that you have been embraced by the bastions of neoliberal evil that push these types of agendas in the US. Congratulations.
 
You may be right that I can come off as cynical or even angry, but it is, at least in this case, because people like you, who have just bought wholesale and without question the dominant discourse about education, have hijacked a field that I care about.

You're really an idiot who has taken this topic in a direction which it was completely not intended for. But since life is sometimes (thankfully not frequently) about dealing with idiots like you, I must engage the topic also.
 
So, before you go around pointing fingers off your high mule, let me provide you some perspective. I left a robust career in private equity where I managed a $100 million portfolio to set up businesses for children with autism who had no future in terms of financial independence i.e. they could not hope to work even the simplest of jobs where they had to interact with other people. That entailed taking a salary that was less than my annual bonus used to be. Then, I went overseas and stayed in deplorable conditions for four years, spending my life savings setting up a non-profit organization that is today the first teacher-training institute for teachers who teach children with special needs. Upon my return, I still make less than what I used to make. 
 
Unlike you, today I am a very happy person who does not troll internet boards looking to pick fights or to attack people. Because I did my undergrad in finance and really wanted to hone and extend my vision for education, I decided to apply to the top three education schools in the nation. I am extremely fortunate that people much more qualified to examine and judge others than you are have validated my life's journey and mission and I have been accepted to 2/3 of these programs with over 50% scholarship in both and every expectation to be invited to attend the third within a few days.
 
While I have an unequivocal commitment to education, unlike you, I am also not an idiot. I am very aware of the financial impact my choices (will) have on my life. Just like there are many idiots (like I'm positive you are) who have children without planning for them, I do not plan on having any till I can fully support them. The fact that I clarified that I have no idea how much money I'll be making (if any more) should've been enough to tell you this is not why I am going for my masters. Moreover, even a dunce like you should be able to see that I am going to quit a job with $55k+benefits, and go spend $65k and a year of my life for a total opportunity cost of at least $120,000 with expected returns of an increased $5,000/year. Even if that works out, and not factoring for interest or inflation, it will take me at least 24 years before I will "recoup" the investment I make in my education. But financial literacy, knowledge and planning is a crucial practice in life. Because I plan these things ahead, which is what I was hoping to do rather than engage a neanderthal like you, I have been blessed to never question the choices that I made and am not financially miserable like a lot of people passionate about low-paying professions but burnt out by their real-life implications.
 
So, anyway, back to the original question...what do you expect to do after graduate school and what is its earning potential?

This is so incedibly rare and true only because the scholar wanted to study that ish. If that chick came in wanting to do quantitative studies on literary authors, then yea i guess she shud know math, but is probably going to have a hell of a time being accepted anywherr with that interest.
She wil do....no math at all.

And on the topic of ppl ad comms wud do this or if i were on an ad comm it will raise a red flag that. You are not on ad comms. You are not even close to being on one. You are just a graduate student. That is it. And even worse, you are not even an English graduate student, so why should ppl who score low on math and study English listen to you?

Chicago chick! No worries. Like I said before I got a 140. Months later, I now have TWO acceptances from top 30 schools and i havent even heard back from several other programs yet. The gre is such bullcrap and so overblown. If a school rejects u for ur score--math or english--id say screw them. I wudnt wanna invest in a program that places so much emphasis on tests. Ive never believed tests were in anyway indicative of anything. And if a program does, then that program is not for me.

I agree. I'd add that the more high-level math you know, the harder the GRE might be. At least this is how it was with me. I did a linguistics BA and I only took math classes my very first semester of college. When I studied for the GRE, reviewing the stuff I forgot in College Algebra 3 years prior was very easy. It all came back to me very quickly. Then I got a second degree in computer science. I spent the next two years taking nothing but math and programming classes. I went up through Calculus 1, 2, 3, Discrete Math, and multiple upper-division probability and statistics classes. When I started studying for the GRE the second time, I found the math questions so basic that I had a hard time not over-thinking them. It would ask for a slope of a line and I'd be trying to calculate the derivative in my head. I had to unlearn everything in order to study for it. This was much more difficult, in my opinion, than when I relearned everything the first time. 

I really have nothing but an opinion to base this off of, but if I were on the adcom somewhere and saw such a lopsided score, it would pop out as a massive red flag. I too share some of the frustration (full disclosure, I'm a STEM person) with humanities taking a "devil may care" attitude with the quant section, especially with the excuse "well we haven't devoted time to studying math through our degree because it's not a crucial aspect." I think that's a cop out. Let's not forget, all math is not the same. The math covered in the quant section of the GRE is, by and large, math most STEM majors haven't seen and/or used much since high school, so the assumption that it is material fresh in the minds of STEM students isn't really a valid one. STEM students generally aren't studying the stuff covered by the GRE either, nor is it crucial to their research (it's really just a lot of esoteric principles that are forgotten). Yes, STEM students may be more comfortable with math and recalling those concepts due to their continued study of more advanced, albeit probably mostly unrelated, math, but I don't think it leaves the door open as widely as some humanities students would think. In light of that, I think should be critical for humanities students to put up at least a reasonable score - not asking to be on par with STEM students, I know we get some slack on Verbal scores in most fields - and not doing so should really be a cause for concern. 

What a nasty person you are.  I know how to add and subtract.  I just feel sorry for people who are so elitist, and unhappy, as you are.  Your attitude will find you nothing but money in life.  I hope you feel better now that you've power tripped.  Congrats!  You're good at math AND English!  You must be of superior genetics.

Fuck grammar. 
 
I'm sorry but I just get annoyed by that Humanities-student-terrified-of-math cliche. I know you're probably joking but it's just annoying. Scientists/mathematicians/programmers can't just disregard grammar, spelling and punctuation altogether, but it's okay for an Art major to not know how to add.