mrgelato

MA Edu & ED.M GRE: 166V/169Q/4.0W Background: International Student, BEconomics, 6+ yrs w/e Applied: Stanford, Harvard, Columbia TC, Upenn Admitted: All Going: Stanford ICE Good luck Guys...

Good luck! I know quite a number of Chinese students going to HGSE this year. Best of luck !

Yes, I am! Hope to see you soon.

I am in ICE see you soon!

You right. Even though I prefer Stanford's course design (12 more credits, a MA paper, very research oriented), I can sense that people going to Harvard or graduate from there are generally nicer! I hate to say it, but the fact that I only talked to one nice girl from ICE and at least 5 or 6 nice people from HGSE really makes me think how the different personalities of students are going to significantly affect my later career. You know what, I am an intuitive person. But this time I will do a thorough comparison in exel. Hope that's gonna help. I assume you either are going to HGSE or graduated from there right?

Same question here.

I agree that Cohort can be important. But is it that important if I want to pursue PhD afterwards? I'm in China so I took the virtual session for L&L students. People in that program mostly want to work in the field, and so pursuing a PhD is not very popular. But I've talked to a HDP student, and she said 30-40% of graduates from her program are aiming for PhD. I guess it depends on the programs.

Hi I haven't decided yet. Have you received the contact of an email buddy? I think individual contact is a good complement to group sessions. In his lastest email(really nice of him to help me during springbreak), the L&L student said Ed.D or PhD in Harvard are both extremely competitive (4% acceptance rate). I did checked out some of my other interested areas outside of HGSE. Apparently, promising value in research and fit are what professors look for (assuming stellar GRE, GPA, etc). I did quite a bit of research on the ICE alumni's careers on linkedin, most of them found quantitative positions. In contrast, what I saw on L&L website, most graduates go back to teach. That said, HDP is less focused than L&L and probably better received among PhD programs(according to a HDP student in UTAustin, each year PhD program accepts around one Ed.HDP from HGSE), so it's a different story. To me, it begins to look like a career decision. I have 7 yrs w/e but wanted a change of roles from teaching and managing to researching. Empirically speaking, PhD is relatively easy for undergrad and/or grads who haven't lost contact with the research world over the years of their professional experience. Whatever program I ended up choosing, I will try to get more research experience prior to August. Let me know if you find more info on this. Rex

Received your reply to my message. I've talked with an ICE alumna who is studying towards her PhD in an IVY league university. She said it's important to get in touch with professor ASAP if I am interested in doing PhD. She got in touch with her current supervisor through the reference of a professor from an elective course. In her case, the research experience she had in ICE didn't helped her very much since she studies in biz school now. Like you said, ICE requires more credits to finish and gives students who haven't decided with their research interests a chance to experience and try. But my suggestion is If you are going to work in a developing country, name recognition is actually a problem. I am in Asia, and I would say few people here would say they didn't know Stanford but 7 out of 10 people who knows that I have a decision to make (be aware of the bias) said it's a no-brainer. I emailed with an L&L student. According to him, the funding in Harvard is second to none and he mentioned quite a number of research opportunities. Considering my interest in L2 language education and place identity, a not-very-popular topic, HGSE really has a lot to offer. He also mentioned the size of my future cohort is 30 MA and a couple of PhD students which is slightly bigger than that of ICE. I am amazed at how well-connected and NICE people are in HGSE. He and an current student here in Gradcafe @nicolemae really helped me a lot. I am still waiting for the merit-based scholarship from HGSE. Will attend the virtual session and a couple of other sessions. Good luck with your choice.