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