kismetcapitan

Here's a loaded question: which school: Vanderbilt, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, or Penn....has the best job placement of it's IEP grads into international development organizations, like UNESCO or the World Bank?

Yep, I called and just stated the obvious: "Vanderbilt is my first choice. But I have to make a decision TODAY, as other schools want to know by April 15th". It wasn't pestering; it was just matter of fact and the need based on other school's deadlines. They were very understanding, and I got my notification after a day or so.

I had to pester the admissions office, but I got my official notification today. I am IN, and I am GOING!

when you start subdividing that deeply, what you're really looking for, and this generally holds true for nearly any concentration, are the actual professors and if their research matches your goals and interests. Rankings, which are the subjective judgement of a for-profit news company, become essentially meaningless at that point.

You need to take a close look at the IEPM program at Vanderbilt. And as for your specific area of interest, google "Heyneman/Loxley Effect". Why Vanderbilt/Peabody? Professor Heyneman is the chair of the department there. Money plays a significant role with developing countries - $100 spent in a third-world nation has more of an effect than $100 spent on a fully-developed nation. That's why per-student spending in American public schools, while doubling over the past two decades(IIRC) adjusted for inflation, has yielded no net increase in overall grade-level performance by American students. IEPM at Vanderbilt is twice as long, but you get twice the depth; what you do by taking the IEAPA option at Stanford in 3 months, you spend the second year doing at Peabody. It's a small competitive program though - 10 international slots and 10 American slots in each cohort; that's not a lot of openings!

well, if your employer is a school, and you're applying to be a teacher, Peabody carries significant weight. It's all context. For example, Tufts is a well known school, but if you're applying to work at the UN or the State Department, a graduate degree from there is unbeatable. Or UC San Francisco...UCSF only matters if you're a doctor, but it matters a LOT. Also, each school of education differs by specialty, and you have to know what you want and find which school matches that. Like for musicians - it's Juilliard that's #1, right? Not if you want to play in an orchestra or are a solo cello major, then it's New England Conservatory. Vocals? Indiana University. Composition? U Michigan.

find out what professors you see yourself working with to get your PhD, and then go talk to them *before* you start your masters. Some schools have a very strict "no inbreeding policy", where they will not consider students who did their masters at that school. Makes sense academically as it keeps things fresh, but if you do your masters at your dream school and then discover they never accept their own students for PhD....

someone had to be the sacrificial lamb I guess...."1st round" rejections have already been sent out, so those still waiting are still in the running. That's the good news. Bad news...1-2 weeks more estimated before they make a final decision?

Vanderbilt.

the cohort is half American, half international....apparently no notifications for the American half have come out yet. Peabody overall says that all decisions will go out by the 15th....the wait is painful, as it is the best IEP program, and my first choice....sigh.

It's definitely top notch, and a very small cohort: 10 foreign students and 10 Americans. I have a feeling that deciding the 10 Americans is a tough decision for them; the applicant pool is pretty large apparently. All it takes is a day or two sitting in with professors and classes at Peabody to realize why it's ranked first.

danger1091, when did you hear from the IEPM program??

my concentration is MBE. I could take the electives to split between MBE and IEP - one has to choose anyways. The deferral is the main sticking point however.

No dice, no on both counts. Need to make a hard decision in the next couple weeks. Crap-o-rama.

Year-in-Advance, Deferral, and Program Change May I apply for year-in-advance study to the Harvard Graduate School of Education? Applicants who need to arrange well in advance for a shift of professional responsibility or to develop personal funding strategies may apply for 2011-2012 admission. Applicants must submit all application materials by the application deadline and include a statement in the Program Information section of the online application indicating why they are requesting year-in-advance admission. Please note that year-in-advance admission is not an option for Doctor of Education, Doctor of Education Leadership, or Certificate of Advanced Study applicants. Additionally, this option is not available for Special Student applicants. May I defer admission to the Harvard Graduate School of Education? If your circumstances change, you may petition the Admissions Committee in writing for a one-year deferment. Please note that deferments are rarely granted and are subject to the Admission Committee's approval. Admitted applicants who accept an offer of admission are expected to enroll in the term for which they applied and were admitted. May I change programs after I've been admitted? Transfer from one program to another is rarely permitted. Students are expected to enroll in the program to which they were admitted. We encourage students who wish to transfer to another program to seek the advice of the program coordinator of the program to which they were initially admitted before submitting a request to transfer to the Admissions Office.

haven't been able to reach the person I need to speak with yet. I strongly suspect I would have to reapply with an entirely new SOP geared towards IEP. But I'm less worried - I kind of doubt next year will be as competitive as this year, and I'm now certain I'm doing the right thing. Edit: this looks grim - http://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/faq/year_in_advance.html. Well, I'm going to have to talk to them one way or another.....

just masters. I think I saw someone post that Ed.D folks who got sent over to the Ed.M pile had hear that 26th March was when they were going to notify those people.

I can't believe this. I should be elated. There's no way I can take a sabbatical this year; my school is still small, it's in a big growth phase right now, and I've subconsciously known this for some time, that it would be like jumping out of a car, leaving it driverless for ten months. Now everything is clear and I have to admit the reality of the situation to myself. What are the odds that they will let me defer one year?? I'm forced to choose either the Ed.M., or everything I've built in the past two years. If they don't let me defer, I guess that's good news for anyone on the waitlist. I should be happy like everyone else, yet I'm basically more upset than had I gotten a flat out rejection. When I applied, I had no way of knowing things would change so much at my school. To make things worse, because of the nature of these changes, I absolutely must switch to IEP or else the studies (I don't need the degree itself other than a wall ornament) would be pointless. I thought I could use further education as a teacher, but now I'm wearing the headmaster hat far more; I need to study policy in a big way. Will be on the phone with them first thing in the morning. This isn't looking good, and I'll probably sound like a complete idiot. Circumstances can change quickly though, I can't help any of this. I will bet that I will have to reapply even if I get a deferral, due to the program switch. Shit.

that's a good question. My Harvard application is based very much on the fact that I will likely never have the time to do a PhD (I'm busting my butt right now just to be able to take a ten-month sabbatical). Name value may have played 20%, but I basically shopped for the program that would best supplement my career as a teacher. Unfortunately, Ed.M will likely be the last time in my life that I am in a classroom from the student side. Name value...UCLA isn't exactly obscure either; are you based in or plan to work in California? If so, UCLA may (probably) carry more weight than Harvard; I think in the California school system, only Stanford could trump UCLA, and not by much. If you got into UCLA I don't see why you don't have a very strong chance of getting into Harvard. As for me, I'm banking on strong GRE scores and my long teaching career to counterweight a weak undergraduate record (albeit - hopefully albeit - at a very rigorous Tier One school). What's your concentration? Are you already a teacher? What are you hoping to do your PhD in (subfield of education)? Ultimate career goal? These all play enormous factors in deciding UCLA versus Harvard.

try this link: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=HARVARD-ED You should be able to log in and see your application from there. We had a troll here, jumping down with blithering condescension the throats of anyone who dared express any sense of worry . Think he's gone now. I'm getting killed with classes; I am actually teaching in my dreams at this point. This is not healthy; I had more time off when I was in the U.S. Army!

If I understand correctly, you can access the recommendations directly upon request from the admissions office. This may or may not be dependent on whether you matriculate or not (i.e. not just accepted, but enroll, and after enrolled and registered). But different schools may do this differently. I checked "I waive access". Nevertheless, two of my recommenders emailed me copies of their recommendation, which I found somewhat surprising, but maybe it's a Korean cultural thing. My one US-based recommender emailed me after submitting and said he felt "it was an honor" to recommend me to his alma mater. So I'm guessing he wrote something positive! This is a great place, and as I wrote to the moderator team, a place where people can share all aspects of the application experience, from technical details to being a support group, especially as decision days approach, not to mention support and resources when one hadn't gotten their first choice, etc. I really feel bad about people like ballard011; not only do they shoot themselves in the foot (ESPECIALLY by posting things that end up reaching adcomms!!), but they make their lives unnecessarily difficult and are suffering a lot emotionally - the reason why they come online to taunt and torment others. But while we can be sympathetic, we are also not particularly obligated to listen or help such a person. So ignore the person, and continue the thread!

Don't feed the trolls. Clearly, some people have deep-rooted psychological issues beyond natural anxieties, or what is a more probable explanation is that the troll is a multiple-rejected applicant to HGSE, who spends hours lurking, obsessively reading up on and analyzing in painstaking detail each potential HGSE "competitor" (note how the lurking troll is able to cite or quote from posts we've made, sometimes quite old threads and posts), then expresses frustration from rejection, coupled with an innate sense of self-fabricated superiority based on narcissistic fantasy to cope with real-world social isolation. Not to mention creating multiple accounts.... Disregarding my indulgent pedantic psychobabble, the troll speaks for him/herself - in the field of education, would ANYONE want this person teaching in a classroom?? I think we needn't worry about that. Plus, any adcomm would (have already...) read the troll's posts and come to a clear decision as to whether they would want such a person in their program. Not every board gets infected by such a person, but I've seen it on various boards of every type of special interest, and such posters vapidly follow the same routine - personal attacks, condescension, seemingly designed to rattle a person's nerves but ultimately derives from a person's inability to express their inadequacies and anger other than through the safe (well almost, IP logging and search is child's play) barrier of the internet. I knew a person, same exact pattern of posts. In person and over the phone, he was incredibly kind. But he had deep seeds of bitterness from a physically abusive father and two failed marriages, and, unable to break through his real-life facade as the friendly, soft-spoken shop owner, unleashed his issues with abandon online every night. Personal emails were also along the same tough-guy lines. Was on a music board until he got banned, then took it over to ferrarichat.com, where he got himself banned yet again. I would have thought the Grad Cafe would be an unlikely place to find this type of troll. Oh, and ballard011, don't forget to click the negative button on this post; you're not as anonymous to the moderation team as you might believe.

Yes, according to this poster, we are not supposed to feel any anxiety or stress, and are directed to follow his/her example. We are grateful that he/she deigns to speak to us and directs us to attempt to have any sort of life, because apparently all we do is sit here on this forum and commiserate over the tiniest things. ballard011, please let us know if you are offered admission; I'll then know to defer my offer to insure that I am not in your cohort. (For the rest of us) I have my Harvard app bookmarked, it has always been accessible, including just a moment ago. No change as per usual, nothing to get excited over. It could be the 12th if we look at historical records, but it could also be as late as the 26th, which is what some Ed.D applicants who have been rejected but kicked over into the Ed.M pile, were told.

Apparently this thread has offended a fair number of people. I apologize, although perhaps my ignorance shows through the fact that I would have started such a thread in the first place. This thread may be deleted at the discretion of any moderator.