Shlee467

I don't think it's 100% quitting time yet. People heard on the 12th last year. I'm feeling like it's unlikely, too, but haven't totally ruled it out yet.

Congrats on your acceptance!! That's so exciting. Here is a belated official welcome to the forum!

Oh man... now I'm on pins and needles!!! Not fair!!

So after reading through some of the past EdLD strands, admissions told people they were inviting for interviews over a period of about two weeks. I'm not sure if this is still true. We'd be in week one if that was the case this year, but I'm too nervous to write them.

Oh you my made my heart drop! (Not that I wouldn't be super happy for you...)

The agony of anticipation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arghhhhhhhhh (just needed to share that)

No but now hearing that someone has heard (@principalolson, give us some guidance over here!! Haha), I'm checking my email like a maniac and can't focus on anything else. I went through my spam box (like I could have ever missed that email...). Nothing. Application status looks the same online too.

Just FYI, in previous years they didn't send the invites all at once. They invite on a rolling basis for about a week or so so just because you haven't heard yet, doesn't mean you won't. Give it a week or so.

I have also not heard anything, but based on previous years' threads, it's still very early. Unlike EdM admissions, they don't send out decisions all at once for interviews. The contact people on a rolling basis as they set the day up so they know how many people for what day and such. So just because someone else heard something, doesn't mean others still won't. I think giving until the 12th is accurate.

Welcome to the thread!!! I keep hoping that interviews will go out earlier this time just so I can know (And so I can stop being shady about whether I can schedule meetings for Feb 25-26).

Yeah I mean when I tally my entire year, I spent about $65-70k total. Tuition and insurance were about $42k of that. I had two roommates and lived walking distance to school (in Harvard housing), which was great and honestly worth the extra cash to me. There are tons of options if you're not particular about your living space. There are graduate student dorms which are very affordable. I just couldn't imagine not having my own kitchen because cooking is my meditation. Plus the bathroom sharing thing. Eek. But they are there. Plus, you can live much more affordably in Allston or Somerville. Like I said, walking distance was important to me and therefore worth the about $1200 I think I spent monthly. It might have been a little less than that.

Oh I'm so glad to hear it! I knew it was supposed to be a day of collaboration and seeing how people work together and such, which would have been nearly impossible over Skype. Now back to just hoping so much to hear from them that I'm invited for an interview!!!!!! I wish they'd give us more time. By that, I really mean I just wish I knew.

In previous years they footed the bill for travel to the interviews. So extra disappointed.

Oh that's terrible news. I think Skype interviews are the most awkward thing ever. It's so hard to be natural talking to a computer. I so wish they'd be in Cambridge!!!!!

I don't think EdLD people get any financial aid. There is an automatic stipend plus tuition covered, so you won't get any additional aid. (Unfortunately, since the cost of living in Boston/Cambridge is astronomical).

Congrats on the interview invite! I know someone who was accepted to the phd program despite getting on her interview call late so I don't think you have to worry about how short it is. They just want to know your interests and such.

I don't know about specific opportunities - there aren't classes for this at HGSE. But you can take courses at any of the schools, and audit anything you want with the professor's permission. I audited Howard Gardner's course because I thought it was really interesting, and I actively participated in the class and did all of the reading and assignments except for the major final project. I got a lot out of it! I know someone in my program who took multiple film courses at the College while he was at HGSE. They recommend you don't take more than four courses per semester which is so sad because you will want to just take everything everywhere. I only cross-registered at the Kennedy school but it was really awesome. Actually, 50% of my course load was K school second semester. EPM you could basically take whatever you wanted. There is also the J-Term option where you can take any course at any of the schools in January while the majority of Harvard is on break for 5 weeks. I found the J-Term options to be limited though.

The interview dates are February 25 and 26th. We'll hear in about two weeks most likely. (The interview dates are on the website somewhere. I did a lot of digging). I haven't heard anything except for a confirmation email that my materials were in on Jan 5. Ahhhh i just want to know. Especially since I have a charity gala on the 27th so I need to know if I'm flying back that day and how to plan, etc.

In the general HGSE 2016 feed someone wrote that someone was accepted to the program without an interview. But I wouldn't count on that. It seems crazy. I assume we'll here in about two weeks whether we get an interview and then interviews are Feb 25-26. I assume they cover expenses for that trip? I'm going to be so nervous during those weeks waiting to hear. Do any of you know if the stipend is an absolute or whether you have to get a teaching fellowship to make that? Also on that note, if it's just an automatic stipend, I wonder if you can get a teaching fellowship in addition to it. $24K is not Boston living money...

It's probably about 50%. The PhD and EdLD programs are like 5% which heavily skews that data. I know that 500 some people apply for the 25 EdLD spots every year. As far as test scores and GPAs go, I really think the are the lowest of things that matter. You could have a perfect score and be rejected. It's just a simple minimum requirement piece to see that you understand basic math and writing. They know what they are looking for. I think it's important not to worry about things like numbers and just trust that you argued your strongest case in your SOP and that your resume speaks to your capabilities. HGSE doesn't even give you a GPA when you graduate. At all. Anywhere. And they tell you not to make it up. I think that shows how little they care about the numbers themselves. Fun fact, once you're in, a B- is the lowest grade you're going to get on anything. The grading scale for most projects is A, A-, B+, B, B- with no numerical value attached. It's just "OK you did the assignment, you did it correctly, you did it decently, you did it well, you did it excellently."

Glad to see someone else posted in here. Thought I was the lone wolf EdLDer on this site. Pushing submit on that thing was so scary. Wow, a month ago today! Two of my recommenders waited until the last second too so I was so nervous about that. Now it's just the waiting game...

Now for PhD applicants, I've noticed most of their scores are very very high, particularly for quant, which makes sense if you're going to be analyzing a lot of data. I was happy to see the my scores are right where the averages are for EdLD because I was afraid if I retook the GRE, my AWA would go down and I thought holding that was more important than raising the other two. I think per program they probably care as well. For example, Technology in Ed might care more about quant than Arts in Ed. As long as your GREs are about average, I wouldn't worry about it. It would have to be abysmal to keep you out.

You have very strong stats and I'd honestly be really surprised if you didn't get in. I think a lot of it is just making the case in your SOP for why you're transitioning from teaching to policy.

There is no specific cap on the various programs. It's really about how many qualified applicants apply to whichever programs, so the size of the programs can very drastically by year. I mean, they obviously have to cap it somewhere - it wouldn't be valuable to have a cohort of 2,000 people all of a sudden. I think you just have to trust that they know what they are looking for, and that you meet those criteria.

Just FYI, I think PhDs hear in February.