missgord

i wouldn't call UCSB considerably worse at a rank of 34. and i'm not totally sure where these rankings come from. i currently work for a program in education at a different school that is literally begging people to apply and admitting EVERYONE, and they were just ranked top 20. a rank of 34 is still reputable

@BrendonSW are you sure that it covers full tuition or just 8 credits per quarter? college of ed covers 8 credits per quarter with a full time GA. they consider 8 credits to be full time and require you to take at least 8 credits. however their courses range from 1-5 credit classes, and it's very difficult to take exactly 8 credits. some have cohort structures where they require you to take, for example, 12 credits per quarter. so you end up paying a LOT of money even with a "full time" GSSA. DU has been VERY different from other schools in that regard. look into it to be sure. the funding structure is terrible. also, if you're talking about michigan with the GSSA, then nevermind. i'm speaking about DU!

Apply for GA's at GT.. you never know!

FYI - @ least in the college of education, if you get a GA, you lose your scholarship

i went to undergrad at UD ('09 grad). i know it's great for engineering since a bunch of my friends and my boyfriend were in the engineering program. i'm from NY originally (long island) and i prefer to live in a cultural/outdoorsy/liberal place. delaware is GREAT if you're from delaware. everyone knows everyone. you can always run into someone you know, especially down the beach. it's comforting and it's just nice to see friendly faces everywhere. people from delaware think delaware is really great. i had a great time in college there - parties/bars/restaurants are all awesome. i go back a lot because my boyfriend is from there. it has grown on me. however, i personally would not move there for grad. it is not the experience i'm looking for. college is great, so are the professors, but i'm looking for a life experience along with grad school. the surrounding area is not great, but the main street on campus is awesome - also full of drunk college kids. rent is obnoxiously expensive considering nothing else is going on (small nice one bedroom apartment near campus will be over $1,000). i refuse to settle down there because the public schools are shitty and the perspective is too narrow. there is not much going on in wilmington (it's also like the rape capital of the US). philly is great, but you won't be going there - you're an hour from downtown. but, again, it depends on your preferences and what you're looking for. if you're more of a small town mindset, foodie, binge drinker, hard core academic... you'd like it. i LOVED going there for undergrad. but i'm in a different place in my life now.

Haha well I'm not working for them if they don't fund me

i had other funding offers, but the programs weren't a good fit

bleh! which department??

i don't even think they said that in my letter. it was just a standard letter. said during admit day we'd have an opportunity to discuss applying for fellowships. we'll see!! thanks. you too! do you have a funding offer elsewhere?

yeah i was accepted a few weeks ago so i was able to book flights in advance. i assume everyone got the official letter today. they haven't been too clear with me about funding, which is confusing. they said the sooner i accept, the sooner they can try to get me funding. so i guess if admit day goes well, i'll accept contingent on funding. i do like my program and professors a lot.

the stat program (policy leadership research methods). did you get funding offers elsewhere? did you interview/discuss funding at all? and yea - but i guess the coincidence makes sense since we got our letters today are you attending admit day?

agreed on both accounts. i've had people give me extra time. also, you can accept contingent on funding; aka if you get a funding offer from another school, you can back out

What is the link for funding opportunities? I've always been successful finding funding before. Depends on your skillset. How are you with stats?

i dont think they can require you to reply before april 15

which program are you in within education? i don't have funding yet either. where else are you considering?

For anyone who is considering attending UCSB for the PhD in Education, or anyone currently attending, or anyone with an opinion.... What do you think of the program? How available are research opportunities? Are classmates smart and do you have a lot to learn from them? What is the admit rate? I'm mostly curious about their research methods/stat program.

I think a minor in stat will help you tremendously. I'm getting a PhD in applied stat (towards education), and the job market is awesome. Plus it will dramatically increase your funding opportunities, since everyone else hates stat. However... you need to like stat. BC's college of ed in Educational Research Measurement and Evaluation will have some great classes you can take - maybe they have a cert you can get, or something.

Does anyone know much about the political environment of Boston College? I'm liberal and not religious and a strong supporter of LGBTQ, and I'm very passionate about social justice. I applied to BC because of how much they say they advocate for social justice, but the hypocrisy of getting a PhD at an extremely expensive catholic private school to advocate for social justice is totally killing me. Plus, the professors seem to want you to refer to them as "Dr. xx and Dr. xx" instead of by their first name, which totally throws me off (every other graduate school has preferred first names). Can anyone weigh in on this?

I went to Maryland for grad school (2010 - 2012) and lived near downtown Silver Spring in a house with 3 roommates. We had a beautiful house with fenced yard, off street parking, granite in our [small] kitchen and we each paid $575 + utilities. We were a mile from the metro to get downtown and we lived in a very safe (and busy) area. I LOVED living there. It was the perfect place to live for grad school because it was cheaper than Bethesda but much safer than CP. My commute was only 15 minutes. We found our house on craigslist - you can look early but it's hard to secure something more than a month before you move. I was still on my parents health insurance and they paid for my phone and car insurance. I was able to afford everything else with my 17,5 GAship. I'd definitely recommend checking out SS if you're considering UMD for grad school. EDIT: Maryland has this roommate finder website where people post profiles and can find each other. It's a total lifesaver. 80% of the people on there are weird but 20% are just grad students moving to the area looking for other grad students to live with. I'm still friends with the girls I lived with and one of them will be in my wedding party one day. I'd highly recommend that site - I wish every school had something like that!!!

I grew up in Stony Brook also. It's more of a place you'd want to raise your kids than a place you'd want to spend single in your 20s. It is BEAUTIFUL during the summer. I try to spend as much time there as I can during the summer. Tons of outdoor activities and you're really close to the beach. You can definitely live off of 17,5 if you have a roommate or two. You absolutely need a car. I would not live all of the way in BK/the city but I guess you could if you really wanted. The LIRR runs very regularly (24 hour service) and the train ride is (I believe) an hour and 40 minutes. There is a shorter train from Ronkonkoma, which is also nearby. There are decent restaurants but only two or three bars and they will have a lot of locals in them. Thankfully most of the locals aren't too grungy - it is Long Island afterall. Very liberal environment. Lots of white people; but the university attracts a lot of minorities. It's kind of like a small town with a lot of people. Lots of shopping in the big mall but no downtown area to speak of. In conclusion, would I attend a PhD program there? I'd lean against it, because it's not the type of environment I'm looking for. But if you were settled down I think you'd be pretty happy there.

@nashville I don't completely disagree. Where have you studied? Often your PhD experience is what you make of it. Plenty of schools will offer independent studies with professors that require complete theoretical work. EDMS at Maryland is one of them. The regular courses taught by the departments are taught to a wide range of students in the college of education so they can't become too theoretical because that is just not what that audience needs. The theoretical background is important but if you want to focus completely on theoretical you should do a degree in statistics or quant pysch instead of this field. Like I was saying, certain programs in this field are more theoretical than others and you should be aware of that and choose one based the compatibility of your research interests. These programs offer applies stat, evaluation and measurement. So, there is a variety under one umbrella. That is why I'm curious about where you've attended school - I want to know if you were in a less theoretical program (as I suspect).

it was the typical interview questions that you should be prepared to answer from any school - no surprises. things like what do you want to study, what are your methods interests, what are your substantive interests, what are you passionate about, what are your professional experiences, have you presented/published, etc. i don't know if an interview is required but it seems weird to me that a phd program wouldn't want to interview anyone they were serious about (but clearly many schools don't!). they might be going down the list slowly rather than sending all of the interview emails at once, because i saw in the results search that someone had an email requesting an interview on feb 27 and then i was contacted two days later on mar 1 about an interview. and yes, i think i will be accepting - i just wish boston was warmer

I agree with @nashville0808 - they are weak in theory. But, they are not meant to be theoretical programs. That is what the MS in Stat is for. These are applied stat. So, it's just very different. We are meant to use the formulas that the statisticians create to do research to influence policy. @jasonchang15 have you attended any of the programs you're talking about? i dont know anything about NYU's program but I think vanderbuilt's program is MUCH harder than TC's program. MUCH more challenging. But, it really depends on what you want to study. Imagine your dissertation. Do you want to... a.) propose a new model for a statistical theory and use simulations to defend it? b.) use advanced quant to apply it to real social science data to influence policy decisions while simultaneously discussing the method? if you want a, go to TC or Vanderbuilt (but Vanderbuilt would be a better fit). if you want b, go to TC. I don't think Vanderbuilt would permit you to do this. The more methodological programs will not permit you to take substantive courses in the social sciences or any qualitative courses. The more applied programs will require it. That is the difference, and it is a very important difference. Looking at the professor's research interests and publications will also help you understand. Also, U Washington will definitely be rigorous enough. I applied there as a PhD applicant and had a phone interview with them last week. Halfway through the phone call we both realized it wasn't the right fit. She expected a dissertation like example A, and I want to have a dissertation like example B. I was rejected a few days later, and it was a good call on their part - I wouldn't have accepted. Similartly, I had a very mathy friend at TC (MS applied stat) who was totally bored and frustrated by how easy the courses were and the requirements to take substantive courses when he wanted to take math courses. I was accepted at ERME and will be attending, since they fully support example B research. That doesn't mean that they aren't rigorous - it's an incredibly program and I know I will learn a lot about methods - they just have a different focus.

The U Washington program is very different from the ERME program. I had an interview with them last week and knew it wasn't the right fit, so the rejection isn't surprising. They train people to become more theoretical and focus on the actual methods. BC focuses more on the application of methods to policy

i totally disagree. i think that upenn, BC, usf, UNC greensboro and TC all have less straight quant courses. they're more applied, in that they train people to become quant analysts of social science data and they care about your substantive issues. the programs that are more technical (aka, expect your dissertation to be a simulation and expect to take 0 substantive courses) are maryland, michigan, boulder, washington