graciasadios

I found two pieces of corroborating evidence on page 18 of the HGSE 2015 thread. An accepted student was called by a current student on Thursday, 3/12/15. Another accepted student was called by his/her program director on Wednesday, 3/11/15. Admission decisions came out on Friday, 3/6/15. @Kompetent Your tip about current students being asked to make calls was definitely the linchpin in this investigation. @mjsmith Good work! I'm pretty much expecting it to be this Friday (3/4/16)!

I hear from a friend (student) at HGSE that they just got blasted with an email to sign up to make phone calls to accepted students next Wednesday. So let's put all our angst on 3/9 and be pleasantly surprised if it's earlier.

I got a response from HGSE Admissions Office after I cleared up their question:
"Thank you for the quick response.  I will be sure this is included in your application for the committee to review."

ok, guys-- so what do you think: this Friday or early next week?

HGSE Admissions Office emailed me a question about one of my recommendations. I provided a simple answer to their question. Not a big deal, but it does tell us that they are looking into our recommendations. I'm interpreting this as good news for me; why would they waste time looking into the recommendations for applicants who they don't want to admit? Then again, it might be standard procedure. My response.

I just hope admissions does not know my score either!  Ha ha!

Anyone else oscillating between the hubris of assuming acceptance and the disappointment of assuming rejection?  Only ~2 more weeks!

Having been a master's student at HGSE, I can tell you from my experience, this is not the case.  The simple fact is that HGSE does not have the financial endowment to be able to give grants/scholarships to every deserving student.  In fact, Dean Ryan has made that one of his fundraising priorities as part of the recently launched $250M HGSE Campaign (part of the larger, Harvard-wide $6.5B capital campaign).  While Harvard in total has an endowment of $37B, the Ed school has a very very small fraction of that, much of which is used to support faculty chairs, academic programming and doctoral fellowships.  There are 600 master's students, many of whom come from modest economic backgrounds.  It seems like many get offered a $8-12K scholarship, which if you assume on average comes to $10K per student, is quite a sum of money ($6M, which would require a $200M dedicated endowment).

Anyone else oscillating between the hubris of assuming acceptance and the disappointment of assuming rejection?  Only ~2 more weeks!

I couldn't agree more that we should use evidence to push HGSE, and more importantly—the USDOE, toward policies that are best for our nation's children.  I also agree that the acceptance rate makes it difficult to generalize. Certainly, there are diverse viewpoints that are expressed by the faculty and student body at HGSE.  I have spoken to several alumni from the school who have said as much.  However, the mission and vision of the EdLD program as it currently exists is not one that posits progressive ideals, and the funding of the program comes directly from the corporate reform movement, so I do not think it is a far stretch of the imagination to infer that when choosing to accept and fund only a very small percentage of their applicants, they would be inclined to support the careers of those who, for the most part, are on board with their mission. That is not to denigrate the program, but to say what kind of fit the program would be for those whose missions are not aligned.

Forgive me as I am just a lowly HGSE M.Ed. applicant. My experience with the school is limited to one visit, 5 books, and about 50 videos. With that said, I think you are probably correct in your main point, which is that HGSE generally leans towards supporting the "corporate reform" movement. However, I really do not think there is any reason to believe that HGSE is homogeneously in support of "corporate reform." I really recommend The Futures of School Reform by Harvard professor Jal Mehta. I think it was a very fair debate of various educational reform issues by experts all across the spectrum. The people that HGSE invites to AskWith Forums also evinces their commitment to diversity of thought.
Besides, the HGSE Ed.L.D. is only 7 years old and has a 5% acceptance rate. With that dearth of admissions data, it is difficult to make generalizations such as "no one from X university ever gets into HGSE's Ed.L.D." Plus, I am skeptical of a person trying to denigrate a rival institution- even if you respect person making the claims.
I think the bottom line is that people like us want to go to Harvard Ed. because it is perceived as a leader in the national discussion on educational issues. If we think it leans too far towards one thing, then it is our job (as educational leaders) to use evidence to push HGSE towards policies that are best for our nation's children.

First, wanted to say hi everyone! I've never posted, but I've been frequenting the site throughout this whole process so I feel like I've gotten to know some of y'all but selfishly haven't participated. In many ways, I've felt very supported and encouraged by the community here so thank you so much. 
I got the PhD acceptance call from the dean this week and had my interview in January.  

Looks like a couple of the Ph.D. applicants have posted they were accepted via phone today. *Fingers-crossed* I hope the weather had everybody go home early and they'll make more calls tomorrow.
Congratulations to those accepted!

Thanks! I'll have to come up with plans B and C.  Getting in is the hard part, and hopefully I'll do that.  Where there is a will, there is a way! Also, I found out through admissions that interviews will be via Skype.  

Definitely a good sign.  UofM is a laid back kind of atmosphere so I'm not surprised your interview was informal and relaxed.  If you felt comfortable and like you connected on ideas you should feel positive.  Good luck!  I love Ann Arbor!

I have lots of friends with Humanities PhDs who really don't see any other option outside of academia (thus, less lucky than us). There are a number of ed think-tanks, research firms, policy groups, etc. that we can work for. There are also educational content developers (traditional and digital), school districts, and many other organizations that can make use of the skills and expertise of Ed PhDs.

The Assistant Director of Admissions just emailed me!  Why? To let me know that I need to submit another version of my transcript.  Long story short, the pdf had a built-in expiration date and I had to send another copy. I don't think there is any significance here other than the confirmation that they are reviewing our applications!

When you get the email from HGSE it will have the link and code for their financial aid website, and from there you can view whether your FAFSA was received.  It probably wasn't because they have a disclaimer up saying that the federal government will not be sending them info until late February, despite what our FAFSA confirmation emails have indicated
If you don't get the HGSE financial aid email soon I would email/call them and ask what's up, as it seems most of us masters applicants received it.

If you want to learn a language, I recommend going to Caracas instead of Cambridge. It would be a cheaper and you would learn the language more. Or, if you're set on auditing a language course, you could take a class at a Bunker Hill Community College for a fraction of the cost.

Hello,
I take solace in stumbling upon a forum for individuals going through this process. While I haven't panicked yet, I am sure it will soon hit me. Having read pages 1-9 of this thread, I have come across useful and interesting information. Wherever you may begin your journey, I do hope that I find others here who I can build a collegial network with. It's always good to have someone to bounce ideas off of, outside of your immediate circle. 
All the Best!

The Assistant Director of Admissions just emailed me!  Why? To let me know that I need to submit another version of my transcript.  Long story short, the pdf had a built-in expiration date and I had to send another copy. I don't think there is any significance here other than the confirmation that they are reviewing our applications!

I haven't received any info regarding HGSE's financial aid app, but I did already submit my FAFSA (without my 2015 tax return.... you can submit it and estimate your income based on 2014 if it's similar, and then adjust later once your taxes are filed).  You can definitely fill out your FAFSA now!  Seeing as the FAFSA deadline will probably happen before I get all my tax information, I knew I might as well fill it out early.
Also, is it just me, or did the FAFSA take at most 15 minutes to complete?  I was so daunted by it, but all I had to do was look at last year's tax return and they literally tell you which lines to look at and report.  I'm pretty financially illiterate when it comes to IRS stuff, but that online FAFSA seemed incredibly user friendly to me.
Here's my two cents.  I think the SOP is the most important thing they look at, and a "bad" one (btw, I'm sure you're overthinking it) could be a reason to get rejected.  I'd be happy to read yours and give an outside opinion.  But, looking at your experience and unique background, I'm sure that shines through and is valid to the committee, and will definitely elevate their opinions of you as a candidate.  As long as your SOP added some degree of new insight into you that your resume didn't, at any point, it has additional value.  I was also concerned that my SOP rehashed my resume, because I'm certain that maybe 40% of my SOP does rehash my resume, but I made sure that the seminal points of the rest of it were newly insightful (aka could not be gleaned from my resume/academic background because they were personal, anecdotal, or aspirational).  I also made sure that whenever I felt like I was rehashing my resume too much, I would tie it back to HGSE.  Something to consider: did you think about the need to *not* rehash your resume before you wrote it, or was it just after the fact that you realized that was a bad idea?  I feel fortunate that I read through previous HGSE threads here (because I have no life) and therefore knew from other candidates what HGSE wants to see, which is *why them* *why you* *why now*, and don't rehash your resume.  But like I said, that's not an automatic disqualifier, and I think especially for the MBE program, you'd be in good standing.
On a completely separate note, I have also noticed that a greater majority of gradcafe posters are accepted than rejected (as you said, 60-80% perhaps), and that certainly has to do with the fact that we are obviously among the more obsessed/invested people in our own application process, so much so that we felt the need to commune and seek each other's counsel about it.  I also think gradcafe can be attributed for a lot of the strengths I feel I put into my own application, because without this site I wouldn't really know much about HGSE or what admissions looks for.  Obviously, this site is not representative of the nameless hundreds (thousands?) who also apply to these schools.  So, it's worth some inward reflection whether or not you consider yourself one of the *crazy* invested applicants.  I'd been thinking about my application for 6 months before I applied.  Now, I still haven't gotten accepted, (just newly confident after getting into Penn, which I think is actually more competitive than HGSE for my particular program), so I have no idea how much investment and passion for the application process ultimately pays off, but I did feel like I knew exactly what HGSE was looking for in the SOP.
FWIW, I think confidence goes a long way in SOPs.  I remember applying to college 9 years ago and praying I'd get accepted to my dream school, and thinking "it's not possible but I also wholeheartedly believe it's the right place for me to be."  I approached my SOPs in much the same way, because I wasn't treating HGSE as a "please take me, I don't really believe in myself that much that I deserve to go to you."  I treated HGSE as a perfect match, that we are both deserving of each other.  I like to think that confidence in our "relationship" is convincing.  It definitely got me into a reach college the first time, and has worked so far in this graduate admissions process.

I just checked and last year we got an email on January 16, so you should be hearing from the Financial Aid office anytime soon. 

Sorry...maybe I am misunderstanding the point.
But, if HGSE master program takes 650 students (say) in a batch, and the acceptance percentage is 50% (say), then one can work back the total number of applicants as 650 divided 50% = 1,300 applicants...isn't it?

That's a good point. I did this when I was bored. If I get bored again, then maybe I'll make spreadsheet of the rejection profiles from the last few years! I think it was helpful to see different types of students who were admitted. For example, HGSE does not seem to be afraid of taking someone straight from their undergraduate or someone with no "education experience." Also, I wanted to see if there was a "cut off point" for GRE or GPA. The minimums I found in this very, very small sample size were: 153 Verbal, 149 Quantitative, 4.0 Analytical Writing, and 3.3 undergraduate GPA.