Vulpix
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Posts posted by Vulpix
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46 minutes ago, Fran135 said:
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this program at NYU and could talk about their experience with the program or opinion of it, or if people know of other good MAT Spanish programs.
Any info or advice would be very helpful
My friend just did her TESOL MA at CUNY Hunter. If you want to be a teacher, unless you get a scholarship or are independently wealthy, I cannot fathom paying NYU 6 figures for a degree you can get at Hunter for $12K.
It's a good program too. If you're aiming to be in NYC.
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1 hour ago, cavenue said:
Hey everyone,
Program: School Leadership
GRE Score: 164V/161Q/5.0AWA
GPA: 3.6 (double majored with a science)
Work Experience: TFA, 4th year teaching in urban district, 2 teacher leadership roles around curriculum, summer doing school operations work
Undergrad Institution (Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): Private, top 30
What Other Schools Are You Applying To: Unsure, probably Penn and ColumbiaI'm curious if anyone knows anything about the admissions criteria for the School Leadership program - I know they look for people with some leadership roles, but to what extent? Are they looking for applicants who have already worked in administration roles? Also, I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the urban scholars fellowship - it says it is academic based, and I know I qualify based on my work in an urban district, but what academic credentials are typical of those awarded this fellowship?
Thanks, and good luck to everyone applying!
This is purely anecdotal, but the School Leadership students tend to be older than the average in other programs.
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9 hours ago, rockrmoose said:
Wondering what everyone's amount of work experience is that are applying to MA programs. I graduated in 2015, so by the time I would enter an MA program in 2017, that will have been 2 years of work experience. Do you guys think that's too little?
The average at HGSE is 4 years. I think it's less at many other schools. The average at my former CUNY grad program was probably 0-1. It really depends what kind of program you're going into. I think 2 years is fine.
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22 minutes ago, iyou23 said:
Ahh right, I will try to talk to a student ambassador to see whether HDP does have a bigger pool of courses to choose from than MBE. Also, how do you find out about the size of the different programs? Looking at gradcafe, I haven't seen a lot of people who applied for HDP or MBE, but of course I could be completely wrong!
I'm not sure if it's public, but I can see that information.
There are about 75 in HDP this year and 45 in MBE. I don't really know what that information tells you (Could just be that MBE is less popular, OR that it's more selective... or both... or neither
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1 hour ago, iyou23 said:
Thanks so much, that's really good advice! I've looked through the courses and I think HDP allows me to take a lot of MBE courses but not the other way around.
I also learned today that there are people who come here and switch programs. It's not common, and I don't know how difficult it is, but it does happen. I met someone today who entered as HDP but just switched to Language & Literacy. But I think if HDP lets you more fully study the types of things you'd be interested in for MBE, but MBE doesn't let you study as much as HDP, you're better off with HDP!
Then there's a whole nother conversation about which program is "easier to get into"... I have no idea. You could compare the size. -
1 hour ago, iyou23 said:
Hi everyone!
So I'm planning on applying to ed schools either this year or the next, and I was wondering if anyone's ever applied to two different programs in one university? My interest lies in developmental neuroscience and education, and I find the Human Development & Psychology and Mind, Brain, Education program in HGSE to be equally interesting! I'd really like to apply to both, but are there any downsides to it?
Thanks guys
I don't think they let you apply to both? I could be wrong, but I think they want to see you pick a focus. If I were you, I'd apply to the program that allows you to take more electives to guarantee that you can take as many courses as fit your interests.
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1 hour ago, econteacher said:
Off the top of my head, here are two examples:
Curriculum: Those who lacked classroom experience did not have a clear sense of what teachers can accomplish in a day/week/month/year. This became an issue when new standards were being introduced, and many of the PhDs in curriculum and development (many of whom never taught) who sat on the writing committee proposed ambitious, multilayered, interdisciplinary standards that in theory were really really awesome, but required far more class time than is available. They never once stopped to consider that there are only 180 days in a school year, and that of those 180 days you lose some due to snow days, some due to pep rallies, some due to assessment time, etc, leaving a high school teacher really only 140 days or so of instructional time with students. Yet, curriculum and pacing guides were being written which assumed that teachers had over 200 days of instruction.
Assessment: This is the big one I saw (and if you read my other post in this forum it's my topic of interest). I worked in high stakes assessment for the state, and the number of policymakers who did not understand the purpose and principles behind our assessment was stunning. For example, many of our policymakers wanted to use student scores on the test to measure growth, despite the fact that the assessment is not designed to be a growth assessment and actually includes no baseline data where one could even measure growth! And yet, by golly it was a test and that's what tests MUST be used for, so they went ahead and used it.
Grading: Further, at the classroom level they implemented policies involving homework where a student can not get points taken off for homework being turned in late, and in fact they can resubmit formative assignments as many times as needed for higher grades until mastery is achieved. The idea behind this is well-researched and makes a lot of sense: if these assignments are designed to be teaching documents and more formative in nature, then grading them for accuracy doesn't make a lot of sense because you want kids to learn rather than be punished. (Some research even says you shouldn't grade formative tasks at all, because they're designed purely for learning. One district tried that and found that kids were not doing any of the formative tasks because they had no incentive to do them. So the compromise was reached that formative tasks would be graded, but could be re-done for improvement.)
That all sounds really good in a manuscript, and maybe in a classroom of 10 highly motivated students it's awesome and truly a best practice.
But teachers in my district had an average class size of 40. As you can imagine, once students learned that they can turn in grades at any time, they did nothing all marking period and turned everything in all at once. So not only were teachers swamped by over 400 assignments in a one week span, those they WERE able to grade and give back to students (often with low grades because the kids rushed through them) were often resubmitted again to try and get a higher grade before interim grades or final grades were posted. It was a nightmare. I remember sitting at the meeting with the Chief Academic Officer explaining all the data and having her say, "Why are teachers so behind on giving feedback?" Ugh.
Thanks for sharing! Very interesting. I definitely experienced some of the latter in my last year teaching. I always gave students the chance to correct their math tests for basically full credit, provided they showed the work, with the rationale that they learn from their mistakes. Unsurprisingly, this turned into something of a copy-the-smart-kid's-test fiasco, and I knew it was not working. I never figured out a system I was happy with, but now I see how it would be important to have familiarity with these types of classroom issues.
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20 hours ago, econteacher said:
I have seen this firsthand. I taught for six years at the high school level, and then made the jump to state central office doing curriculum and assessment work (mostly the latter). I thought for sure I'd be seen as "wet behind the ears" based on only a few years in the trenches.
I was stunned at how few of the people in state central office had little to no teaching experience. Many just taught long enough to get their admin certification (2 years in my state) and then moved right into policy decisions. And from their decisions, it was very very obvious (even to me, not exactly the most seasoned educator) that they had no real grounding in the classroom. The superintendent of my old district had taught for one year. One year in front of kids, and was now ostensibly making major decisions about the direction of one of the larger school districts in the country! You can imagine how much teachers in the district respected his proclamations...
Even now, doing nonprofit financial education work, most of the people in my division have no classroom experience. I don't know if other fields are this way as well, but it really does seem that there are a large number of ed policy people who still opine on matters related to the classroom with no real understanding of the day-to-day.
Just out of curiosity, can you share where you see the biggest negative aspects of this, like what areas are these policymakers least sensitive to, or where do you feel like your classroom experience gives you a greater understanding? Are these admins less practical with teacher/student expectations, less aware of issues that teachers face, or something else? I'm just wondering where specifically the problems tend to come in with this lack of experience.
I'm coming off of three years teaching, and in a policy program now. I came in thinking "I'm so behind, I have no policy experience, I don't know anything about anything," but many of my peers have no teaching experience and wish they did. I still do know to what extent my teaching background will benefit me or inform my perspectives in the policy world.
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35 minutes ago, aina7 said:
I am crying over here :') Did she have good GRE scores though? How would you evaluate my stats?
Thanks!
She had a 164 Verbal, 5.0 AWA, and I'm not sure about math but it was fine I think. I should add that her 3.0 was from an elite US university, so that helps. I don't know much about PSP but I think HGSE truly does look at the holistic person, so I would just say try to raise the GRE score and write a really good essay. There's no reason you don't have a shot. The admissions people here were telling me how there are so many qualified people who don't apply here who don't believe they would get in, but they would.
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FWIW, my roommate here at HGSE had a 3.0 GPA
And I don't think she had very compelling reasons for having it.
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6 hours ago, lapril said:
As I navigate the field of education, it continues to baffle me how few people have actually stood in front of children(or adults) and led a lesson. It's beginning to make sense to me why so many aspects of K-12 education are broken. There are so many people at the top who are creating policies without any context for the conditions in classrooms. I wouldn't expect counselors or social workers to have teaching experience, but policy makers? curriculum coordinators? teacher educators? come on! I imagine the person who decided PARCC should be computerized has never fathomed that urban districts largely don't have access to functioning computers. In the past I've had supervisors who had no teaching experience, yet they were tasked with evaluating my performance
Of course they rated me as "highly effective" because they had no idea how to assess a teacher. Similarly to if I had to evaluate the performance of a neurologist. I was prompted to create this poll as I browsed through this forum. I'm hoping the majority of us have taught at the K-12 or post-secondary level.
It's very interesting and definitely a problem. I'm in a policy program right now, and I'd say the majority of us *do* have teaching experience, albeit usually less than 5 years. Those of us who don't have teaching experience either see it as something they're ashamed of, and admire the teachers and wish they had that to draw on, or just don't seem to give a damn that they don't.
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I talked to a professor in the IED program and she said that they were not giving much to masters students anymore so that all the doctoral students could be fully funded. So like Levon3 said, it's program-specific.
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On 7/28/2016 at 0:35 PM, midmarsh said:
Hi guys!
I'm looking at programs related to international educational development/policy. I'm really interested in the IEDP program at Penn, especially since it offers a Coverdell Fellowship for returned Peace Corps volunteers, which I will be by Fall 2017.
I scored well on the GREs (161 V/164 Q) though my essay score, which I can't remember right now, was not good, because I didn't really prepare for that section as well.
I'm concerned about my GPA. I went to major public research institution and I double majored in mathematics ("pure" math) and international studies. My math courses brought down my overall GPA (3.2) but my major GPA in IS wasn't that much better (3.5). They (UW-Madison) actually has a really strong ed pol program but I can't apply for it since my GPA isn't high enough (3.7 minimum).
But I'm hoping my experience makes up for it! I'm an education volunteer in the Peace Corps in the Caucasus, worked with high school students at pre-college pipeline program for students of color and low-income students for two years, and a literacy nonprofit in the DC area. I also did research for a year with a journalism professor and spent another year doing research for a professor in biostatistics.
I should have some strong recommendation letters but I'm worried I may be shooting too high? I'm looking at other education policy programs too (and if anyone has any recommendations, let me know!) but this program seems to marry all my interests and needs really well.
You're not shooting too high at all, you are shooting for where you know you can be if they look past the GPA. Your GRE can make up for that, as can a really clear SOP.
IEDP is pretty awesome. I was totally torn between that and HGSE (which is very obvious if you get bored and read the old threads from this past year). You should definitely apply (and Penn's application is free, so there's no excuse!).
That's pretty crazy that UW has a 3.7 minimum GPA. I had a 3.69 in college. My school doesn't round it, so I wonder if that would've counted
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Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this topic---I'm all moved into Cambridge and found the information here immensely helpful!
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52 minutes ago, dancedementia said:
Unfortunately, a majority of them do the beat-around-the-bush thing:
"Prefer master's degree in Counseling, Higher Education, Education, or related field...."
If a majority say this, my guess is that it's your experience/relevant internships and jobs and coursework focus that will earn you the position that you want. So I would say to think about which of the fields would be more interesting to you when it is not relevant to academic/career counseling. Higher Ed probably has a bigger focus on the economics and policy of running an institution, and Counseling will have the psychological and social aspects covered. I think both are relevant to counseling (being aware of the bigger picture situation you are working in).
- Levon3 and rising_star
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7 hours ago, ersmith073 said:
This definitely varies by program. I am getting my Ph.D from TC and have a full scholarship and am funded for the next 4 years, so I suggest reaching out to the program specifically! I've also spoken to other students who have said that TC is trying to provide more funding for their doctoral students.
I also met with a professor in TC's IED program who said that they are intentionally lessening Masters scholarships in order to fully fund more and more doctoral students.
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Having spoken to a number of Masters students at TC, it is still VERY hard to get into an EdD program after completing the EdM. Not impossible, of course, but still highly selective and not a given.
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1 hour ago, graciasadios said:
Has anyone done the Gap Analysis or the Working Identity Mind Map?
Here is my Gap Analysis. I found the exercise pretty helpful.
Thanks for sharing your gap analysis, as it's inspired me to do mine. I've listened to all the education sector webinars and live-participated in two of the CSO webinar sessions (both of which included audio conversations with future HGSE classmates) and I found them pretty generic and not very helpful. The most helpful were the sector breakdowns, but I still have trouble picturing job opportunities that fit for me and for which I will be qualified. I think IEP has a separate analysis we're supposed to do that comes later or something. I think a lot of my gap analysis has been ruminating in my head since I wrote my SOP (knowing what things I needed to get out of HGSE was an obvious part of that essay), but it'll be good to chart it all.
I was talking to my future HGSE roommates (and IEP classmates) and they were also kind of not-impressed with the CSO sessions.
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On 6/10/2016 at 7:05 PM, Sumayya said:
Well this certainly is interesting. Here the culture is that the parents do most of the stuff for us, including college fees and what not. I have already saved up much from cash awards in competitions and semester positions; also from the internship and part-time jobs. If I were to stay in Pakistan and do my Masters, I'm pretty sure it would be a given that my parents pay for college, it would rather not be supported socially at all that I pay for my education. But the Masters abroad is quite expensive, especially because of the currency difference in dollars and PKR. Anyway, my situation is similar to yours, Heather - no dependents. I am quite hopeful, because before coming here I was quite sure the thought of me even applying is quixotic. Now I'm a little motivated!
Why not apply!
I think in America parents are expected to *try* to help with your undergraduate costs (which may or may not be possible depending on your situation), but after that you're on your own... unless you come from great wealth, I guess.
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28 minutes ago, Levon3 said:
You were blessed that you could save!
Yes, definitely, since I don't have any dependents or big medical expenses. But I also made some good choices in spending during that time. I have a lot of friends in similar situations (first year teachers living in the most expensive city in the country) who have not saved much at all. Honestly, not blowing $$ on drinks every Friday probably saves $1000 a year
. The fact is, I think a lot of young people ARE in a position to save money once they get a job, but lack the urgent need to do so. It's the people who need to save who often aren't in the position to, unfortunately.
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4 hours ago, Sumayya said:
Thank you Heather 1011 for your help! I agree, it does seem a little work experience will make me more focused on what I want. I am thinking of applying for Fulbright next year, let's see. And yes Penn has been in one of my shortlisted schools, though I am still researching. Actually another reason for me to take a year off was to first get some relevant experience, and also to gather some money for the application process.
And I appreciate your help too, Levon3. I will look into Vanderbelt. I was in fact wondering what blend of top-tier and middle-tier I must have in my shortlisted schools. It seems I still have a lot of research to do, thanks again for the starting point!
I can't emphasize enough how beneficial it is to work and save up money for graduate school. Right now I'm feeling blessed that I can afford to pay for most of my degree myself, but I realize I'm not only "blessed", I also just saved well for three years and now I'm choosing to spend my money on this.
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Just a plug - Penn's application is free! They also gave me the most financial aid.
But yeah, most apps cost around $65. HGSE is the most expensive at 80 I think.
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I think if your GRE and SOP are strong, you have a good chance at HGSE and any other schools. Financial Aid is very challenging in general, especially as an international student. Most students must take out many loans. I would definitely recommend getting experience and working beforehand, not only for a higher chance of admission but also because it will help you really know what you want to be doing, and that will help you write a more focused SOP. It would also increase your chances of merit scholarships. I think clarity of purpose is everything in an application, and if you can communicate that clearly to yourself, your LOR writers, and the schools to which you are applying, you can be admitted.
While there are definitely many students who come straight out of undergrad to grad school, I think for HGSE it is less common, and most students have 3-4 years of work experience. When I visited Penn, it definitely seemed like a younger bunch, and same goes for many other places.
In terms of aid, I could be wrong about this, but I think you stand a better chance of getting scholarships from private universities in the US over public universities. Private schools like HGSE have more funding to offer. Public universities would be cheaper overall, but may reserve any grants they have for citizens...
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On 6/1/2016 at 1:11 PM, dear_valentine07 said:
does anyone have access to the career services webinar today? i reached out to the main office and they said they haven't been able to get a hold of anyone in the career services office AND i don't have a link in my email for anything.
I just clicked the link from Devynne Fuga and am currently trying to log onto the webinar. I had to install a WebEx software add-on to Google Chrome in order to load anything. It's very slowly buffering something for me but so far no success tech-wise. Do you have access and just having technical problems, or just no access?
NVM I just re-read your post, I'll PM you the link.
Fall 2017 Applicants
in Education Forums
Posted · Edited by Vulpix
I did this for Columbia but not for any of the other schools to which I applied (but that was a special case because the professor was best friends with my LOR writer and so she put me in contact with her). Some professors (at Harvard for sure) have a rule about not speaking with prospective students until they are admitted (although some are willing), just because of the sheer volume of emails and their desire to prioritize focus on current/incoming students. I don't think it's necessary to do this for a MA, and would make no difference on your admissions.