Vulpix
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Posts posted by Vulpix
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On 4/24/2016 at 4:32 PM, pterosaur said:
I'll also be coming to Harvard. I'm admitted for a bioengineering PhD, but I'll likely switch to computer science.
For housing, I was originally thinking of living with friends from undergrad (did undergrad in Boston), but ended up opting for GSAS dorms. Partly, it'll be easier since I'll be moving from overseas. And also, when I visited, all the students in my program highly recommended living in the dorms, because it's super convenient and a chance to meet people who aren't just engineers. One guy actually said he really regretted living with a friend his first year instead of in the dorms.
I'm excited about meeting people from different disciplines too. I got an apartment through HUH and I've heard that the majority of the people who live in my building will be law students. I'll find out what that's like!
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16 minutes ago, crashtest said:
Competition. New York pays it's teachers well, which is a major underlying cause.
On a related note I've been involved in hiring at a public high school, no one cares if you have a masters. That only matters for certification and politics. At the school level we only care that you're sane, concern about students and won't generate headaches for admin. The only exception I ever saw was the hiring of a teacher that was also expected to teach a dual enrollment course (college and high school credit). Then we could only consider applicants with a masters in content (a masters in education doesn't meet the regional accreditation requirements).
Makes sense to me. I never considered my masters degree as something that would "impress" a committee, although I do think in some areas where teachers are scarce it may be significant to some degree. But then again in some places so is a BA.
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17 hours ago, UrbanMidwest said:
I'm from the state of Illinois.
A paradox for using the master's as a way to distinguish one self is that eventually the trend will catch on and then the master's will be the ubiquitous degree. The gluttony of applicants is probably the byproduct of many political, if not controversial things e.g. too many people attending university, economy just not keeping up with the workforce demand, too many deciding to enter education.
I'm trying to think of my friends who are in elementary or high school education ... I do believe each found a job within six months of graduation. One's an elementary music teacher, another is a high school history teacher, another teaches AP History at a private high school, and the rest are elementary teachers teaching reading and social sciences, a mixture of public and private. I believe only one received her master's before she was fully employed; the rest were hired straight out of undergrad with some gaining their master's a few years down the line.
I have some friends, all as relatively qualified as you would want them to be and likable interviews, who are now 8 years out of college and still have not secured a full time teaching job. They've been subbing for years. It's definitely the superfluity of educated people near New York City. EVERYONE has a masters degree so it has become less significant.
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17 hours ago, UrbanMidwest said:
bold: I'm not an educator, but I find this somewhat strange. Some of the best teachers I've had in elementary school and in high school didn't have a master's. (Keep in mind I went to private schools in the Midwest, so being certified wasn't a criteria.) They were erudite about their subject and were effective teachers. Math was my weakest subject and I was grateful to have a teacher that made it approachable - the man had a gift.
I'm also surprised that elementary teachers needing a master's can get it in social work. Everyone in my cohort is entering the field with the mentality that they're going to be social workers, whether it's in schools, hospitals, hospices, government agencies, or in policy work.
second bold: Many of the teachers in my high school that had a master's had it in their subject e.g. chemistry - master's in chemistry, bio - master's in bio, music - master's in music ed. Again, keep in mind this was in a private school setting. If a teacher was looking for a job in English and my high school had an opening, they'd first look if he had a degree in English and his teaching experience. A master's wasn't needed. Of course, my high school's degree standard isn't the same with other privates within the area. One private boasts that at least 70% of its faculty has a master's. I get the feeling that my high school encouraged its faculty to get a terminal degree if it furthered their knowledge about their subject; I didn't get the feeling that was for marketing.
Well, I'm not exactly sure when this became a common mandate in some states (certainly in the last 30 years, possibly the last 20...). What state are you in? I think there are just *so* many teachers in these states that they needed to make it more competitive to some degree. For example, for every public high school history position that opens up in New York state (for example Long Island, but also many places upstate), the job gets over 2,000 applications from certified/experienced history teachers. This is in deep contrast with places I know of like Nevada and Mississippi that have such a severe teacher shortage they are recruiting out of state.
I definitely agree that teaching is in many ways an art, and degrees don't tell the full story, and that some people are natural educators without all those certificates.
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6 hours ago, day_manderly said:
Yes, but what do you mean by 'different neighborhoods'? Would the price of $700 mean one lives in a really bad neighborhood which is far away from the campus?
Not necessarily. It depends on what school/where the campus is. There are good neighborhoods that are cheap because they are far away, but they are still very safe and "good". There are also good deals in many pockets.
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I disagree about the cost being $1200 to split a house. I have definitely seen rooms in 3-4 bedrooms in different parts of Boston/Cambridge for $700-900, utilities vary. Same goes for NYC. You just have to look in different neighborhoods.
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On 5/10/2016 at 2:35 PM, nicolemae said:
@Heather1011 All the options you mentioned sounds viable! There are like a bajillion zipcars in Cambridge. Just book one a few days before you need it, so that you know it'll be there.
As for where to stay, I think that's a personal matter! If you want a last few days of hurrah/hanging out in NYC, you should hang out there and just move everything on July 9. Or, if it's possible, I would ask the current tenant if it's ok to leave your stuff there from July 1 through 9 so that you don't have to worry about your stuff. If you're going to be there as a permanent tenant in like 8 days, they'll for the most part be OK with you leaving a few suitcases to hang out in your future room or something. I've done that before a couple of times.
Do you happen to know if there's a way to find out who the current HU tenant is? I just got my HUH selection this morning, awaiting the lease.
Also, does it ever happen that current tenants vacate their places earlier than the start date? My lease starts July 9, I was hoping people may move on July 1...
Any tips for supermarkets in Cambridge? Mine is nowhere near any of the Whole Foods/Trader Joes and there's no easy bus or train route to get to them
(Plus Whole Foods is so expensive)... are there other supermarkets?
Do you have any specific zipcar companies? I went on zipcar.com but it seemed like you had to pay for a membership instead of just rent for the day.
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Looking for moving advice...
I'm probably going to get a Harvard apartment with a lease start date of July 9. My current lease in NYC is up July 1, so I have 8 days of "homelessness." I'm going to move to Boston with no furniture and as little "stuff" as possible (just my clothes etc), so can basically make this move with my mom's car and my friend's car. I have a friend who I can probably sublet/crash a room with for a week, so I'm not worried about where I'll SLEEP, so much as when/how to move all my crap.
Are there zip cars available to rent for a day to just lug my stuff from my friend's Cambridge apartment to my new place? Should I try to *not* move to Cambridge until my start date, and just find a place in New York for a week so that I can just move my stuff once to Boston (but still have to move it once in NY?) I'm so confused and bad at the logistical aspects of moving. Grrrr. I'm thinking my best bet is to have my friends/family help me drive my stuff up to a sublet on July, and then rent a car for the day of my move-in and make a few trips back and forth to bring my stuff there....
Any insight on similar experiences with weird dates would be helpful!
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4 hours ago, jaaaayciee said:
So if I wanted to get an MEd degree to maybe eventually go onto administration, are the chances of me getting accepted way lower?
If you have no experience and you are applying to an administration program, then yes, your chances would be lower. It's not impossible but I have also really never heard of someone getting that degree without at least a year of teaching experience, but usually more. I have friends who got an MEd in administration after like 5 years of teaching.... these were also at state universities.
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3 hours ago, jaaaayciee said:
I'm still in my undergrad and planned on going to get my Master's immediately after I graduate, but I see that for a Masters in Education, experience is needed (At least, at UNC it is). For a Masters in Arts in Teaching, however, I don't think experience is required.
I planned on immediately getting my Master's, but now I'm having doubts. Should I stay in my home town for a few years and get experience teaching, or can I still jump to Master's?
If it's an MAT, or a masters related to teaching and certification, it would be very normal for you to not have any experience. If it's a masters for things like policy or something more specialized, experience may be more valued.
I'm in a masters program right now for Literacy and started with no teaching experience, right out of college, as did 90% of my classmates.
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I'd say it's less competitive, in particular for teaching, which is the largest chunk of education degrees (as opposed to other areas of education like policy, human development, etc.), if only because 1. GRE's are often not required and 2. I just looked it up, and 33/50 states in the US require teachers to hold masters degrees, which makes them both extraordinarily common, and also demands that literally anyone with a BA in education be able to access the degree. Many schools will provide teachers with stipends to get their masters, because the teacher will not be able to continue teaching if they do not complete the degree within a certain amount of years.
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1 hour ago, jlt646 said:
@Gabrielle Some others have asked for clarification about what exactly is offensive about those quotes that you used as examples, and I'm jumping on that bandwagon.
Here's my two cents, if you're still looking. I have found that folks with degrees in "education," rather than a subfield, are looked down on in parts of the academy. In undergrad, my professors attempted to convince me to pursue a different path...until I talked about my research interests, my career goals, and my desire to gain knowledge in a specific area. I worked hard to get to this place. There is an especially large stigma re: master's programs in the humanities and social sciences, especially in prestigious universities, because they are (usually) not funded and often the sheer volume of degrees conferred makes the programs feel a little bit like diploma mills. For evidence of this, do some research about TC's rep (here, reddit, etc).
Your mileage may vary. Everyone's experience is different, of course, and you will get out of the program what you put into it. If you know what you want and why you're going to graduate school, don't let petty people rain on your totally awesome parade.
TC is in a weird position and has kind of let its quality/competitiveness slip for whatever reason. Now, this could also be due to Columbia's value placed on TC...
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Can anyone who has lived in Cambridge tell me an approximate monthly heating bill in the winter? Just trying to predict, budget-wise.
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9 hours ago, Levon3 said:
I was clearly wrong in my comment that there's less reason to pursue advanced degrees in education. (I was speaking from a state where master's degrees aren't required.) That's what I get for speculating rather than looking up facts.
Yeah, in New York if you don't get a master's within 5 years of your bachelors, your teaching certificate expires. I think it's the same in much of the Northeast. It's the reason I rushed into doing one I didn't really care about without thinking about if there was something out there more meaningful to me.
Interestingly enough, your masters does NOT actually have to be in education, it just has to be relevant in some way, I think. Like if you are a science teacher, your masters can just be in Biology. If you're an elementary teacher, you can get a master's in psychology or social work. You just need to have ANY masters to continue working in public schools. Kind of like how my master's is in Literacy, but I am teaching math and my certification is in social studies (although Literacy is still an ed degree).
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Obviously most of us speaking on this thread and forum respect education as a field and want to study it. There definitely is a broader stigma, not specific to HGSE (that's a separate conversation that can be had within the school). However, a masters in education is THE most ubiquitous/common masters degree in the US. I think I read once that 30% of all masters degrees awarded in this country were in Education last year. Part of this is because increasing numbers of states require a masters degree for teachers, and there are millions of teachers out there. Not all of them are brilliant. Many teachers get their masters online just to fulfill this requirement.
The thing is, and I hope I'm wrong about this in my year to come at HGSE, but up until now I have considered all education classes I've taken to be something of a joke, rigor-wise. Similarly, most teachers I know who have finished their masters degrees (at respectable and known institutions in or near NYC such as Fordham, Pace, CUNY, Rutgers, and TC) have almost unanimously agreed that they considered their masters degrees to be "a joke" and a "waste of time." Now, a lot of that is tied up with completing a masters concurrently with teaching (obviously teaching is the bigger priority, and writing papers related to it just feels like a waste of your time that could be better spent in other ways). I knew a high school history teacher who would proudly boast that none of his degrees (and he had a BA/MA/PhD) were in "Education."
I'm one of those previously mentioned teachers, too. I am a month (!) away from finishing an MS Ed I started in January 2014 at CUNY Hunter. While I've intermittently enjoyed and loathed the experience, almost every assignment I've had has felt like busy work and/or a joke. Right now, this has suited me, because I'm teaching full time and really don't have the time or energy to really think deeply about what I'm learning or reading anyway. The fact that I have a 4.0 is less representative of my incredible work ethic and more representative of the lack of rigor in my program, IMO. Granted, I know that not everyone has a 4.0, but enough of my peers also received an A+ in a course that we half-assed to know that something is off here.
I know that CUNY, being a public city school (with a great and respected history), may be less rigorous than TC (although my friends at TC don't speak too highly of it either). That being said, I went to Vassar for undergrad, which I felt was EXTREMELY rigorous, in EVERY subject EXCEPT education. I was a History major, Education minor. In college, I had to work my ass off to get an A in every class, no matter the department.... every class except for Education. I always got an A in my education classes, as did all of my friends. Again, this has NOTHING to do with me being particularly skilled in Education content. (In fact, of my teacher certification exams, and there are 3 in NY, I did best on History and the general knowledge test, and actually scored pretty unimpressively/average on the teaching skills exam.... which again brings into question the A's I received in such classes). There is definitely a flaw in this system, not just at the schools I've attended, but more broadly, where the study of education is simply not held up to the same levels of academic rigor as other subject areas. Part of this must be inherent though, because unlike chemistry or history, education is much more abstract and much harder to test, weed out individuals unsuited for it, etc.
I have insomnia
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12 minutes ago, zmv30 said:
Oh deary, I feel inadequate now... but I guess since I'm not looking at the super competitive programs I should be fine. I'm looking to go into Higher Education, and focusing on programs that have a mental health counselling objective, like the College Student Personnel Administration program at JMU. I have a 2.89 GPA... yeah I know, there's way to much backstory behind that. I switched majors from Applied Mathematics to Psychology at the beginning of this year and my new major/semester GPA is 3.75. I'm scheduled to take the GRE at the end of June and have no worries about doing well on it, but have enough time to take it again before I start filling out applications. Between the GRE, my personal statement, and experience I hope I'll make up for the first two years of advanced math courses.
JMU is a great school for education, I know a few excellent teachers who went there!!
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Who's headed to Harvard this fall? What are ya studying? I'll be doing International Education Policy.
Anyone else trying to get HUH apartments? I submitted my application and hoping I get a 3 bedroom with some classmates. -
12 hours ago, dear_valentine07 said:
Ah!! That;s so early, I'm jealous! I don't wrap up at my current role until July 15th, then I'm heading for a 2 week trip to India
Once I get back, I'll relax for a few days and move up to Boston! SO EXCITED. I wake up every morning wondering if it's August yet.
I'll be going to Israel for 2 weeks in July, right after I move in but right before my IEP summer session starts!
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20 hours ago, dear_valentine07 said:
super excited to see you guys in the fall
when do ya'll think you'll be moving to boston?
I'll be moving there July 1! (Don't know how or to what apartment, but it has to happen because I'll be kicked out of my current place
)
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20 hours ago, Mochi- said:
Yeap, you're correct. I'll leave UG with $0 in debt. I'm very thankful for that.
I didn't know that there are teaching jobs out there that do not require licensure! I have to ask, are those jobs still respected by other teachers/would taking those jobs be in any way a hindrance to my future as an administrator? Also, did teachers at your charter school ever have to worry about your school deciding they wanted only licensed teachers and possibly getting the boot for not having their licenses?
Well, I was a certified teacher working with uncertified teachers, and what I learned INSTANTLY was that my certification in no way prepared me to be a better teacher/more qualified than them. It's a job you can only learn by doing, and is mostly based on your interpersonal skills, none of which can be improved by earning an education degree. So, as soon as I realized I was not as good of a teacher as my uncertified friends, any "looking down on" them went out the window. But, more to your point, all of these teachers were *pursuing* a certification through some kind of alternative track (TFA, a masters degree). They weren't going to lose their jobs or be replaced, the school just expected all of them to *get* certified while they were teaching.
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6 hours ago, GAPeachyKeen said:
I just submitted my enrollment deposit. It's official!
See you in the fall!!!
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2 hours ago, hesadork said:
I am really enjoying (probably not the right word, but you get my drift) this thread.
My story is that I attended a small liberal arts college and graduated in '97 with about $55k in debt (translates to roughly $80k in current dollars). I got a relatively well-paying job out of undergrad...except for the fact that it was located in Manhattan (amazing place but obviously v high cost of living). Those first few years were just really, really hard. I made it work (commuted from Jersey, had multiple roommates, rarely ate out, never took cabs)...but the need to make those monthly payments PROFOUNDLY limited my career options. Basically I had to focus on salary almost exclusively as opposed to fit, culture, work-life balance, personal interest, location etc. And it effectively took grad school off the table for the entire time I was paying the loans back.
Flash forward to deciding about grad school for my master's; I was choosing between two distinguished private institutions (big names, high cost, little aid) or a really inexpensive in-state public. For me the choice was clear: the in-state public. I won a fellowship and a cash award at graduation, and because of the more flexible structure of the program (common at many public universities) I was able to continue working part-time while in school. When all was said and done I paid about $10,000 (all in: tuition, fees, books, commuting to campus) out of pocket during the two year program. I have not once regretted the choice.
The biggest mistake I see students, mentees, advisees make is underestimating the impact of loan debt on your life, your choices and very much on your psychology. You'll be living with the choices you make now for a very long time where debt is concerned. It's a personal choice, of course, but I think some times people are ill-equipped to understand what's really at stake when they are relatively early in life/careers.
Best of luck to everyone navigating this!
Thanks for sharing
. I connect with this because I also went for an in-state public masters that also cost me about $10K out of pocket over 2 years (while working full time). It was the wrong degree for me, but I do not have to regret it at all.
My mother, age 63, recently completed an online masters degree in Psychology. She cannot get any kind of clinical position with this, and is now some $40K in debt (I don't know for sure how much, we avoid discussing it). She's still working in her old, 30K salary bookkeeping job she's had the same incarnation of for the last 20 years. She was passionate about doing the degree at the time, and I was really proud of her, but she sees it as the biggest mistake of her life. Now, obviously, not the case for most people here (who will actually get a job from their degrees and be much younger), but it's really sad what student debt can do to you, psychologically, like you said. Knowing that it will take 10+, or 20+ years to pay is quite painful to think about. I'm already bothered that I will probably need to take 2-3 years to pay off my future HGSE loans, which is a very short turnaround time by most standards, but irritating by my own because of how frugal and budgetary I am by nature.
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18 hours ago, Mochi- said:
Ughhhhh, I completely agree with you on this point too, except here is the hitch. I'm on an accelerated graduation track (3 years instead of 4). Since I just started looking into education now, I won't be able to graduate from my current institution with licensure (and thus can't teach directly after undergrad). I NEED to enter a MA/M.Ed program to get licensure (or at least do some form of continuing studies for a year). I unfortunately cannot stay another year; my parents said they would pay for three years of college (hence why I worked my ass off to graduate a year early), so I'd either face full cost of attendance at my current institution ($65,000+) by staying another year or graduate early and get into (hopefully) Vanderbilt/H/S/my state flagship and pay either the same price (and simultaneously diversify my education background and networking opportunities) or get a scholarship and it'll be even cheaper.
I really appreciate all the advice so far. I'm specifically looking at the higher tier schools, because I'm interested in the Phd/Ed.D route (with 100% confidence), so I want to have the strongest background when applying to those programs in the distant future. Your advice has been really great so far and again, I really appreciate it. Now that I've shared a bit more with my weird graduation situation, do you have any other advice, or should I just go forward with caution?
It sounds like you don't have any existing debt, which is huge, and that you definitely want to go the PhD route. So I say go for it. I would add though that there are MANY teaching jobs (or other jobs, of course) available without licensure. I was certified after college, but I wound up working a public charter school where my certification did not actually matter. At least half of the teachers I work with do not have education licenses/degrees. (And we get paid 10% above the department of education). Just another option.
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On 4/12/2016 at 8:09 AM, mmmarimba said:
I have a friend who lives off the Ditmas stop of the F train in Brooklyn. It's a little far out, but she has a super nice 1 bedroom apartment for $1300. It's actually a nice Hasidic neighborhood, doesn't feel sketchy at all. I bet you could find something there in your price range.
Haha, I also live off the Ditmas stop on the F train in the nice Hasidic neighborhood. so I can confirm that it is not sketchy!
Creepy. Yeah, that's Kensington. It's affordable (my 2 bedroom is $1800, it's huge) and mostly on the up & up, gentrification-wise (I'll just throw that term out there), so get the apartments while they're still affordable. As a young white girl moving in three years ago, my roommate and I have noticed an influx of other young white people moving into this mostly Hasidic/Mexican/Bangladeshi neighborhood. We're kinda sad about it, but we're part of the problem
Harvard 2016
in Meet and Greet
Posted · Edited by Heather1011
Garden Street. Really excited as it's only a 5 minute walk to HGSE for me! Peabody Terrace looks amazing though, and really close to Trader Joe's!