JWalters

Just a note from a 16-17 HGSE alum:
I know for a fact that not all of my peers had top-tier GRE scores.
I know for a fact that not all my peers went to top-tier universities prior to studying at HGSE.
I looked at this forum when I was applying, and I got so worked up comparing GPA and GRE all of the things that everyone shares.
What I realize now is that it's more the things that people do NOT share that matter.
Once we got on campus, a few of us shared our statements of purpose, and the ones that I saw were all absolutely wonderful. As you see from this forum, there are many people with 80th and 90th percentile test scores and high GPAs. If you return to this forum after acceptance letters go out, you'll (usually) see a few people who sounded like ideal candidates not get in. Personally, I attribute that to the LOR and the SOP. If any of you have questions, shoot me a message.
 

Just a note from a 16-17 HGSE alum:
I know for a fact that not all of my peers had top-tier GRE scores.
I know for a fact that not all my peers went to top-tier universities prior to studying at HGSE.
I looked at this forum when I was applying, and I got so worked up comparing GPA and GRE all of the things that everyone shares.
What I realize now is that it's more the things that people do NOT share that matter.
Once we got on campus, a few of us shared our statements of purpose, and the ones that I saw were all absolutely wonderful. As you see from this forum, there are many people with 80th and 90th percentile test scores and high GPAs. If you return to this forum after acceptance letters go out, you'll (usually) see a few people who sounded like ideal candidates not get in. Personally, I attribute that to the LOR and the SOP. If any of you have questions, shoot me a message.
 

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.

I've been in pretty consistent contact with a few professors who reached out to me about two weeks ago and can shed a little light on what's happening right now. One of them told me that the process is: from the initial hundreds of applications, about 30-45 (I can't remember the number precisely) get a full faculty review. In that full faculty review, each application gets read by a minimum of two faculty members. If they are interested in a person, they'll set up a phone call. If an applicant specifically mentioned a faculty member, that's brought to the faculty member's attention. One professor who called me was one of the two that I mentioned in my application. In other cases, faculty members call whoever's research interests they are drawn to. This was the case with the other professor who called me. One of the professors emailed me for a conversation the next day and told me that she was in a bit of a rush because she wanted to talk before some kind of... faculty meeting about candidates that week. We talked Monday the 28th, so I'm assuming whatever event she was talking about was Friday the 1st. The other professor reached out the next day, so I had two phone interviews that week. They've put me in contact with a few current students over the past week and have been quite thorough in answering my questions. That all feels positive, but one of them was very careful not to give me the impression that I was in, and made clear they were talking to a number of candidates. Any questions you have, let me know. Best of luck to all.
 
* I should note that all my information is only relevant to CTE

Increasingly, the kind of information you're looking for is becoming hard to find. Stanford, for example, is releasing less of this information, because the numbers are so grim. It's not good for business (or equity) for students to get the feeling that almost no one gets in. I did the Master's program at HGSE, and I would say there were a ton of Ed. Policy students. I heard that during my year, many of the PhD applicants who were denied and pushed to a Master's elected for Ed. Policy. That would make things more competitive. I don't think you're going to find anything official, unfortunately. I don't know you, but the advice I've been given was just to put together the absolute best application package you can, and apply to 3-5 programs. Just my two cents. Best of luck.

Just a note from a 16-17 HGSE alum:
I know for a fact that not all of my peers had top-tier GRE scores.
I know for a fact that not all my peers went to top-tier universities prior to studying at HGSE.
I looked at this forum when I was applying, and I got so worked up comparing GPA and GRE all of the things that everyone shares.
What I realize now is that it's more the things that people do NOT share that matter.
Once we got on campus, a few of us shared our statements of purpose, and the ones that I saw were all absolutely wonderful. As you see from this forum, there are many people with 80th and 90th percentile test scores and high GPAs. If you return to this forum after acceptance letters go out, you'll (usually) see a few people who sounded like ideal candidates not get in. Personally, I attribute that to the LOR and the SOP. If any of you have questions, shoot me a message.
 

Your post ratio on this board so far: 
1 exceedingly long post asking an entirely ordinary question that's been answered on the board dozens of times
2 posts complaining about the tone of the (helpful!) responses you got, tone-policing others 
0 posts thanking posters who took the time to help you
0 posts updating us about how our advice worked out 
0 posts helping others in any way 
I'd personally aim to make a slightly different impression.

For the love of God, why do people accept offers they aren't crazy about well before the deadline?
 
Boo hoo, you got an early acceptance. Stop trying to rationalize your decision by likening an early acceptance and funding offer into a stealth pressure campaign. Did want to you to accept quickly? Of course they did. Do you think they made you an early offer of admission and funding because they were ambivalent about you? They wanted you! That is OK. The school clearly told you that the deadline was April 15th. They did everything right. Nonsense rationalization is what got you in this situation to begin with. Christ!
Live with the choices you made. Don't come up with BS reasons for justifying whatever you are going to do.
As poorly as you've handled this, fuzzy is right. A PhD is a long time and you should consider what is in your long term best interest. If and when you do withdraw from the school you know informed you'd enroll at, let them know as soon as possible that you are withdrawing so that they can go down their list of applicants and get their 2nd or 3rd choice candidate. It is the least you could do even if you dread this conversation. If a phone call is too scary, at least send an e-mail. Professors are surprisingly understanding with stuff like this, especially if you are honest about your situation and timely with your response.

Any more insider info?

To frame this response I'll note that I'm an HGSE master's graduate (L&L), and currently applying for doctoral programs. From the minute you arrive on the HGSE campus, professors and staff tell you how the year flies by. It's true. Looking back, I can't imagine completing meaningful research in the context of the master's program. I graduated having written approximately 12 papers of 3-5 pages,  and about 8 papers from 10-15 pages. In the doctoral applications that required a writing sample, I used a few of the longer papers that I wrote, and they fit within the length requirement. At Harvard, in my experience, many of my classmates were involved in the full-fledged research projects of faculty members. These folks could begin doctoral study with a clear idea of what full-scale research projects require, and what their interests might be. The primary talking point in these doctoral finalist interviews has been, " What do you want to study?", and I don't think that answering that question well requires that you've written a thesis or done research in your Master's program.

Just a note from a 16-17 HGSE alum:
I know for a fact that not all of my peers had top-tier GRE scores.
I know for a fact that not all my peers went to top-tier universities prior to studying at HGSE.
I looked at this forum when I was applying, and I got so worked up comparing GPA and GRE all of the things that everyone shares.
What I realize now is that it's more the things that people do NOT share that matter.
Once we got on campus, a few of us shared our statements of purpose, and the ones that I saw were all absolutely wonderful. As you see from this forum, there are many people with 80th and 90th percentile test scores and high GPAs. If you return to this forum after acceptance letters go out, you'll (usually) see a few people who sounded like ideal candidates not get in. Personally, I attribute that to the LOR and the SOP. If any of you have questions, shoot me a message.
 

@OperationPhDforMe hi, this is a bit of a delayed response but just want to clear something up in case someone else reads your post. Most HGSE PhD graduates receive an EdM en route to their PhD, they dont come into the PhD program already earning their EdM. I have access to some inside data and the application tags HGSE EdM students/alumni in the process; in past years less than 15% of the applicant pool were either current HGSE students or alum (mostly alum) and like other applicants, they get cut throughout the decision process and some don't even pass the first review.
for reference, i am a current harvard student (not hgse) and a friend has ties to hgse faculty involved in admissions

Curriculum design, language & literacy.. mostly things under the CTE banner.

A second Stanford Professor reached out to me for a Doctoral interview today.

EdLD is almost completely different from the PhD. Consider the accepted student profile: the average age, amount of experience, and GRE scores are all quite different. The way that the cohort is selected is also quite different. As far as I know, there is no group component of the PhD interviews, and the group component of the EdLD interviews is a critical part of building the cohort. Training to be an educational leader vs training to be a researcher and professor limit the amount of overlap in terms of the application process.

If you have the resources ( time, money) to study for a better score, you should retake it. People will say lots of things, and they may be correct, but you are the one who has to live with the results of your choices in the end. My GRE math score wasn't great, but I committed to studying to improve it. I went up a little bit, but the more important thing is that the score I submitted was the best possible one that I could earn at the time. I won't have to wonder, " Gosh.. if only I'd gotten a better score, maybe I would have gotten into that school".

Just a note from a 16-17 HGSE alum:
I know for a fact that not all of my peers had top-tier GRE scores.
I know for a fact that not all my peers went to top-tier universities prior to studying at HGSE.
I looked at this forum when I was applying, and I got so worked up comparing GPA and GRE all of the things that everyone shares.
What I realize now is that it's more the things that people do NOT share that matter.
Once we got on campus, a few of us shared our statements of purpose, and the ones that I saw were all absolutely wonderful. As you see from this forum, there are many people with 80th and 90th percentile test scores and high GPAs. If you return to this forum after acceptance letters go out, you'll (usually) see a few people who sounded like ideal candidates not get in. Personally, I attribute that to the LOR and the SOP. If any of you have questions, shoot me a message.
 

Just a note from a 16-17 HGSE alum:
I know for a fact that not all of my peers had top-tier GRE scores.
I know for a fact that not all my peers went to top-tier universities prior to studying at HGSE.
I looked at this forum when I was applying, and I got so worked up comparing GPA and GRE all of the things that everyone shares.
What I realize now is that it's more the things that people do NOT share that matter.
Once we got on campus, a few of us shared our statements of purpose, and the ones that I saw were all absolutely wonderful. As you see from this forum, there are many people with 80th and 90th percentile test scores and high GPAs. If you return to this forum after acceptance letters go out, you'll (usually) see a few people who sounded like ideal candidates not get in. Personally, I attribute that to the LOR and the SOP. If any of you have questions, shoot me a message.
 

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.

Why would you receive financial aid information for a program that is completely funded?

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.

Having been through this whole process now, posts like these bother me. Firstly, because the great majority of the folks on this thread have been through all the statement nonsense. We've passed it. So, I think it's just inconsiderate to inject that back into this conversation now. I can promise any 17-18 folks lurking, you have plenty of time to fret. Don't start now. Enjoy your spring. Read books about education. Read books that aren't about education. Read classics. Read poetry. Think deeply about your own experience. Once you think you've come to some great conclusion, go deeper. Show your writing to the people who know you best. You need to get to the essence of what makes you different, and that's the majority of the process. Or just start the 17-18 thread and fret together. Not here, please.