Mochi-

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?

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?

Thanks for the feedback; I really appreciate it and completely agree! I have no intention of taking on a large amount of debt for my master's + licensure/certification. From what I understand, all of the schools I listed giver merit aid (to varying degrees). My preferred program would be Vanderbilt, which also happens to be the cheapest (and which I have a much higher chance at a scholarship). I'll also heed your advice and send out an application to my state flagship. Do you have any other advice that you think might be useful in my search for schools? My long-term goal would DEFINITELY be to return for my PhD/EdD after 5+ years of teaching to pursue administrative positions at K-12 schools or professorship positions at universities.

Hey everyone, I recently just started looking at education graduate schools and am looking for a little guidance. Currently, I'm at a top 15 US News institution and have a 3.93/4.00 (I have a 3.94/4.00 in the area that I would be getting my certification). In addition, I belong to student government and a few international social advocacy (where I hold a couple leadership positions). On top of that, I'm also a resident assistant and have summer experience being a program assistant at a non-profit that served K-6 students. My primary interest is working with 9-12 students (secondary education). So far, I think I am going to apply to Harvard (TEP), Stanford (STEP), Penn (Urban teacher program), and Columbia (TESOL maybe?). Am I reaching too high or will I be a competitive applicant? I haven't taken the GRE yet, but my standardized test scores (ACT/SAT/LSAT) have all been in in the 97th+ percentile, so I'm hoping for a decent score. I'm just really not sure what I'm doing right now and there seems to be so much less concrete advice out there for education graduate school than there is for law school/medical school. I would really appreciate any advice. If you want to point me at programs to look at or drop a reality check on me, either would be appreciated!